I know what you are thinking.

What’s up with the lack of blog posts around here? I ask myself that same question every day. But there is a very good reason: I blame the freelance writing game.

Last September, I decided to leave Hoopsworld.com where I’d spent the previous six years covering the league from the New York Knicks, New Jersey Nets and the Portland Trail Blazers. It was time to move on and try my hand as a freelancer. I just wasn’t sure what I was moving towards. Ten months later, I have a better idea.

I’ve been blessed to have found a number of freelance writing gigs within that span, with my latest venture coming as a frequent contributor to ESPN.com’s Page 2 (and thanks to the helpful hand of Jill R. Dorson). Here’s the deal with Page 2: it’s all about the “offbeat” story.

I can do that. Since April, I’ve written about Brandon Roy’s prerogative towards gadgets in a gadget-centric league of players. The flip side of that story was highlighted by Jared Dudley and him moonlighting with JMZ/JSPN.

I kept on the “Dudley” theme and spoke with Chris Dudley as he came off the campaign trail the night before the Oregon Primaries. That was a crazy day. I received the assignment (after pitching the story and getting the go-ahead) early Monday morning and was left to track down Dudley, conduct a phone interview and then knock the story out – all so it could run the following morning for the Tuesday primaries. That was a tight deadline, even after working the phones and email all day. But I hit it.

The story that jumped off the page for me was about Shaler Halimon – the former NBA guard and one of the original Portland Trail Blazers – earning TriMet Bus Driver of the Year honors. I was told by a spokeswoman at TriMet that Mr. Halimon wanted to be known more than being a former basketball player and that he was rather shy about recounting those memories. I wanted to respect that. But once Mr. Halimon and I were talking on the phone, he spoke passionately about the game and what it was like in his day. I think it meant something to him to be remembered.

It meant as much to hear those stories.

And that’s the tough part about this whole Page 2 thing. I basically have 600 words to capture the story I want to tell – that is after the submission is approved and I’ve tracked down the person/people I want to interview. Hopefully I’ve done that. Because I know I could have gone longer writing about the Campus Rail Jam Tour, and also the recent Page 2 story on pitcher turned bestselling author, Dirk Hayhurst (shown above).

If you haven’t heard of Dirk Hayhurst and his book,“The Bullpen Gospels”, you have now.

Even if you don’t like baseball, you’ll more than appreciate fine writing and good storytelling in "The Bullpen Gospels".

“I’m not a writer, but I wrote this chicken-scratch grammatical train wreck. And you’re always afraid of what’s going to happen: is the book going to sell and will my arm hold up?,” Hayhurst said last week during an interview.

That so-called “train wreck” is now being called a classic.

As for offseason basketball in Portland….I’m getting there. I’ll have a quick exclusive with Jeff Pendergraph coming shortly and have some offseason workout updates to pass along too, so stay tuned there.

And in the meantime, hit me up on Page 2.

photo: cbn.com

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