Mark Blaudschun recorded a scoop Monday. He was the only person to reach an ailing UConn coach Jim Calhoun in the hospital.
Now, there’s nothing new about Blaudschun getting a big story. However, what is new is where his piece first appeared.
Blaudschun, the long-time college writer, recently took a buyout after 25 years with the Boston Globe. He has since launched a new blog called AJerseyguy.com.
Monday, his site posted the Calhoun story. The Associated Press picked it up, attributing Calhoun’s quote to AJerseyguy.com. That story then ran in the Boston Herald.
“It’s a new world, I guess,” said Blaudschun, once he stopped laughing at the notion of his site getting mentioned in his old rival’s paper.
Like so many other people in this business, Blaudschun, 64, finds himself in the position of trying to reinvent himself. He said he didn’t have to take the buyout offer from the Globe, but the deal was too good to pass up.
“I thought I had a couple more years,” Blaudschun said. “But you don’t know what this business is going to be like. I didn’t know if the offer still would be there.”
Blaudschun, though, still wants to work. So he decided to start a blog. College sports will be his main focus, but he will write about other sports.
“College sports is my comfort zone,” Blaudschun said. “But whatever strikes me as being important, I’ll do. I’ll see what happens. I want to have some fun with it.”
There are fringe benefits to his new lifestyle. His son, Jack, asked if he wanted to play golf this week.
“He said, ‘What are your days off?” Blaudschun said. “I said, ‘All of them.'”
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“Blau” and I go back nearly 25 years when we both were on the college football beat. There were a great group of writers that included Gene Wojciechowski and Chris Dufrensne of the Los Angeles Times, Ivan Maisel of the Dallas Morning News, Steve Wieberg of USA Today, Dick “Hoops” Weiss of the New York Daily News, Malcolm Moran of the New York Times, Tim Layden of Newsday, Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post, and others. Some pretty good talent there, present company excluded.
We were together almost every weekend during the college season. A lot of good times in and out of the press box. Blau still loves to tell the story of the my 5-wood slipping out of my hands and flying into a lake during a rain-drenched round in Florida.
For all the great games we cover, the memories that endure are of being with my friends in the sportswriting fraternity. I don’t miss the travel and deadlines. But I miss being with them.