STRAIGHT FROM THE HART: It took me a while, but I got to Amarillo as fast as I could

Louisiana, Colorado, Alaska, Iowa, and now, Texas. Those are the four places I’ve lived in the past two years.

You’re right. That is a lot.

Forgive me, I’m forgetting my manners. My name is Hart Pisani and I’ve just joined Shawn Moran as the second sports reporter for the Amarillo Globe-News.

With that all out of the way, let me share with you just how I got here.

I was born and raised in New Orleans (WHO DAT!?) and began my career as a freelancer for the New Orleans Advocate. After three years of driving for Uber to pay rent, I decided to take The Offspring’s advice and get a job.

That’s what took me to Sterling, Colorado in February of 2020.

Aside from the extraordinary amount of mullets, Sterling seemed like a dream come true. I was a full-time sports reporter, I had all my basic needs met, and my rent was dirt cheap. For about a month, everything was great.

Then, March 2020 came around, and … well, you know what happened then.

I made the best of a rough situation.

With no sports, I reported on local events, athlete features, and “Top Ten sports movies you can watch while in quarantine.”

All in all, it was a successful run.

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After a year, however, I was hungry for a new opportunity. While I enjoyed my time in Sterling, it was also only 13,000 people, I lived across from a train yard and the most popular place in town was the Walmart. I needed something more exciting. Something bigger. Something no one would ever believe I could do.

So I moved to Iowa! Just kidding. I went to Alaska first.

After driving six days through the foreign land known as Canada, I made it to Fairbanks. I had a blast there, even getting to cover the Midnight Sun game, where they start playing baseball at 10 p.m. and finish at 1 a.m. with the sun still up because … Alaska.

I also covered curling and got to learn about sled dog racing. It was awesome.

However, 20 hours of sunlight in the summer, 20 hours of the night sky in the winter, -30 temperatures in October and Monday Night Football coming on at 4 p.m. start to weigh on you pretty quickly. As such, I took off for Iowa after nine months.

What was Iowa like you ask? When I hear that question, I think of what comedian Hannibal Buress said when asked for his thought on Justin Bieber’s music.

“I don’t like your music, man,” Buress told Bieber. “I’m not a big fan of it. I listened to some of it and I’m not a fan. I don’t like your music. I think it’s bad, man, I don’t like it. I hate your music man.”

Like Forrest Gump used to say, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

So, after thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to cover Trevor Penning getting drafted by the Saints and not a whole lot else, I trekked to the Panhandle.

I’ve only lived in Amarillo for a week, and I can already tell this will be a place I’d love to stick around.

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Nearly everywhere I go, people seem to smile and say hello. There’s a sense of general human decency that I forgot existed in the world. People seem to care about one another here and there’s a genuine zest for life that I haven’t seen in some time.

And don’t think I didn’t notice how good the food is. As a New Orleanian, I know how important that is.

I heard a few people say to me, “there isn’t that much to do around here.”

After checking out Palo Duro Canyon, Cadillac Ranch and Lake Meredith, I would like to tell those people to spend a day in Sterling, Colorado. THEN tell me there’s not much to do here.

The awesome thing is, this is all just what I’ve noticed from getting moved in and settled. I haven’t even gotten the chance to cover some sports yet. The opportunity to cover Texas high school sports is one of a lifetime and I assure you, that’s not lost on me. The fact that there’s a AA minor league affiliate here is beyond exciting too.

Of course, as a Rockies fan, I’ll have to put their affiliation with the Diamondbacks aside.

Bob Dylan once said, “There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better.”

While New Orleans will always be my home and favorite place, Amarillo is already a huge step up from the last place I lived and I can tell I’ll like it more than Sterling.

As long as Monday Night Football starts on time, I’ll probably like it more than Alaska, too. That has me beyond excited to be here, working for y’all.

With that, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m excited to get this opportunity started and I’m looking forward to getting to know y’all more.

Oh, and FYI, that "Who Dat" thing is non-negotiable.

Sorry, not sorry.

Hart Pisani is a sports reporter for the Amarillo Globe-News. He can be reached at hpisani@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Introducing Hart Pisani, Amarillo's newest sports reporter