I didn’t get around to fully describing it when I wished, but we created a fourth new sports position last year when we decided to expand our statewide audience by covering the Bengals. The job is to cover the rivals of Cleveland’s sports teams, for Cleveland sports fans. The Steelers. The Wolverines. You know, the teams that make a Cleveland fan’s blood boil. We wanted a reporter to write with insight about those rivals, with an edge. We needed someone to be as informed about those rivals as the hometown writers. Meet Jimmy Watkins, rivalries reporter. Jimmy comes to us from the Omaha World-Herald, where he was mainly covering the University of Nebraska basketball team as well as writing about football. But have no concern. Jimmy is a Northeast Ohio local. He was born in Los Angeles but moved to Northeast Ohio when he was nine, graduating from Willoughby South High School. He knows the blood feud Browns fans have with Steelers fans. He understands why two years of the Buckeyes losing to the Wolverines has left many despondent. Now his job is to examine those teams and other rivals much more closely than we have previously, to feed the appetite fans have for knowledge of those teams. This is not an easy job. It requires someone with some attitude and humor. It requires someone who can bite. Jimmy’s first story left us no doubt that we had the right person. His first day was the Monday before before the OSU-Michigan game. His first duty was to cover Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s talk with reporters. The headline: What rivalry? Jim Harbaugh sure changed his tune Monday when asked about Michigan’s 2021 trash talk toward Ohio State And the top of the story: Five days before the first all-undefeated version of The Game since 2006, it has already been Jim Harbaugh’s honor to participate. We know this because Harbaugh invoked that word five times in 15 minutes during Monday’s press conference. To hear him tell it, the No. 3 Wolverines (11-0) harbor no animosity toward second-ranked Ohio State (11-0). “There’s no need to hate,” he said. They are instead humbled to exist on the same field as such an impressive opponent. You can read the whole story at tinyurl.com/Jimmywatkins1 It’s exactly what we envisioned when we created this role. Based on facts, but filled with attitude. (Yes, Ohio State lost the big game, but fairly? Word is that Harbaugh is under investigation for some serious NCAA rules. Is that how Michigan wins? -- We make no claim to be above trash talk here.) We also hope to see more of the stories like one Jimmy published Dec. 21, about signing day. He did a terrific analysis on the quality of the Michigan recruiting, showing it to be sub-par. For Buckeye fans looking to take back bragging rights from their rival to the north, that’s important information. (You can read the analysis at tinyurl.com/jimmywatkins2 ) I asked Jimmy how readers have reacted. “There are people who want take a scissors to everything I’ve written,” he said. “There are people who appreciate the perspective.” What makes the assignment work, he thinks, is that people hate the rivals as much as they love their teams. Our beat reporters feed the fans’ hunger for details about the teams. Jimmy’s stories feed their antipathy. Because this is a new role, Jimmy will refine it. He’s not sure where it will take him. He addressed that at the close of his first week, a wild one ending with the big game. It offers more of his personality. You can read it at tinyurl.com/jimmywatkins3 As the seasons come to a close for football, which has well-defined rivalries, he will explore potential future rivals for the Cavaliers, a young team that has found a way to win. And in baseball, who doesn’t hate the Yankees? We created this position and the three to cover the Bengals – Ohio’s only professional football team with a winning record – in hopes they will more than pay for themselves. We’ve learned a lot over the past 10 years about sustainable journalism, and the model we use for covering sports generates revenue. We think that using that model with these roles can generate enough money to pay for them, while expanding our audience and providing quality coverage for people who can’t get it elsewhere. The Bengals writers, Mohammed Ahmad, Andrew Gillis and Mike Niziolek, have been covering the Bengals the way we have long covered the Browns, including via our new Strictly Stripes podcast. People in Cleveland don’t see – or hear -- much of this coverage, because it is not aimed at Northeast Ohio, although their coverage of Damar Hamlin in the Bengals-Bills game was read widely in the region. Their content is aimed at fans in the southern end of the state. Jimmy’s writing, however, is for you. Thanks for reading. | 