There’s an unwritten rule in professional journalism: You don’t cheer for the team you cover. And you don’t cheer publicly for your favorite individuals.
Key word: publicly.
Let’s be honest. Every journalist has a favorite, or a group of favorites. Whether it’s someone covered on the pro level or someone covered from the fledgling days of youth sports.
Tiffany Jackson was one of my favorites. And losing her — at only 37 years old — hurts.
Multiple reports announced Jackson’s death Monday night as she died from cancer. The Athletic was planning a piece on her before the college basketball season, as she was preparing to start her head coaching career at NAIA Wiley College in Marshall, Texas. With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a feature would have been perfect timing for someone who had beaten breast cancer once before, Stage 3 cancer in 2015.
I’m not writing as much now that I’m in an editor’s role, but this was an easy assignment for me, one that I couldn’t pass up. There’s so much to say about Jackson. I’ve known her since I was a cub reporter and she was a 14-year-old freshman kicking butt and taking names at Lincoln High School in Dallas. I watched her go from being described as “talented” to “outstanding” in the eyes of…
