One thing I’ve tried to avoid since I started writing for Barrett Media is making these columns about me. There are enough people in this business who think they’re the story. The story should be about the industry. The people in it. Moreover, the trends shaping where sports media is going. This week, though, I’m making a rare exception because, for better or worse, I became part of the story. There are certain moments in this business you never forget. The one where you get hired. The one where you get fired. And if you stay in sports media long enough, there’s the one where the same station that let you go calls and asks if you’d like to come back. If it were only that simple.
After about eighteen months away, I’m returning to KNBR radio in San Francisco. If you had asked me in November 2024, when I was told my position was being eliminated, whether I’d ever work there again, I would have laughed. Not because I didn’t like being at KNBR. Quite the opposite. I honestly believed that chapter of my career had ended.
That’s one thing this business teaches you quickly. We spend our careers talking about coaches getting fired, players getting traded, and executives getting shown the door. We tell listeners it’s “just business” so often that the phrase almost loses its meaning. Then one day, you’re the one cleaning out your office, explaining to your family what comes next, and suddenly those words don’t sound nearly as simple…