'Bama Boy in Farmington

Welcome to Topher's Tidbits!

You may or may not have noticed a goofy-looking, fair-skinned redhead from Alabama appearing at sporting events across the Four Corners area. That's me. And let me just say, Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. (Thank goodness. Not a fan of the state. Have you ever driven across it?)

After living in Denver, Birmingham, Washington, D.C., and Nashville in the past 15 months, I've made a couple observations about living here:

1) Reliable sunshine
It's rained or snowed a handful of times since I moved here Jan. 13. That being said, the wind sure does blow this time of the year, doesn't it? It seems like every game, there's a discussion in the press box about whether headwinds or tailwinds affect fastballs, or how the gusts help junk pitchers.

2) My car is perpetually dirty
Not that I care -- I'm a 22-year-old single guy -- but is this normal? Or has it just been that long since I ran it through the wash?

3) Chili goes on everything
I'm a proponent of adopting as much of the local culture as possible, and being an avid eater, the first thing that I want to do is sample the local cuisine. I understand the most identifiable New Mexican food staple is chili: green or red? I enjoy cooking in my apartment, but rest assured I've tried a Lotaburger with chili. I went with green. I still don't understand which is more spicy. Apparently it depends?

Also, when a JV game ran long at Kirtland Central's basketball gym and I was killing time, I tried some frybread and loved it. My next quest is to try a Navajo taco, and I want to learn to cook both.

4) Hometown courtesy
Us southern folks tend to think we're the friendliest and most well-mannered bunch, but I've experienced my fair share of that here. 

The woman at the Aztec post office offered her number in case I ever have car trouble. A coworker bought me a drink from Sonic when I didn't have the spare cash. As a city boy, frankly I'm enjoying the "everybody knows everybody" stereotype about smaller towns that seems to exist.

But this area's certainly not as intimate as the student apartments at Samford University where I recently lived. I love meeting folks in the area and getting to know your stories, so please don't hesitate to introduce yourself. There can't be too many redheads around, so I should be easy to spot.

I've been blessed with some amazing experiences already, having covered a full compliment of sports for a full compliment of publications. Of local interest, I interned for DenverBroncos.com during the 2007 season, even traveling on the team plane and staying in the team hotel for road games. I spent time this past summer at the Washington Post, although I'm certainly not of the caliber of the journalists that work there. I've also spent plenty of time covering high school and college sports.

I feel like I've gotten a bit lucky to be employed, especially in an industry that's doing its best Titanic impression. Writing is my passion, and I'm here to illuminate the athletes and schools that make Four Corners sports so exciting. That being said, I need all the help I can get from you guys to tip me off on the best stories that you think deserve coverage. I'm all for feedback, criticisms, comments, ad hominems, and so forth. The beauty of working for a smaller paper is getting to interact with you, the reader, and I cherish that opportunity, so please help me take advantage of it. You can reach me at csmith@daily-times.com.

Sportswise, I must admit I love basketball. No one in Alabama can believe the 3,000-plus people that attended the girls' Kirtland Central-Shiprock game at Bronco Arena. High school football is king where I come from, and my high school's team had their own MTV show ("Two-A-Days"). We never get crowds like this for basketball, and 300 would be spectacular in most instances for girl's basketball. I applaud you for recognizing the abilities of female athletes. Also, the support of the Shiprock fans at the KC-Shiprock boys game was fun to see. I couldn't believe you guys were so vocal and energetic, especially as visitors to another school's gym.

My first obligation is to ensure I'm doing my best to help sports editor Darren Vaughan produce a quality sports section from a design and a reporting standpoint, but I'm no stranger to hard work. I'm going to update this blog as much as possible with some things that don't make it into the paper, opinions, and as the title suggests, tidbits. If you've got any questions or a subject matter you'd like me to give an opinion about, please let me know.

A little about me: I'm competitive, and I dream big. For most of my life, I've channeled that into athletics, competing in just about anything that kept score. I'm athletic -- I can dunk a basketball when I'm in shape -- but my hand-eye coordination isn't good. So eventually I settled on track. I ran for Samford University, Division I in every sport but football, more well-known for helping launch the coaching careers of Bobby and Terry Bowden, Chan Gailey, Jimbo Fisher, and currently Pat Sullivan, who won the Heisman Trophy for Auburn in 1971 and recruited LaDainian Tomlinson to TCU as head coach there.

So I ran the 800 mostly, and ran on the 4×400 relay for the Bulldogs. My new venture is attempting to summit all the Colorado 14ers (mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation), and eventually make an attempt at Everest. Most of my significant accomplishments involve eating, driving long distances or other bizarre physical acts.

My greatest assets are my willpower and desire, which I need, since I'm one of the dumbest smart people I know. Example: I misspelled five words when I wrote this. Thank goodness for spell check. I'd never make it in this business without it.

But this blog is about you, the reader, more than anything else. The discussion forum is good and all, but this gives you another opportunity for you to discuss sports with less clutter. I'm toying with the idea of concluding most entries with a question, so here's the first: What makes Four Corners sports unique?