There's a bulletin board on the wall of my bedroom that has a collection of press passes from my two-and-a-half years as a sportswriter. It's a pretty impressive collection, if I do say so myself. In addition to season passes for Penn basketball and football from the past couple years, I have Penn Relays passes, NCAA Tournament passes and -- to top it off -- a 2002 Phillies season pass, complete with my photo in the center. In my time as a sports editor at the Daily Pennsylvanian, I've interviewed plenty of famous people (Penn assistant sports information director Rich Schepis), I've traveled to a lot of exotic locales (Ithaca, N.Y.) and had plenty of good times (covering a football game outdoors in 15-degree weather in New Haven, Conn.). Okay, okay, Ithaca isn't exactly springtime in Venice -- but I have interviewed Joe Frazier and Donovan McNabb, I have traveled to New York and Boston and I did cover a 76ers playoff victory. It wasn't a bad job. And so when it came time to run for positions on the editorial board in November, it was pretty much expected that I would run for Senior Sports Editor and mold the Sports section as I pleased. It would be cushy -- as cushy as a $225-a-month college newspaper job can be. I'd be the boss of the best college sports section in the country. I'd be able to shape things the way I wanted. I would be doing pretty much the same thing that I had done the past year -- it would be a piece of cake. But that was the problem. After two-and-a-half years, sports writing had become a routine, and I was tiring of it. There's only so many times you can hear "we just take it one game at a time" or "I really just gave it 110 percent out there" before you want to shove your recorder down a coach's throat. After a lot of thinking, I decided to run for Managing Editor of 34th Street. It wasn't an easy decision. Although you'll still see my byline on the sports page once in a while, it's still a big change. But after three issues of Street, I know I made the right decision. It's been taxing, but it's been fun. It's a lot different -- people fight with you more, not everything's as cut-and-dry. And while I was pretty much the expert on every Penn sport, I certainly can't tell hip hop from trip hop, or The Hives from The Shins. With two issues gone and a lot more to go, I can safely say that I know it will be worth it. The assembled group of Street writers and editors are an excellent bunch, and while I might not be able to follow the Quakers if they make it to the Big Dance, I will be able to cheer them on from the stands. Which is nice, because Penn-Princeton is Tuesday -- and I've got a Puck Frinceton t-shirt in my drawer that hasn't been worn in a long time.

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