The Inside Veer – The Police, “Wrapped Around Your Finger”

I have only come here seeking knowledge

Things they would not teach me of in college

– The Police, “Wrapped Around Your Finger”

On my first day of work as a reporter back in the Dark Ages of 1993, my editor, Dave Sanford, told me to forget everything I had learned in college.

I was obviously taken aback, having just spent seven years not just chasing a degree, but taking every class in the catalogue that I found interesting. Seeking knowledge was the reason I was in college in the first place.

It didn’t take me long out in the real world to realize what Dave was trying to tell me. I have been lucky enough through the years to work either directly with or in close enough proximity to some of the best people in the newspaper business in Northern Nevada. 

At the Mason Valley News, Dave, his brother Jim and dad Robert are all in the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame, as is Laura Tenant, who I shared an office with in Dayton for a couple of years. When I was covering University of Nevada sports as a freelancer, I paid eagle-eye attention to everything Steve Sneddon did.

As I’ve found, life teaches you way more than college.

The Fernley High School football team found that lesson the hard way Friday night, suffering a tough loss in Bishop. They trailed on the scoreboard most of the night, even though they got the better of Bishop on significantly more than half of the 100 or so plays in the game. But that’s not how scores are kept in football, or in the real world. 

Coach Anfernee Sloan had a quick response when asked what he told his team.

“Welcome to life, man” Sloan said.

Driving back from Bishop with my broadcast partner Mike Nattress riding shotgun in the late hours Friday night, I made an idle observation wondering what county we were in, having not seen the state line sign even though I noticed the mile marker numbers change. 

That prompted a discussion on Nevada counties, why Tonopah is in the same county as Pahrump, which is more than 2 hours way, but not Goldfield, which is 20 miles from Tonopah on the way to Pahrump and ended up leading to Mike going down a rabbit hole on Google.

It was no painful lesson like the one the Vaqueros had to learn Friday, but it was another reminder that no matter what experience you have or what you might think you know, you will always learn more from life, than you do from college.