Act I, Scene I

Welcome one and all. Thanks so much for being a part of my blog as I jump headfirst into the social media pool.

There are many thoughts jostling for attention inside my head. My wife, Karen, is in the other room, saying, "What are you going to write about?" Hmm. Good question. "Why don't you write about the dog?" Guess I just did.

Well, how's this for starters...

I've had a long and interesting career as a sportswriter. I worked for three different newspapers, most recently the New York Post. Yes, I've written some of the goofy headlines the Post is known for, though I can't take credit for my favorite Post headline ever: "HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR." That front page actually hangs in the Post reception area. No, I don't agree with the Post's politics. Leaning significantly to the left, I always joked that I worked on the only "red" block in New York City -- OK, one of two; there's the Wall Street Journal, too.

I worked for eight years at the Newark Star-Ledger, both on the inside and outside. I covered the Knicks for three years, which was an amazing experience. My first season was 1993-94, the year they went to the Finals and lost to Houston.

Before that, I worked for nine-plus years at the Daily Record in Morristown, New Jersey, during which time I covered the NHL -- I got the Rangers beat as a part-timer when I was only 19 -- and basically grew up professionally.

In between the Ledger and the Post, I was a media relations/editorial manager with the NBA in New York. In a quest to try to find a job with "normal" hours, I took that position, commuted four hours a day door-to-door, and for the first year-and-a-half, it was the best job of my life. I co-authored a book on the Lakers' 2000 NBA championship, one of the highlights riding in the team's victory parade on a double-decker bus with Magic Johnson and the Laker Girls. One of my greatest regrets is that I don't have any photos to confirm that, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

I was part of a team that wrote and published material on NBA.com, as well as an edition of the NBA Encyclopedia, and feature articles in the NBA Finals and All-Star programs.

But the function of our staff changed; we went from 12 people in our department down to four. The man who hired me, Jan Hubbard - one of the best bosses I ever had - was let go. And eventually, I was too. Thus the move back to newspapers and the Post.

But there has been another change, which has landed my wife and I in Plymouth, Mass. - home of the Rock. After a lifetime growing up in New Jersey (isn't everyone from Jersey originally?) we decided we wanted a change in scenery, and we didn't like what was happening in our home state. It had gotten very crowded, very quickly, and a lot less green.

We both love New England, and especially Boston, which was always one of my favorite stops when I traveled around the country covering sports. So once again, I'm putting the newspaper life behind me, and I'm now an independent public relations consultant with the quest of landing a full-time public relations position in Boston. I joined some great organizations, including the New England Publicity Club, the Public Relations society of America and the Boston Social Media Club, and have been networking feverishly in an attempt to get my face in front of as many people as possible.

And now, in an attempt to get in even more faces, I'm now officially blogging. And when I'm not writing about my dog, I'll write about my career goals in public relations, my passions for sports and history, and whatever else is fighting for attention in my cranium at the moment.

And maybe I'll even tell you about the time I saw Yogi Berra naked. But that's another story for another time.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned.