Forward motion

While channel surfing the other night, I happened upon the NFL Network. I normally keep right on going, as I am not much of a football fan. But on this particular evening, the network was presenting a short feature on Mike Ditka, the Chicago Bears’ hall-of-fame tight end who later became an icon in the City of Broad Shoulders after leading the Bears to their only Super Bowl championship so far.

Being a lifelong Chicagoan, you might think I would be compelled to watch the segment. I was, but not for that reason. As soon as the channel locked onto my screen, I became transfixed by clip after clip of Ditka plowing over defender after defender, who served as China settings to Ditka’s bull.

It occurred to me very quickly that Ditka shared one trait that is common among pro football’s best running backs, dating to the days of Bronko Nagurski in the 1930s: His legs never stopped moving. He would get hit time and time again, and his legs would continue to churn, eating up more precious yardage. I was privileged enough to watch Bears great Walter Payton’s career unfold live and in color, and I have seen clips of the even greater Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns, and they exhibited the same traits. Woe to the defensive back — or even linebacker — who tried to tackle any of the three one-on-one.

I think successful organizations exhibit the same trait. A little more than two years ago, when I was appointed editor of MRT, I promised that we would restore MRT’s editorial focus and journalistic integrity. Thanks to the considerable efforts of Senior Writer Donny Jackson and Managing Editor Nikki Golden, plus a talented team of writers and artists, I feel comfortable in saying that MRT once again is the magazine our industry turns to when it wants to know not only what’s happening today but also where the two-way radio sector is heading tomorrow.

But we’re not going to stop there. I’m pleased to announce the addition of Mary Rose Roberts to the editorial team as associate editor. Roberts has considerable experience in business reporting and this spring will earn a master’s degree in journalism. Roberts’ primary responsibility will be to lead the effort to make our electronic products more robust — particularly our Web site (www.mrtmag.com), by updating the site more often and adding new features. Our goal is to give you additional reasons to visit the site — even more often than you already do. Just as Messrs. Ditka, Payton and Brown were adept at churning out yardage, we’ve proved pretty good at churning out industry coverage. The addition of Mary Rose Roberts will make us better still.