The crazy things that business journalists do

Is there a full moon out tonight? I’ve run across two stories about what business reporters are doing outside of the newsroom that would make you question their sanity.

First up is Winnipeg Free Press business reporter Geoff Kirbyson, who began boxing training seven weeks ago at a local gym and will enter the ring tonight to fight a 35-year-old truck driver who has a longer arm span. Kirbyson, 38, has lost weight and two belt loops during his training. He was originally slated to fight a broker who weighed 20 pounds less.

Kirbyson wrote, “For anybody who hasn’t boxed, those rounds can last a lifetime when you’re throwing, slipping and blocking. At the same time, you’re burning nervous energy from a healthy awareness that one wrong move and your nose will be getting up front and personal with a 16-ounce glove moving at — in my conservative estimation — one million miles an hour.

“Harry Black, president of Pan Am, will be in my corner tonight. Those of you in business circles will know him as the managing partner of local accounting firm F.H. Black & Company. Boxing fans will remember the 48-year-old as Canada’s middleweight boxing champion in 1980-81 who also happened to be ranked in the Top 10 in the world.

“He’s been running the White Collar nights for a couple of years to raise money for youth-at-risk programs run out of Pan Am.

“Whether he’s just propping me up before a slaughter, I don’t know, but Black said he’s ‘very confident’ in my abilities.

Read more here.Â

And then there is Jondi Gumz, a business reporter for the Santa Cruz Sentinel in California, who ran for political office for the first time and won a seat on the local school board, a position I compare to being a proctologist. I’d hate to have all of those parents calling me to complain about their kid’s school and/or teachers.

Terri Morgan, a correspondent for the Sentinel, wrote, “Gumz, whose son attended Scotts Valley schools from kindergarten through 12th grade, will serve in public office for the first time. But she has extensive experience volunteering for the district. In addition to writing successful grants for the schools, she started a book sale that funded student scholarships.”

However, I like this part: “During her campaign, Gumz, a business reporter for the Sentinel, said one thing the district needs to do is ensure that students don’t fall behind in math.

“‘Math is sequential,’ she said. ‘If you don’t get a good foundation it makes it hard to catch up.'”

Read more here. As every business journalist knows, you gotta have those math skills.