I think a lot of men get jealous when I tell them what I do for a living, sports reporting. But I’m pretty lucky because what I do isn’t covering local high school football. I haven’t done that since I was actually in high school.

I cover a lot of professional football, so that means that I get to travel a lot during the season. I also go and report on pre-season camps which means that once August hits I’m constantly on the road. Last year while I was travelling to different training camps I noticed I was having to listen a little more closely to all the things that the coaches and players would say and I sounded awful loud in comparison on my audio recordings of those interviews.

I decided to do something about it fast, but I wasn’ t really in one place long enough to do much. So while I was on the road I got some free hearing tests in ny, stopped in at a miracle ear in richmond and finally got fitted with some hearing aids in los angeles.

I felt like a young, fresh reporter and went after the stories a little more eagerly. One coach that is one of my best contacts even told me that when I talked to him at his team’s training camp and he asked me what was different. I just laughed.