Mastering Multimedia

So I'm a video star now.

Please click that link as many times as you can. 

Click it even if you don't plan to watch. 

Click it till you get carpal tunnel.

I'm not too proud to admit I'm a click whore. The folks who run big media outlets live and die by page views these days, so the more clicks I receive on my stories, the more important I seem. So please, click away.

Back to the video. That was the first one I've starred in for the Star, and folks who know about these things say I did a good job, and I think I told the story well.

And how did I come to star in boxing videos at thestar.com?

There's a story there, too....

Those of you who know me as the guy who covers Toronto FC are probably wondering where the heck I've been since the MLS regular season ended, and rightly so. Since TFC's last game I think I've filed exactly one story about soccer, which doesn't give TFC's information-hungry fan base much to go on.

But those of you who follow my career (mostly blood relatives, and even they tune out sometimes), know that I've always been Mr. Damn Near Everything at the Star, and by the time injury time TFC's season-ending 2-0 loss in San Jose, I was already knee deep in my next task:

Trying to figure out why the CFL still doesn't test for drugs.

Between that feature, a few daily CFL stories, and multimedia training, I haven't had much time for MLS or my Toronto FC blog.

Multimedia training isn't a game. It's where the newspaper business is headed, and as a reporter if you can't make yourself comfortable with a camera, a mic and iMovieHD, then prepare to fall well behind your comp.

So learning those skills consumed late October and early November.

It stinks in some ways, because I feel I'm losing the connection I forged with local soccer fans over the last 12 months.

But, the shift in focus has allowed me to devote some attention to boxing (by FAR my favourite sport to write about) and put those hard-earned multimedia skills to work.

If you're a Canadian who follows boxing, then you know Steve "The Canadian Kid" Molitor tried to unify the 122-pound titles against Celestino "Pelenchin" Caballero on Nov. 21. And if you're into the Sweet Science, you know it didn't end well for the home team.

As a guy who loves covering boxing the outcome stinks for me, too. Molitor wins and I follow him to Vegas, Atlantic City or wherever his next big fight would have been. But with the only Canadian boxer the mainstream media here care about beltless and out of action until summer, boxing returns to its normal place on the Canadian sports media's list of priorities. Somewhere south of high school cricket, last time I checked.

I knew as much going into fight week, so I made sure I capitalized on what might be my last big-time boxing assignment in a looooooong time.

In addition to the video I know you all clicked on at the top of the page, I made time to do another one at the news conference two days before the fight.

So when is the next one coming?

Can't tell right now. Could be tomorrow, could be next year. All depends on finding stories that look good on video, and making sure the in-house videographers are around to help me out, because if I had to edit either of those videos myself we'd still be waiting for them.

In the meantime you guys can keep clicking on the links I've already posted.

Click until your mouse begs for mercy.

Click like my job depends on it.

Because one day, it just might.