The Sad Bear

February 7, 2009

When worlds collide, part 2 (or, "Scooped by the Strib!")

Never mind the coincidence; the fact that Tony and I work at newspapers in towns with similar names and compete with newspapers with the same name. Oh, it's still there. Only this story just makes it a little freakier.

Listen: there's this wrestler, named Gordon Bierschenk. He graduated from Waynesville High School in 2003. In high school he was a mediocre wrestler at best but decided after graduation that he'd walk on at the University of Minnesota anyway, just for the hell of it.

So far, so good. He then went to Iraq after being a decent walk-on and came back with a new fire. Now he's the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week.

Now, here's the freaky part: I got scooped on his story. Not by the Springfield News-Leader, or the Pulaski County Daily. No. I got scooped by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Never in a million years did I expect that to happen.

Now, this would admittedly be a lot freakier if Tony was still interning there. But still...who'd've thunk it? I've got national competition (*snicker*).

And you can read my version of the story here (no e-link yet, but I just posted the pdf on my blog, that'll have to do for now). My version is a bit more in-depth, plus I was able to talk to his mom and high school coach. Mine comes out Saturday, and the Strib piece was on Wednesday...the bastard.

Labels: coincidence, Daily Guide, Missouri, ne, newspapers, Star Tribune, Wayne, work

by JHitts at 12:19 AM |