Sam Strong: Dateline in transition

I have to admit, it feels strange not to begin one of these things with a dateline.

It was always step one in the process. Sit down and write the name of the city you’re in. If I got nothing else right – and I got a lot of things wrong on these pages over the last four years – at least I had that part nailed down.

This is undoubtedly the most difficult column I’ve had to write because the truth is, as I sit here between internships and cities, I don’t even have that hurdle cleared. Like many of us in the class of 2013, I’m transitioning.

I spent my time as a student reporting and opining on UCLA athletics. I went as far east as New York City and as far south as Texas to do it. I made it to every Pac-12 institution, covered two conference championship games, one NCAA tournament (otherwise known as Ben Howland’s swan song) and two bowl games (Yes, that football team from our junior year made history by going to a bowl game at 6-7 and laying an egg against an Illinois team that had not won a game in more than two months. Oh, that season ended in a coach being fired, too).

Those four years are over – better luck to you in the football and basketball departments, class of 2017 – and suddenly I’m unsure of the next step in my trajectory as a sports writer. I don’t know how things will end up.

But I do know how it began. I was a freshman who had recently been named sports editor at the Daily Bruin. It was an honor, for sure, but something I viewed as more of a gateway to reporting on the moneymaking sports than a way to serve the campus community.

That changed in a hurry. They say the first day at any job is the hardest and now I believe them, but it was so much more than a first day. It was also a day that affirmed why I want to be a journalist.

It was Thursday of 10th week in spring quarter 2010, and I received an email saying John Wooden was in the hospital and wouldn’t make it much longer. Never mind the final I had to study for – I had been on the job for less than 24 hours and someone whose name was synonymous with UCLA was about to pass on.

I was in over my head. Graduating staffers lent a hand, nobody studied or slept and by Sunday, we had created 12 pages of original content that told Wooden’s story and honored the contributions he made in sports and beyond. I did terribly on that final, but it didn’t matter. The pride we all felt seeing someone reading the Wooden section far outweighed the shame I felt from failing an exam.

June 4 marked the three-year anniversary of Wooden’s passing. It was a somber time around Westwood, but I’ll always look back on that weekend with great fondness. It fueled the work I did at The Bruin for the next three years and without it, I may have been sane enough to listen to everyone who told me to ditch journalism.

I don’t plan to jump ship anytime soon and I know I’ll never forget the stories I wrote, mistakes I made or lessons I learned at this newspaper. I’ll cherish the friends, colleagues, athletes, coaches, sports information directors and readers I’ve interacted with over the last four years. It’s been an honor and a privilege, and whichever dateline I print next, I know I’ll be there because of the things I learned here.

Strong was sports senior staff from 2011-2013, sports editor from 2010-2011 and a sports contributor from 2009-2010.