Happy Birthday, Jose!

By Sunny Cadwallader

I first came across Jose Romero while he was working in Seattle. He had the Seattle Sounders beat for the Seattle Times.

Being a fan of the newest MLS team, I naturally had to follow him on Twitter.

And then I think I unfollowed him. 🙂

For the life of me, I can’t remember why, but I did. Maybe it’s when he left the beat and moved to Arizona. Although, being an Arizona kid myself, one would think I would continue to follow him, but no.

A few years later, I encountered Jose again, only this time it was to work together.

The Sporting Nation, where Jose was the editor, was a sports site devoted to the Hispanic fan. There weren’t many sites like it on the old interwebs. Most of the sports media back then thought of sports and culture as just a black-and-white issue. To this day, sadly, most do.

But, Sporting Nation aimed to fill that gap. Not only to write about Hispanics in sports, but to give young Hispanic writers a place to ply their trade. To gain some valuable writing time, publishing of their articles, but teaching them how to be a journalist.

I was called in to write and run the social media side of things. To say I was excited was an understatement. Working with Jose???? Well, I just wasn’t so sure about that.

Intimidation comes to mind.

He was a former Seattle Times writer, for goodness sake. And here I was, a no-name, non-educated, not young wanabe daring to write for a site devoted to Hispanics? I mean, there are some in my past who have said in not-so-many-words that I’m not Hispanic enough.

Worry was unnecessary. It took awhile, but I earned Jose’s respect. At least, I think I did. Lol.

I wrote. I posted on social media. I had ideas. I made sure to send him all of my stories for his review. I asked questions. That’s what a writer is supposed to do, right?

Fast forward to today.

We lost Sporting Nation. Jose and I were left without a writing home. We lamented the loss, but we couldn’t let it go. We bounced around some ideas and came up with Somos Sports.

We’ve grown to appreciate each other’s strengths and differences, as any good partnership does. Not only is he my co-founder and STILL my editor, but I count him as  my friend.

And so today, on his birthday, TE SALUDO, JOSE! Gracías por todo lo que me has enseñado sobre periodismo. Gracías por creer en mi. Y especialmente, gracías por tu amistad.

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Jose! Happy birthday, my friend!