Brian Hendrickson Says Goodbye to Blazers Fans

As you read here yesterday Brian Hendrickson has left The Columbian.

I asked Mr. Hendrickson if he might say a few words about his experience, his future plans and his impressions of Blazers fans.  

Here's what he had to say...

I'm a little gun shy about putting the spotlight on myself. Not really comfortable being the story or injecting myself into the story, as you've probably noticed from my work. I'd rather it be on the work itself. So I don't really see my leaving as a big deal. 

This is a move being made for the sake of family. I've spent the last 11 years in this business making decisions with my wife that were based around my career, including this one, which took us 2,500 or more miles away from both of our families. My parents live in Indianapolis; hers are in Greensboro, N.C. Neither one is easy to get to from here. And with a new baby girl joining us last spring, followed by a health scare of my own just three days after her birth that landed me in the hospital for a week, my perspective about what and who is important in my life was thrust into sharper focus than ever before. So we immediately decided it was time to go home and make sure our daughter, Georgeann, can grow up with her grandparents close by. We'll be in the Triad area, between Winston-Salem and Greensboro, and I'll be covering the ACC for the Greensboro News & Record as well as helping to edit and develop a new Web site called BusterSports.com that is based in Raleigh.

I can honestly say that leaving the Blazers beat was one of the hardest career decisions I've ever made, both because the team is getting so competitive, the team officials have been amazing to work with in the last couple years, the players are so accessible and easy going, and the fans are so over-the-top with their passion for the team. And that passion is extremely important to the value you take from a job, because it makes you feel that the work you do (and we do a hell of a lot of it in this profession) is important and valued every single day. It drives you to do a great job. I'll miss that. But the fans in the ACC are rather passionate, too. I know, because I covered it before moving out here, and I can say this without any question: Blazers fans are much more polite in their hate mail than any N.C. State fan ticked off about an article you wrote about UNC. I'll definitely look back on that fondly once the letters start rolling in.

I'll definitely be following the Blazers from afar through Blazers Edge.

Pure class.

-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)