KURIAL: Box scores and so much more

Newspapers have mattered to me ever since I can remember.

The wealth of information within the pages led me to create my own newspaper at home as a kid. I reported on the family happenings around the house, usually to the chagrin of my parents. With an embargo quickly placed on the more personal info, I turned to writing about one of my other loves: sports.

The box scores of the sports section always seemed like an incredible world to me. Endless numbers, all new everyday and waiting for me to pour over. AB, PIM, STL, all were codes I learned to dissect, allowing me to learn that much more about the sports I loved. There may not have been any pictures within these back pages, but reading the box scores I could picture Mats Sundin scoring a game winner or Brett Favre having a big game at Lambeau Field.

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Spending many of my younger years in the Maritimes — a land of games that would regularly start well past my bedtime — this section would often be my primary source for seeing what happened during the previous night’s action. (Games that didn’t finish before print deadlines were always a drag.) I spent countless hours lost in this part of the paper, but what I found was a love for the medium that provided me with so much info.

Now, I’m fortunate enough to be on the other end of the distribution, relaying scores and stats to what I hope are the future sportswriters of the world. This is, of course, a story that could play out across all parts of the paper. The next economists may be fascinated by the business section, the next arts and culture writers taken with, well, the arts and culture stories, and so on.

The sports section inspired me from a young age to pursue something I love, and I believe that newspapers matter for this inspiration that they instill in youth every day.

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