90 mins. until kickoff

Posted Saturday, September 13, 2008, at 9:34 AM

Iowa is listed as a 13 1/2 point favorite, but that seems a little steep. Just going on a gut feeling, look for the Hawkeyes to win 24-16.

The Mitchell Report

Russ Mitchell

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I'm a general assignment reporter and online contributor for The Daily Reporter in Spencer. I grew up, went to school and entered the work force right here in Spencer. And no matter where I was in life, I liked to read my local newspaper. My break in journalism came in the fall of 1997. The Daily Reporter's Sports Editor Steve Clark left early on in the football season for another opportunity. General assignment reporters tried to corral the sports results while they searched for Mr. Clark's replacement. In the meantime, I saw an ad for a "sports stringer" without fully knowing what a "stringer" was. I put together a "Pigskin Preview" (the Friday morning high school football preview column) for a writing sample. They let me pick up some of the slack part-time with cross country stories and football coverage for the smaller schools. I began helping more and more. Long story short, they found Mr. Clark's successor, but that guy didn't make it past Thanksgiving. By then, I had enough practice and demonstrated enough ability to become the sports editor. I then slipped into a general assignment position when it opened up in 1998. I've been on the news side, covering six counties for three different publications, for more than 10 years now. It all came from an interest in writing, some good timing and, hopefully, a bit of ability. I'll let you be the judge of that. The Mitchell Report will include views on current events, sports and pop culture.

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