I hope at least some of you got that Austin Powers reference in the headline.
This post is in response to those of you on here who want to know a little bit more about me, the new publisher here at Spartans Illustrated. So let's get to it. Happy to answer any questions in the thread.
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The first time I met Jim Comparoni, it was around ten years ago – of all the random places, we were sitting in a hot tub at Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. We both had young-ish kids and they were splashing around in the kid area. I remember it was winter and football was over; I recognized him and we struck up a conversation. I was new to the MSU beat, having just earned media credentials in 2010 for a startup website called isportweb, and was soaking up everything I could – from everyone I could. This was a hobby but one that I took pretty seriously.
I was learning the ropes via some legit on-the-job training. I was watching and learning from Joe Rexrode (before he bolted for Tennessee), Graham Couch, Diamond Leung (before he went to the Bay Area), Matt Charboneau, Comp, and many others as they did their thing. I was learning what it meant to be off the record, on background, on the record, not for attribution, etc. It was a blur but it was amazing – something new every day.
Side note -- you haven't lived until you've witnessed a Tom Izzo off-the-record rant. It's breathtaking.
Anyway, back to the hot tub. Jim was as nice as could be, a consummate professional who answered all my questions and dished out some advice. I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that ten years later, I would be filling his shoes on the Rivals website.
It’s been a journey, to be sure, and there have been some highlights (and bumps) along the way. I’ve always tried to approach this role with integrity and common sense and have tried not to get carried away by emotions. I have both made mistakes and I have stood up for myself. I am quick to apologize if I’m wrong but I am also very stubborn if I know that I am right.
I have tried to cover both the sports that the Spartans play as well as tell the stories of the people involved. I've tried to spread our attention around whenever possible -- focusing on baseball, volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, gymnastics, and even swimming/diving a little bit.
I’ve done my best as an MSU alum (class of 1999) to impact and cause improvement at the university as it went through some very difficult times recently.
I have created a partnership with MSU’s school of journalism to provide opportunities and internships for Spartans to cover MSU’s athletic teams – my most prominent alum at this point is probably The Athletic’s James Edwards – and I plan on continuing that into the future here at Rivals.
A few other things of note (click the links to read more) throughout my time doing this:
In October 2014, I told Lansing State Journal readers about how Lacey Holsworth’s parents were handling her passing, six months later.
In December 2015, I was plagiarized by a Detroit Free Press writer; I kept receipts, pushed back, and ultimately was vindicated.
In early 2016, I shared the story of the blossoming friendship of MSU basketball’s Matt Costello and young fan MacKale McGuire with Detroit News readers.
In 2018, I helped share the stories – and amplify the voices – of the women who were victimized by Larry Nassar. I wrote a viewpoint in the LSJ, organized two community forums on identifying “nice guy offenders,” and arranged for Stephanie Angel, the executive editor of the Lansing State Journal, and Alexandria Ilitch, a news reporter/anchor for WLNS, to moderate them. National experts Jim Clemente, a retired FBI supervisory special agent/profiler/expert witness and Francey Hakes, a former federal prosecutor, national security and child protection consultant were at both forums, as were Larissa Boyce, Tashmica Torok, David Mittleman, Brianne Randall-Gay, Ryan Schuilling, and Ken Plaga.
It was during this time that ESPN came out with their Spartan Secrets articles. I spent hours and hours reading transcripts, watching police interviews, scrounging through documents to make sure that someone was adding the missing context to the ESPN “reporting.” There was so much detail that was just simply left out – I found it and included it on the record. I literally called Paula Lavigne on the phone and explained to her why people around MSU thought her reporting was lacking.
I found sources to keep me (and my readers) informed on the actions (and inactions) of the MSU Board of Trustees. I did all I could to explain what the university did wrong while still calling out the lazy journalists doing lazy things.
Even now, I’m doing what I can to find the information that doesn’t make its way into the mainstream and share it to the best of my ability, including regarding MSU’s response to the tunnel situation. I have an article I’m working on regarding the Big Ten response to the tunnel (and UM's gaslighting on the topic) but I just can’t find the time to finish it up.
This is the stuff that’s important to me. Yes, we should discuss the games and the recruits and all that – that is the fun stuff. But I also want to dig deeper and tell the stories that others don’t tell. Hopefully, with the diversity of the staff, and the breadth of the coverage we bring, we can have it all -- the games, the stories, the laughter, the tears. It's all out there -- we just need to go find it so that we can chronicle it for you.
I’m proud of what I’ve done over the last 12 years and I’m proud of the team that we’ve assembled to take over here at Rivals. We’ve got big shoes to fill – but we know we are up for the task. #SpartansWill
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PS - When you see the Spartans Illustrated logo, I hope you notice that the spear doubles as a quill. The written word is powerful and we're honored to wield it for you all.
This post is in response to those of you on here who want to know a little bit more about me, the new publisher here at Spartans Illustrated. So let's get to it. Happy to answer any questions in the thread.
---
The first time I met Jim Comparoni, it was around ten years ago – of all the random places, we were sitting in a hot tub at Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. We both had young-ish kids and they were splashing around in the kid area. I remember it was winter and football was over; I recognized him and we struck up a conversation. I was new to the MSU beat, having just earned media credentials in 2010 for a startup website called isportweb, and was soaking up everything I could – from everyone I could. This was a hobby but one that I took pretty seriously.
I was learning the ropes via some legit on-the-job training. I was watching and learning from Joe Rexrode (before he bolted for Tennessee), Graham Couch, Diamond Leung (before he went to the Bay Area), Matt Charboneau, Comp, and many others as they did their thing. I was learning what it meant to be off the record, on background, on the record, not for attribution, etc. It was a blur but it was amazing – something new every day.
Side note -- you haven't lived until you've witnessed a Tom Izzo off-the-record rant. It's breathtaking.
Anyway, back to the hot tub. Jim was as nice as could be, a consummate professional who answered all my questions and dished out some advice. I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams that ten years later, I would be filling his shoes on the Rivals website.
It’s been a journey, to be sure, and there have been some highlights (and bumps) along the way. I’ve always tried to approach this role with integrity and common sense and have tried not to get carried away by emotions. I have both made mistakes and I have stood up for myself. I am quick to apologize if I’m wrong but I am also very stubborn if I know that I am right.
I have tried to cover both the sports that the Spartans play as well as tell the stories of the people involved. I've tried to spread our attention around whenever possible -- focusing on baseball, volleyball, men's soccer, women's soccer, gymnastics, and even swimming/diving a little bit.
I’ve done my best as an MSU alum (class of 1999) to impact and cause improvement at the university as it went through some very difficult times recently.
I have created a partnership with MSU’s school of journalism to provide opportunities and internships for Spartans to cover MSU’s athletic teams – my most prominent alum at this point is probably The Athletic’s James Edwards – and I plan on continuing that into the future here at Rivals.
A few other things of note (click the links to read more) throughout my time doing this:
In October 2014, I told Lansing State Journal readers about how Lacey Holsworth’s parents were handling her passing, six months later.
In December 2015, I was plagiarized by a Detroit Free Press writer; I kept receipts, pushed back, and ultimately was vindicated.
In early 2016, I shared the story of the blossoming friendship of MSU basketball’s Matt Costello and young fan MacKale McGuire with Detroit News readers.
In 2018, I helped share the stories – and amplify the voices – of the women who were victimized by Larry Nassar. I wrote a viewpoint in the LSJ, organized two community forums on identifying “nice guy offenders,” and arranged for Stephanie Angel, the executive editor of the Lansing State Journal, and Alexandria Ilitch, a news reporter/anchor for WLNS, to moderate them. National experts Jim Clemente, a retired FBI supervisory special agent/profiler/expert witness and Francey Hakes, a former federal prosecutor, national security and child protection consultant were at both forums, as were Larissa Boyce, Tashmica Torok, David Mittleman, Brianne Randall-Gay, Ryan Schuilling, and Ken Plaga.
It was during this time that ESPN came out with their Spartan Secrets articles. I spent hours and hours reading transcripts, watching police interviews, scrounging through documents to make sure that someone was adding the missing context to the ESPN “reporting.” There was so much detail that was just simply left out – I found it and included it on the record. I literally called Paula Lavigne on the phone and explained to her why people around MSU thought her reporting was lacking.
I found sources to keep me (and my readers) informed on the actions (and inactions) of the MSU Board of Trustees. I did all I could to explain what the university did wrong while still calling out the lazy journalists doing lazy things.
Even now, I’m doing what I can to find the information that doesn’t make its way into the mainstream and share it to the best of my ability, including regarding MSU’s response to the tunnel situation. I have an article I’m working on regarding the Big Ten response to the tunnel (and UM's gaslighting on the topic) but I just can’t find the time to finish it up.
This is the stuff that’s important to me. Yes, we should discuss the games and the recruits and all that – that is the fun stuff. But I also want to dig deeper and tell the stories that others don’t tell. Hopefully, with the diversity of the staff, and the breadth of the coverage we bring, we can have it all -- the games, the stories, the laughter, the tears. It's all out there -- we just need to go find it so that we can chronicle it for you.
I’m proud of what I’ve done over the last 12 years and I’m proud of the team that we’ve assembled to take over here at Rivals. We’ve got big shoes to fill – but we know we are up for the task. #SpartansWill
---
PS - When you see the Spartans Illustrated logo, I hope you notice that the spear doubles as a quill. The written word is powerful and we're honored to wield it for you all.
