The swag left The Daily Campus on May 10, 2009. It hadn't quite graduated yet, due to a technicality, but it was essentially gone.
That was the day former Sports Editor Kevin Duffy's eligibility dried up, just like so many of the athletes he covered for four years. Duffy packed up the laptop, filed away the notebook and the recorder and moved on from our little paper. His outlandish and often hilarious outlook on the sports world (and sometimes the celebrity gossip circuit), along with a seemingly endless supply of unconventional column ideas - his swag, if you will - went out the door with him.
I realize there are thousands of people on this campus who have no idea who or what I'm talking about, but for those that do, take a moment to collect yourselves, as I know I just nailed you right in what Michael Scott would refer to as the grief bone. With respect to the current editorial administration, the post-Duffy era has been tough on all of us.
Duffy's fan base stretched far beyond the confines of The Daily Campus, but some of his biggest supporters were colleagues like me who watched last November as he participated in the 5K Husky Run for column material, only to discover that several members of the men's basketball team struggled with the concept of official course routes.
The New Milford native has a unique voice and style as a writer that jumped off the pages he occupied - something other writers will attest is the ultimate compliment in our field. His sense of humor is always present and no one is the butt of more of his jokes than Duffy himself.
He combated writer's block with inventive alternatives to the standard "this is what I think about team 'A' or player 'B'" sports column. From an investigation into which UConn athletes had the most swag (that he conducted over the course of several weeks with Horatio-like precision) to a hypothetical Secret Santa exchange between members of the basketball team and coach Jim Calhoun, Duffy's creativity was second to none on our staff. And he never took himself too seriously, a personal philosophy I try to apply to my own work. Sports writing never felt like work to him and everything he wrote reflected that.
In addition to captivating the campus with his columns, Duffy was an accomplished beat reporter, covering football and men's basketball to close out his career. He churned out stellar, magazine-length features that shed new light on several prominent UConn athletes and broke open stories before the bigger papers in the state could get their hands on them. For his efforts, he was named to the 2009 UWIRE 100 - a collection of the 100 most promising college journalists in the country. His work has appeared on SI.com and FoxSports.com and stories of his have been linked to ESPN.com.
Even with all of this going for him, I remember running into Duffy this past spring and the perils of finding work in a free-falling journalism industry were the least of his worries. An oversight in his academic records resulted in him repeating a class his senior year and falling three credits short of the required 120 it takes to get out of here. He was unable to walk with the classmates he came in with and a May intersession course landed him the necessary credits to graduate in August.
As you might expect, Duffy's parents were less than thrilled with their son's graduation glitch. His experience did however make for a very funny inaugural post on the now-defunct blog he operated with friend and fellow DC staffer Max Jabbonsky entitled "THE LOST GENERATION: Two UConn graduates discuss the struggles (and hilarity) of life after college." It quickly became an uncensored and uninhibited forum for Duffy and company to discuss their exploits, drunken or otherwise, as well as a means for them to pass along wisdom they had acquired the hard way. Some highlights include: videos of Duffy attempting to eat an entire jar of peanut butter in one sitting, dancing shirtless and any video post from the ultimate bro, "Chill Friend Rick" Casagrande.
I caught up with Duffy this week to discuss the blog and other endeavors he's pursued in the wake of his delayed graduation. He wrote a bunch of "Where are they now?" features on former UConn athletes like Shamon Tooles, a role player off Calhoun's bench turned rapper. I figure if anyone I've worked with at the paper is worthy of that kind of treatment it's the Duff-man. I know I wondered what he was up to and I'm sure there are plenty of you clamoring for an update.
What I took from my conversation with Duffy is that the life awaiting me after my commencement ceremony - next May hopefully, barring a Duffian slip - will be far from easy. Things certainly haven't gone exactly according to his plans.
"I went from covering Donald Brown, Hasheem Thabeet, A.J. Price and the Final Four to not having a job," Duffy said.
While the blog was fun while it lasted, it was never going to pay the bills.
"It was a blast," Duffy said. "We got a lot of great feedback from people we knew. We didn't expect it, but I enjoyed writing it and having friends IM me and tell me they liked it."
Duffy embarked on a fruitless search for work in the sports journalism industry as soon as he left UConn. Sticking with sports writing was ideal and he felt he had built up a strong enough background to jump in and contribute somewhere right away.
"I applied anywhere," Duffy said. "SI, the LA Times, 'The Sporting News.' They told me, 'your resume is impressive, we like your clips but we're just not hiring.'"
After working as a copy editor for UWIRE and a trainer at Cardio Express in Manchester, it was clear to Duffy that he couldn't go on without writing in some capacity. If there was one thing writing the blog had taught him, it was that he loved the impact his writing had on people as much as doing it. He's since been hired by the Danbury News Times where he'll primarily cover high school sports. He has the freedom to write the occasional UConn feature at that post. He's hopeful it's a stepping stone toward bigger and better things.
"I'll probably be covering New Milford girls' field hockey," Duffy said. "It's hard to maintain your passion when you've covered the best college athletes in the world."
That said, Duffy has always enjoyed the passion of high school sports and even thinks there's a dynamic between players and fans at that level that doesn't translate to the college ranks.
"Sure, the atmosphere is awesome at Gampel, but those 6,000 students in the stands cheering for Jerome Dyson don't actually know Jerome Dyson," Duffy said.
With a dream gig as a sports writer on hold, it was early on this summer that Duffy got a plan B rolling - something he had thought about for years when his time as a camp counselor for 8-and 9-year-olds was a constant source of comedic material.
"I'm writing a sitcom," Duffy informed me matter-of-factly. I laughed, absorbed it, and proceeded onward to get the details. When this kid tells you about an idea he has or something he's doing, your initial reaction might be to laugh but nothing surprises you. He always does what he sets out to do.
The show, tentatively-titled "Camp," is about Duffy and his friend Sean and their experiences as co-counselors of the third-grade group. He pitched me the following premise in an e-mail:
"Six counselors and a supervisor balance workplace drama, romances, etc. as they interact with campers who range from kindergarten to third grade."
Oddly enough - and not to mention classic Duffy if you know him - "Camp" isn't the first time he's had primetime TV aspirations. At eight, Duffy, a miniature version of the hoops fanatic he is now, penned a show about ex-UCLA baller Tyus Edney and his entourage - complete with a friend-turned-manager. Mark Wahlberg's heist of that idea has left him to devote all his current energy into "Camp," and so far he's happy with how it's turning out.
"I wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and write till it's time to go to [one of my jobs]," Duffy said. "I literally write all day. I'm writing up a treatment so I can send it to agencies in New York and Los Angeles."
While his dream is still to land a regular gig with "Sports Illustrated" covering the NFL or something along those lines, Duffy is keeping his options open like any good writer in this market should.
"When an idea comes to me, I'm gonna go all out with it and try my best," Duffy said.
I know Duffy's best. I've read it. I'd love to watch it someday, too. If these 1,500-some words haven't convinced you - the length here was an homage to Duffy and the 47,826 words he wrote about Andre Dixon in January - I guess you'll just have to see it for yourself someday. It's coming, I promise.
Be the first to comment on this article!