Andy Sneddon

Age: 41
Number of years reporting: 18
Education: Bachelor of arts Journalism/Communications, Oakland University, 1990
Beat: Sports Editor
Journalism awards: Associated Press, sports feature, 1992; sports column, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004; sustained coverage of a single sports event, 2001, 2006; sports writing, 2006; sports enterprise, 2006; National Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest, sports column, 2003
Professional/civic organization membership: None will have me
Why sports?: Two reasons: 1. In high school, after our final football game my senior year (a game in which I had broken my leg), I wrote a column for the school paper about the mixed feelings (more sad than happy at that particular moment) I had that I had played my final football game. A girl -- an extremely attractive one who I didn't think even knew my name -- stopped me in the hall and said the column made her cry. I figured writing was a good way to meet girls. 2. It was break time on the job site, circa 1987. I was a 21-year-old sheet metal apprentice, and I snatched the copy of the Detroit Free Press that our foreman had brought to work. I never took my nose out of that paper for the entire 15-minute break. "Hey kid, you gonna' make a career out of that $#)@S^% sports section?" he said to me smiling. Hmm, I thought, rubbing my chin ...
Favorite sports teams? Charlestown Chiefs, Chico's Bail Bonds, Hazel Park Vikings and, well, OK, the Detroit Tigers.