AP’s Tom Withers to cover World Series Game 1 and Cavs’ banner-raising Tuesday

Cleveland will play host to two massive sports events Tuesday night, and at least one reporter is going to cover both. Tom Withers of The Associated Press is planning to cover the Cavaliers’ NBA championship banner-raising and ring ceremony as well as the first game of the World Series between the Indians and the Chicago Cubs. Withers spoke to Oregonian columnist and Portland radio host John Canzano Tuesday about pulling double duty, starting at 7:08 here:

Canzano asks “You cover the Cavs and you cover the Indians, you have a perfect storm here tonight. Where is the AP sending Tom Withers tonight?”

Withers responds “The AP is going to have Tom Withers running back and forth between both venues, which I’ve already done a couple of times today. I’ve had a story out there all day that I’ve been continually updating, and I’ll put a new top on that when the ring ceremony takes place and LeBron and his teammates raise that banner, like I said before, to the top of Quicken Loans Arena. I’ll hopefully put a little polish on that story and then hustle back here (Progressive Field) for the remainder of Game One. You’re right, it’s an absolute confluence, the perfect sports storm.”

Canzano then responds that Withers is living the dream.

“You have a dream assignment tonight,” he said. “There’s kids everywhere going ‘I want to be a sportswriter, because Tom Withers got to go to both things.'”

That is pretty cool for Withers, and while it will surely be a ton of work for him, it’s definitely going to create a memorable experience. We’ve seen sports media figures covering multiple events in a short span before, with Kenny Albert pulling off four sports in nine days last fall, 11 games in 11 days last spring and four in seven days this fall and Joe Buck calling both the 49ers and Giants back in 2012, but it’s interesting to see a print reporter pulling this kind of double duty. It’s also notable that this is the AP, as there are going to be plenty of publications that pick up both stories from them. Look to see dual bylines from Withers in papers across the country Wednesday.

[The Oregonian]