Drake Grad Marc Topkin Finally Gets To Write About a Winner At Tampa Bay

Jane Burns, who in my estimation is the best newspaper columnist, reporter and copy editor in Wisconsin, sent me an e-mail about a guy who was one of her classmates at Drake:

Ron,

"Thought you might be entertained to know that the Tampa Bay Rays' beat writer is a Drake grad [and former Register intern from a million years ago] named Marc Topkin. A classmate of mine at Drake. He's a St. Pete native who has been covering baseball at the St. Pete Times back before they even had a baseball team and were trying to steal the White Sox.

"Having covered the Hawks in their low years [I mean the old ones in the 60s and 70s], I figure you know a thing or two about covering a team that was terrible for so long and then suddenly a contender. It's the best kind of story of all, as you well know.

"Here's the St. Pete baseball blog that Topkin and another guy write:

http://blogs.tampabay.com/rays/

Jane Burns
The Capital Times
Madison, Wis.

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Topkin's bio in the St. Petersburg Times says he's "covered baseball for the Times since 1987 — from the lengthy effort to secure a team, to the awarding of the Tampa Bay franchise, and through each of the Rays seasons. He has traveled throughout the country with the team, as well as to Venezuela, Mexico and Japan, and has covered All-Star games and the World Series, as well as Super Bowls and the 2004 Olympics." I'm glad to see Topkin, like Jane Burns, has gone on to do well in the news business. There's something in my memory bank that says Topkin [pictured at the right] was turning into an investigative reporter very early in his writing life. I think it was when he was an intern at the Des Moines Register that he spotted a would-be Bulldog basketball player, in effect, auditioning in Drake Fieldhouse for a spot on the roster. The way I recall it, Topkin wrote a story for the Register, and Gary Garner [then the Bulldogs' coach] and the university's basketball program wound up being penalized by the NCAA. Afterward, I was talking to Garner about a number of things, including Iowa's Sportswriter of the Year Award -- something I won in 1977, 1978, 1904 and 1996. "You know who my sportswriter of the year is, don't you?" Garner said bitterly. "That kid Topkin." Another example, of course, of sportswriters, their editors and coaches not looking at certain situations the same way. Whatever, I'm glad Topkin finally has a successful Tampa Bay baseball team to cover. Now, let's make sure the Rays don't blow this whole thing in their series against the Boston Red Sox. As Jane Burns mentioned, I had plenty of experience covering losing teams in my working days. I had a huge role in covering 19 consecutive seasons of non-winning football at the University of Iowa, and I experienced plenty of losing seasons in football and basketball at Iowa State and Drake, too].

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My West Coast Correspondent sent me this dispatch from Iliana Limon's blog in OrlandoSentinel.com about a basketball coach a lot of us around here know well:

"I think it's safe to say Southern Mississippi coach Larry Eustachy just served up the quote of the day. While other coaches said they expect this to be one of the best season ever for Conference USA men's basketball, Eustachy argued the league already was very strong last year. He said the problem was the conference was overshadowed by Memphis' dominant season. Eustachy pointed out Memphis thrashed a lot of nonconference teams and the talent in Conference USA shouldn't have been dismissed. Eustachy did agree that the league will be even tougher this year, but he didn't want last year's success to be overlooked.

"Then he shared this gem: 'This mid-major crap is crap. This is a high-major conference.'

"Memphis Coach John Calipari was sitting next Eustachy and covered his face while laughing at the blunt comment."

[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Eustachy [pictured at the left], of course, is the former Iowa State coach who has found tough sledding at Southern Mississippi. I hope things improve for him in the upcoming season].