You go to new places, environments, and you have to learn the city. It’s not just the team but the city itself — what the people like, dislike, what the people expect from you. Coming back to Detroit was like putting on an old pair of shoes.
I was very happy to catch Omari Sankofa II when I did, at what feels like a turning point for a Pistons team that has deeply needed one for a while now. He had just come from Monty Williams’ first presser as Detroit’s new head coach, I’d just come from Darko Rajakovic’s first presser as the Raptors new head coach, and I was reminded of the things I like best about talking to new people in this industry which is the moments your little beats and seasonal rhythms align, no matter your location or the myriad other things you’ve got going on in life.
We talked about Omari’s trajectory as a journalist, about him knowing covering sports and telling the stories of the people who play them was what he wanted to do since he was a teenager. We talked about timing — the necessity of it and whether you can get a knack for it — and when it’s good to shove your full weight into a professional door once you’ve cracked it a little bit of the way open.
We also talked about meeting athletes who shake up the dormant fandom in you, the different eye you develop out of necessity while covering a team that’s out of the spotlight, overcoming shyness, starting to cover a team at the height of Covid, media access across the league and Omari’s time covering the Grizzlies vs. the Pistons, the comfort of added institutional knowledge when you’re around a franchise for a while, the benefits of reading a room, and the resiliency of the Pistons franchise and their fanbase.
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