Bryan Roy's experience in Reporting | 
The Dodgers fall in Ramirez’s return to L.A., but his supporters show their love.
By BRYAN ROY
The Orange County Register
[The back story: Talk about deadline: I had four minutes after sprinting up the Dodger Stadium escalator to transcribe, plug in quotes and finalize stats]
LOS ANGELES – Just as expected, his last step to regaining relative normalcy was far from normal.
Manny Ramirez, 71 days since his last at-bat in Dodger Stadium, received a standing ovation to begin Thursday night’s 3-0 loss to the Houston Astros.
Having failed a drug test for a performance-enhancing substance, Ramirez’s 50-game suspension and admission to baseball’s mortal fault somehow didn’t dissipate his natural appeal to fans.
So in his long-awaited formal welcome back, as expected, fans renewed their mutual appreciation of Ramirez with open arms and dreadlocks.
As if it ever left.
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Bryan Roy's experience in Sports Columns |
David Bagga’s hoop dream is getting off the bench and getting a paycheck.
By BRYAN ROY
The Orange County Register
[The back story: This appeared as a "Morning Read" feature story on A1 of The Register]
David Bagga scanned the gym and saw something familiar:
Fear.
As shoes squeaked and balls bounced and grown men grunted and cursed and sweated, Bagga knew the question in the gut of every one of the 200 players trying out for a precious handful of the low-pay, high-potential spots in pro basketball’s minor league, the Development League.
The question was simple: “Am I good enough?”
Bagga has been asking so long it’s almost not worth asking anymore.
At Mater Dei, the high school basketball power in Santa Ana, Bagga was the team’s rah-rah guy.
Coaches and fans and sportswriters love rah-rah guys. Athletes – those with ambition, anyway – sometimes don’t. For Bagga, being the rah-rah guy meant he practiced and learned plays and did everything he was supposed to do. But, come game time, he spent a lot of time on the bench, jumping up and clapping and slapping butts when other kids scored.
Bagga, a shooting guard, averaged one point a game his senior year.
Somehow, it was enough.
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Bryan Roy's experience in Reporting |
By Bryan Roy
Arizona Daily Wildcat
[The back story: This was the final product after 72 hours of nonstop online updates. A late afternoon press conference gave us just hours to dissect the medical jargon. It won first place in Breaking News Reporting in the Society of Professional Journalism Regional 11 Awards.]
When the desert dust finally settled on his historic coaching legacy, Lute Olson closed out a 24-season tenure in Tucson with resiliency, passion and one final kick.
But prior to Tuesday, the final chapter of Olson’s uncharacteristic past year remained cloudy – up until his doctor announced the 74-year-old suffered a small stroke that occurred sometime during that year-long span.
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Dr. Steven D. Knope said a blood clot likely traveled from Olson’s heart to his brain – the stroke occurred in his frontal lobe – and caused a year’s worth of severe depression and uncharacteristic behavior and decision making.
The MRI exam conducted Monday revealed the stroke, which Knope believes to be the missing link in Olson’s recent personality changes.
And with that comes closure in Olson’s legacy at Arizona.
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Bryan Roy's experience in Web design |
