A reintroduction to Memphis sports fans
If Mike Norvell could do it, I could too. At least that’s what I told myself last month during the FedEx St. Jude Classic pro-am.
The Memphis football coach sat in a golf cart, waiting to be taken from the 18th green to the first tee, and looked positively giddy. Why?
“My favorite play is from Joe Gibbs’ playbook and I just broke it down with him,” he said. “This is one of the best freaking days of my life.”
Gibbs, the former Super Bowl champion coach of the Washington Redskins and NASCAR owner, had been playing in the same group alongside Norvell and new Memphis men’s basketball coach Penny Hardaway.
As The Commercial Appeal’s Tigers’ basketball beat writer, I was tasked with following them around for a story. As a D.C.-area native whose first sports memory is the Redskins winning Super Bowl XXVI in 1992, I was attempting to maintain some measure of professional decorum.
But then I saw that smile on Norvell’s face, the look of a 36-year-old man momentarily becoming a kid again. So I figured, what the heck?
On TPC Southwind’s second hole, once Gibbs hit into the trees, I helped him look for the ball. I had a Commercial Appeal photographer attempt to take a picture of me standing near Gibbs, appearing as if I was just doing
my job instead of looking for a photo to put on Instagram.
Soon, words just began gushing out. About watching Redskins games with my friends. About Mark Rypien and Gary Clark and the Hogs and the three Super Bowls. About how much those memories meant to me.
“Just spent five minutes talking to Joe Gibbs!” read a text message I fired off as soon as Gibbs was far enough away not to see.
My name is Mark Giannotto and I’m The Commercial Appeal’s new sports columnist. I’ve spent the past 18 months covering Memphis Tigers basketball, and an assortment of other sports-related topics, for this media outlet. But I’m also a fan. A fan of sports. A fan of good writing. A fan of Memphis. And a fan of Memphians.
It’s what I hope you’ll remember when you deem one of these columns overly skeptical and harsh, or perhaps too praiseworthy. Because it can be easy to lose track of what brought us all together.
People often ask how I got from The Washington Post to The Commercial Appeal, since reporters and journalists usually aspire to go the other way around.
On New Year’s Day 2017, I packed up my car and drove more than 800 miles from downtown D.C. to Memphis, unsure of what I was about to encounter.
I had been working at The Washington Post for more than seven years. Five of them were spent covering Virginia and Virginia Tech, but I was a high school sports reporter for the last two.
When I graduated from Michigan in 2008, I told myself I would find another job if I was still covering high school sports when I turned 30. But then time moved on and there I was, a recently married 30-year-old, covering girls’ soccer, among other things, for a living.
Less than two years later, I’m a columnist.
I could credit hard work, perseverance and an understanding wife. All three were involved. But it was more about the passion only a fan feels, for sports and writing and finding a headline in the mundane. Memphis crystallized this for me.
It’s a city that everyone calls an overgrown town, and they’re right. You can get lost in big cities like D.C., but Memphians and their stories come find you.
They say hello at FedExForum, or send an email after a big win at the Liberty Bowl, or tap you on the shoulder at a coffee shop with a story about how Memphis became Memphis. They wrap their arms around their teams, and hug you back when you do the same.
It’s why I don’t take this new role lightly. It’s why there are so many important stories to share.
There’s the revival of Memphis basketball that’s already underway with Hardaway. Can he take the college basketball world by storm, a native son bringing the Tigers back to national prominence again just like Larry Finch did before him? Or will he become another former NBA star who couldn’t make it as a college coach?
There’s the remodeling of the Grit ‘N’ Grind Memphis Grizzlies, and the looming transition from a team starring veterans like Mike Conley and Marc Gasol to a team featuring recent first-round draft pick Jaren Jackson Jr. Is it possible to remain in the playoff conversation and rebuild at the same time?
There’s the continued resurgence of Memphis football, picked to win its division for the second year in a row, a distinction that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Who is next in the line of standout quarterbacks the Tigers have had in recent seasons, and how long might Norvell stick around town?
There’s also the Memphis Redbirds, the World Golf Championships event that could finally bring Tiger Woods here, the city’s incoming USL soccer franchise, its latest foray into professional football, and all the random people and traditions that make this such a great sports town. Which brings me back to Gibbs. In an attempt to extend our encounter as long as possible, I asked about the Washington Capitals because he had been on TV wearing a jersey in the crowd during their Stanley Cup playoff game a few nights earlier.
And then his eyes lit up and an NFL Hall of Fame coach and NASCAR owner began stumbling over his words.
“Did you see it?” Gibbs exclaimed. “The electricity was, just, I can’t describe it. It was amazing. I had the most fun.”
We’ve all got that fan inside us. We just need the right story to bring it out.