Glenn
05-13-2008, 09:53 AM
:green balloon:
Time to open a new chapter in my life
Posted on Sun, May. 11, 2008
By DAN LE BATARD
dlebatard@MiamiHerald.com
I've always thought of adulthood as a pretty interesting place to visit. Live there? No thanks. That is why I chose this profession. I prefer the playground. In sports, parts of you can stay a kid forever. You can continue to view things through a child's eyes. There isn't a greater escape anywhere in entertainment.
But it looks, as I enter midlife at 39 years old, like it is finally time to do some growing up.
Not too much, I hope.
But at least some.
I'm going away for a year. I'm going to China, Spain and Adulthood. And I'm as excited about this sabbatical as I've ever been about anything.
EVERYTHING LEFT BEHIND
I love and respect and value this newspaper more than anything else I ever have professionally, so this isn't an indictment of The Miami Herald or this struggling industry. I'm leaving almost everything I do for ESPN behind, too. I just want to concentrate on building the bridge to the second half of my life, and I can't really do that while running off to the next game, locker, column or TV appearance.
Hard to grow up in the playpen. And I've become lopsided pouring too much of my self-worth into the things I do instead of the things I am.
Besides, I'm doing you, the reader, a disservice when I go to write from an NFL Draft that could not possibly bore me more at this point in my life. And I don't deserve to be paid for a diluted version of a column that I value too much to cheapen with a lack of passion. My column has lacked life for a while now because I'm stretched too thin with other obligations.
CHANCE TO GET REFRESHED
You, and The Miami Herald, deserve better from me. I'm hoping that I come back in a year refreshed and reinvigorated. I've always thought that you can tell any story in this section, that sports are simply the fun-house mirror where society goes to check its reflection, so I'm pretty sure I will return with a zeal to write bigger and more meaningful things.
And The Miami Herald, which is like a family member at this point, has been kind enough to let me write some in the next year if I want -- but only when I'm moved instead of obligated. Which is where I have always found my best writing.
I might still do the occasional Pardon the Interruption on ESPN because the people there are my friends, and the next year is going to be spent laughing with family and friends.
I don't want to make this all syrupy, so I will keep it short. The other day, I was at the zoo with my goddaughter, and she was feeding the giraffes. When a baby giraffe came over, she pet it and turned to me and said, ``This is the greatest day of my life!''
That is what I'm going to be doing for the next year.
I'm going to make sure I don't miss any more moments like that. And I'm going to figure out a way to create more of them.
That was every bit as corny as I feared it being, wasn't it?
Sorry.
Anyway, I have been working too hard for too long because what I do never feels like work at all. And I have missed too many weddings and birthday parties and giraffes because my friends and family understand that I love what I do.
But it is time for me to make the journey from happy to happier. And time for me to figure out a way to use the platforms this newspaper has given me to start helping others instead of arguing Kobe or LeBron.
So this is good-bye for now.
I think and hope that I'm going to be different, and better, the next time we get together.
Time to open a new chapter in my life
Posted on Sun, May. 11, 2008
By DAN LE BATARD
dlebatard@MiamiHerald.com
I've always thought of adulthood as a pretty interesting place to visit. Live there? No thanks. That is why I chose this profession. I prefer the playground. In sports, parts of you can stay a kid forever. You can continue to view things through a child's eyes. There isn't a greater escape anywhere in entertainment.
But it looks, as I enter midlife at 39 years old, like it is finally time to do some growing up.
Not too much, I hope.
But at least some.
I'm going away for a year. I'm going to China, Spain and Adulthood. And I'm as excited about this sabbatical as I've ever been about anything.
EVERYTHING LEFT BEHIND
I love and respect and value this newspaper more than anything else I ever have professionally, so this isn't an indictment of The Miami Herald or this struggling industry. I'm leaving almost everything I do for ESPN behind, too. I just want to concentrate on building the bridge to the second half of my life, and I can't really do that while running off to the next game, locker, column or TV appearance.
Hard to grow up in the playpen. And I've become lopsided pouring too much of my self-worth into the things I do instead of the things I am.
Besides, I'm doing you, the reader, a disservice when I go to write from an NFL Draft that could not possibly bore me more at this point in my life. And I don't deserve to be paid for a diluted version of a column that I value too much to cheapen with a lack of passion. My column has lacked life for a while now because I'm stretched too thin with other obligations.
CHANCE TO GET REFRESHED
You, and The Miami Herald, deserve better from me. I'm hoping that I come back in a year refreshed and reinvigorated. I've always thought that you can tell any story in this section, that sports are simply the fun-house mirror where society goes to check its reflection, so I'm pretty sure I will return with a zeal to write bigger and more meaningful things.
And The Miami Herald, which is like a family member at this point, has been kind enough to let me write some in the next year if I want -- but only when I'm moved instead of obligated. Which is where I have always found my best writing.
I might still do the occasional Pardon the Interruption on ESPN because the people there are my friends, and the next year is going to be spent laughing with family and friends.
I don't want to make this all syrupy, so I will keep it short. The other day, I was at the zoo with my goddaughter, and she was feeding the giraffes. When a baby giraffe came over, she pet it and turned to me and said, ``This is the greatest day of my life!''
That is what I'm going to be doing for the next year.
I'm going to make sure I don't miss any more moments like that. And I'm going to figure out a way to create more of them.
That was every bit as corny as I feared it being, wasn't it?
Sorry.
Anyway, I have been working too hard for too long because what I do never feels like work at all. And I have missed too many weddings and birthday parties and giraffes because my friends and family understand that I love what I do.
But it is time for me to make the journey from happy to happier. And time for me to figure out a way to use the platforms this newspaper has given me to start helping others instead of arguing Kobe or LeBron.
So this is good-bye for now.
I think and hope that I'm going to be different, and better, the next time we get together.