r c Years in sports a 'thrill' • Story continues from page 1. Then, of course, the Belleville Bulls >came into being and it was a wonderful .ride covering that hockey club. I will cherish the memories of three years as an on-air news guy at CJBQ and I spent a memorable 20 years of • providing colour to play-by-play man Jack Miller. , I'll never forget the thrill of that , first OHL game in 1981 when the Bulls faced off against Kingston and, in • 1986, when the Bulls went to the OHL final and the great play of people like Jason Lafreniere, Craig Billington in net and, of course, that game when Stan Drulia scored with just just eight seconds left to bury Kingston... I don't think I ever saw that Sports Centre explode like it did when Drulia scored that goal and the Bulls would go on to win that game in overtime and advance to the league final, only to lose to Guelph -- who went on to win the Memorial Cup. Although this team, in the early 90s, never won any championships, I'll never forget that team that featured the likes of Darren McCarty, Brent Gretzky and Tony Cimmarello; Scott Boston and Jake Grimes on defence -- it was one of the strongest, if not the strongest, power plays in the history of the OHL. In 1999, finally, Nirvana -- the OHL championships and I had just had open-heart surgery and, thankfully, I was well enough to make the games in Ottawa and do the games with Jack Miller and write reports for The Intell. It was, probably, for me, a chance to "I DON'T THINK I EVER SAW THAT SPORTS CENTRE EXPLODE LIKE IT DID WHEN DRULIA SCORED THAT COAL AND THE BULLS WOULD CO ON TO WIN THAT CAME IN OVERTIME AND ADVANCE TO THE LEAGUE FINAL..." live out a dream -- to cover the Bulls in a league championship. It was a chance to live out a dream to see the Bulls in the Memorial Cup. They didn't win it all, because of injuries, but I was proud to cover them and the city was proud to have them representing Belleville. In fastball, there was the covering as well as the participation. I had the honour of coaching two championship teams and coaching players like Danny Sagriff and George Foot, Doug Campbell and Paul Marineau. My dream was always to win a city championship and that was a thrill -- to see the team in the newspaper and to see the players' names and my name was there on a championship trophy. Broomball championships followed and there were a pair, one in Belleville and one in Colborne. I had the pleasure with working with the Marineau and Pope families. It's just been a thrill, my years in sports in Belleville. On the news side, I covered a provincial police inquiry into Belleville police, from start to finish, and a number of major murder trials. It was interesting as well as sad to see someone destroy their own life and take another life with them. In news or sports, I worked alongside and covered some great people. I learned some times, your family can be the people you work with. I don't want to leave anyone out and I don't mean any disrespect by not mentioning them here, but I won't forget the people I grew up with in that family, like Ady Vos, Brian O'Meara, Chris Malette, Linda O'Connor, Ron Hiuser, Henry Bury -- that's the bunch that had been together the longest. We'd been together through thick and thin and, now that I'm calling.it a day, I have to be thankful for the support and love of my family, my aunts, uncles, cousins, my brother Tim, but, most importantly the support of my brother Danny, who's been there every step of the way. As this draws to a close, I thank you, dear reader, for the time you have spent reading what I've written for you. Thank you. •, J :