_Avani Patel
Avani Patel is part of the Chicago Tribune editorial board. She grew up rooting for the San Francisco 49ers, the San Francisco Giants, and the Duke Blue Devils. But she was an equally opportunity sports fan. She would watch any good game, meet or match she could find on broadcast television. She used to dream about how cool it would be to get paid to watch — and write about — sports. So it’s no stretch to say that she was living out a childhood fantasy in the seven years she spent as a sports writer at the Tribune. She covered the Cubs and the Sox, the occasional Bulls or Bears game, and a lot of Notre Dame football and basketball. She also covered the U.S. Open, the Arlington Million and the NBA Eastern Conference Finals. She’s also covered the Sugar Bowl, the Orange Bowl, several Fiesta Bowls, and multiple Final Fours.
Three years ago, she left sports to join the editorial board. These days, she writes about education, juvenile justice, AIDS in Africa, food and product safety, pirates, and yes, occasionally, sports. she gets asked all the time if she misses her last job, the dream job. The answer is no. As an editorial writer, my job is to think about a broad range of issues, burrow deeply into the ones that most affect our lives, and explain the best way forward. In the course of her job, she gets to interview scholars, politicians, activists and ordinary citizens. It’s a big responsibility. But it’s also a lot of fun.
” I’ve come full circle. After years of watching games with a reporter’s eye, I’ve gone back to what I started as: an equal opportunity sports fan”.
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