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My name is Michael Doidge and I am writing this column as one way to help achieve my goal of becoming a sports broadcaster or journalist one day.
I’ve been a sports fan my entire life but unfortunately due to my disability I have never been able to physically play them.
Growing up, I would watch Michigan State Spartans football and basketball, as well as Iowa Hawkeye football games with my grandma and grandpa.
My grandma was always more of an emotionally driven sports fan. She could tell you everything about every Big Ten team and even made up her own version of the team's fight songs.
I like to think that I got most of my passion for sports from her.
She always encouraged me to pursue sports broadcasting. In some way she was always one of my biggest supporters and by the time I was 8-years old, I was able to name all of the players, what positions they played, and what their stats were from the last game.
In the 6th grade, I was talking to one of the substitute teachers about football and as it turns out, he was the varsity football coach. He was impressed with my knowledge of the sport and decided to have me be one of the team managers which was a role I carried from 6th grade all the way through high school.
When I started 9th grade, I would work with the athletic coordinator for Alcona. I would help her set up for any sporting event that would happen and also write sports articles for her.
I would write up game highlights from any sport of my choosing and would send them to her and my English teacher and they would send me feedback on what I needed to work on.
I started writing sports articles during the COVID-19 pandemic and at first, i was really nervous about turning something in because I was worried about messing up somebody's name or misquoting someone, but as time went on, and I got more practice, I started feeling more confident in what I was writing about.
I think the main reason why I like writing sports articles is because it keeps me close to the things I love the most.
I’ve wanted to be involved in sports in some way my whole life and I would never take it for granted. Even though I liked writing sports articles there were times where I would become depressed because I couldn’t play the sports everyone else could and it would also hurt seeing able bodied athletes quit because. I knew, if I could, I would take advantage of any opportunity to play. It was also hard watching my friends receive scholarships to these different universities and wished it could be me.
If I had to pick my favorite sport to write about, it would probably be football because it has always been the sport I enjoy the most and it will probably always be my favorite sport to report about because it’s easy for me to keep up with.
I know all of the lingo I’ve got the chance to meet plenty of Detroit Lions legends and Michigan State legends over the years and every single one of them told me I had potential for broadcasting.
I’ve always been told that I have potential in broadcasting, it just took me a while to figure that out. But, I think I’ve come a long way since my first article and I can’t wait to go even further in my career.
I would also like to thank my mom for being able to take me to all of the games across the state and for always being there to support me.
By the time I got to high school, most of our high school football league moved from 11 man football to eight-man football, so we basically had to go on a state-wide tour just to play football. So, needless to say, we put a lot of miles on the car and my mom was always willing to take me wherever the games were.
Most of the time we would usually be there before the bus arrived and even coach Somers mentioned that fact at our annual end of the year banquet.
He even made a joke about how my mom and I were always the first to the games. All of my coaches were impressed by my dedication to the game and I think it’s translated well into my adult years.