WWW arkcity.net

By JOEY SPRINKLE
Traveler Sports Editor
sports@arkcity.net

If there were a theme song for my life, Bob Seger's "Against the Wind" would seem to be most accurate.

The story of my travels very much mirrors that of the song, none as much as the lines, "Well, those drifter's days are past me now ... I've got so much more to think about ... deadlines and commitments ... what to leave in, what to leave out."

Thus describes your new sports editor at The Arkansas City Traveler.

Approaching my 10th year in journalism, my travels have now brought me to Ark City, and I'm hoping those "drifter's days" truly are past me now.

After spending 10 years in mainframe computer operations, I returned to school and somebody, somehow, told me I had some writing ability. That set me off to my destiny and I was given my first newspaper job at The McMinnville News-Register in Oregon.

Desperate for a return to four seasons and an opportunity to do some amateur storm chasing, I jumped at the chance to become sports editor at The Emporia Gazette. From there it was The Garden City Telegram and the Parsons Sun, where I recently left for south-central Wichita.

My family found a house in Winfield (don't hate me), where my wife, Ginger, began work as a preschool teacher at Webster Early Learning Center.

We lovingly refer to daughter Nikki, 16, as our "soccer stud," so she hopes to play in the spring for the Lady Vikings (don't hate her, either). Son Brett, 11, was named after my boyhood hero, George Brett. My "little buddy" suffers from Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism, but is as energetic and full of love as any kid I've ever seen.

I am passionate about few things: My kids, the Kansas City Royals and Chiefs, and severe thunderstorms. And for those of you wondering whether I'm loyal to KU or K-State, sorry to disappoint, but I was born and raised in Mizzou -- er, Missouri -- though I do have a niece that graduated from Oklahoma State.

Aside from storm chasing, I have a sports card and memorabilia collection, larger in quantity than quality.

I love pepperoni pizza, and would rather pay for a Pepsi than drink a free Coke. The strongest drink I'll have is a strawberry daiquiri and yes, I always catch flak over it.

As your sports editor, my primary focus will be on prep sports and Cowley College. But while Arkansas City High School and Cowley are 1A and 1B on my priority list, area schools Dexter, Cedar Vale and South Haven all register a solid 2.

My goal is to cover as many home events as possible in town. After that, I hope to be able to get out to the area schools at least once a season. It is my hope that, the better our coverage, the better response we will receive from area coaches. And it's always good to put a face with a name in the rural towns.

You'll most likely see some changes on the sports pages -- mostly cosmetic. But I also like to get as many names and pictures in the paper as possible because, quite frankly, that's a big reason why you read the pages. And if you're not reading the sports pages, then I'm not doing my job.

Sports editor Joey Sprinkle can be reached at sports@arkcity.net.