 I grew up in several towns in Alabama. I grew up in Dillon and Hamilton, but I call Muscle Shoals home. You know, I was like, most every other kid in the state of Alabama, I think. I thought that, and I was gonna have this long and glorious career for the Crimson Tide. And then after that, I was going to be a broadcaster. And only part of that happened. Well, I always wanted to go to Alabama. And as I got a little older, I knew that they had a tremendous communication school. So it was an easy choice for me to go there to try to pursue this goal. Living in the dorms, I was an RA. It was great living that dorm atmosphere. You built some relationships, you had fun. It was a real community involvement. You know, I went to all kinds of sporting events because I was, you know, sports nut. And, you know, I think my existence was relatively, relatively typical on campus. And it was awesome. It was something that, you know, that I remember fondly all the time. The students now have it a whole lot better. Not that we had it bad, but in terms of the technology and the resources available to them and the opportunities to get more practical experience than we were able to get. I think it's a wonderful place to be if you want to pursue this in Alabama. When I was there, sort of had to make your own way. You had to sort of find your own opportunities. I did some of the radio reading for the public radio station in Alabama through a friend of mine who was working there that probably gave me a little experience and I needed it even if I didn't know it at the time. Right after graduation, I continued to work at Channel 33 in Tuscaloosa for a few months because I didn't have anything else. And they had hired me after I'd completed an internship there. They graciously kept me on. So I was working as a reporter there. Got a job in Columbus, Georgia, kind of moved up the ladder within the station from a reporter to a weekend anchor to sports director, but was trying to get out. And really, my biggest break came when I went to Flint, Michigan of all places. And my wife, who was newlyweds at the time, she said, you know, where do you want to go? And I said, well, I want to go to ESPN. I said, but I think you have to get to a bigger market so they'll pay attention to you first. And I ran across in an alumni magazine, Andrea Kirby, who is an alumnus in Alabama. She, at one time, was an on-air talent for ABC and it started her own talent consultant business and she was consulting ESPN. So I sent Andrea my tape and she responded pretty quickly. And she said, why haven't you sent your tape to ESPN? And I said, well, I think I have to be in a bigger place so they'll pay attention to me and think I'm legit. And she said, you've got this screwed up beyond belief. And I said, what do you mean? And she said, if you go to Chicago or Atlanta or Boston, Los Angeles, you'll never go to ESPN. And I said, why not? She said, you won't take the pay cut. And she said, send your tape now. And I did and they hired me and I've always been grateful to Andrea for kind of giving me some straight advice and really giving me some insight on how at the time how things worked there and what she thought was a good path for me to pursue some goals and opportunities and I've never forgotten her for that. And a lot of it was because of the connection that I was able to make through the two of us being alums of Alabama. I think if you're going to reach a goal that some people would say is too lofty, too high, or unattainable in some people's eyes, you have to continue to pursue it. I guess at Alabama they like to call that process. So Colby Bryant once told me that it was like putting pieces of a puzzle together. You have to enjoy the process or the puzzle building in order to get the end result that you want.