Vermillion, S.D.

The alarm sounded, mocking me. It might have been saying: “Ha, ha, you only got four hours of sleep, and you have to shadow someone from dusk until dawn today.”

I threw the alarm on the floor and now have to find a new way of getting up. But that’s more of a campfire story.

Primary election day was worth a wake-up. I’ve never had an uncle-figure in my life. Now I do.

I wasn’t nervous. I was headed to Sioux Falls to shadow David Kranz of the Argus Leader, one of the region’s most respected journalists. I met him, shook his hand and took a seat. Eventually, I actually met a politician who was friendly. Odd, I know.

Kranz and I talked a lot in his car. Somehow, we touched on sports, a great interest for both of us. A friendship started.

That’s not the only reason that I like the guy, though.

Driving around Sioux Falls, Kranz and I wasted time chatting before heading to the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama headquarters. Apparently, we were expected earlier at Clinton headquarters, according to the Jim Cheeseman, multimedia editor of the Argus Leader.

I thought I could see Cheeseman’s neck veins sticking out as I heard his muffled voice coming from Kranz’s cell phone. But Kranz kept his composure. That was the wow factor.

Why wouldn’t he constantly keep calm despite the situation? For goodness sake, on a baseball, the man has signatures of 10 of the 24 players who have hit at least 500 home runs. That’s about as cool as having air conditioning in a university dorm room.

I would be happy every day for the rest of my life if I had Mickey Mantle’s autograph sitting at home, waiting for me to get off work.

Kranz suggested that we visit a Sioux Falls baseball card store before this trip was over. I hope we do.

There are 142,396 people living in Sioux Falls, but it only took one to make a difference in my life.

—M.J. Casiano, American Indian Journalism Institute