Defending Big D has been pretty lucky since its birth. We’ve had a number of editors, writers, and contributors that have rolled through here and have liked it enough to stick around for a few seasons. For as long as we have them, we’re #blessed to have a diverse set of voices to bring the news, analysis, and some lighthearted fun to talking about the Dallas Stars and fostering a community of fans here in this little space of the internet.
But for all of us, eventually our time comes to say goodbye to contributing in that way. Whether it’s because of changing family circumstances, career moves, or generally realizing that there are a variety of other things that the time commitment needed to do this could be spent doing, the decision is personal and, often, quite hard to make.
And so we say happy trails to Robert Tiffin, who has been a part of this staff for the better part of the last decade. He posted his goodbye to the community last week, and we would be remiss without saying publicly our best wishes for him in the future with his work shaping the next generation. He may not be part of our every day now, but he’s always going to be a friend. After all, isn’t all of this really about the friends we made along the way?
The exciting part of this, though, is the opportunity to bring on some new voices to our coverage this season. I’m personally quite excited to welcome Amanda, Greg, and Trent to the team. I hope you’ll join me in making them all feel welcome here and taking a chance on their perspectives.
Amanda Herrera is a Latina pug lover born and raised in El Paso, Texas, who became a fan of the Dallas Stars about five years ago. She’s a proud El Pasoan involved in a variety of non-profit organizations in her community from animal welfare to helping train people with barriers to employment. She’s also a season ticket holder for the El Paso Rhinos, a tier III junior hockey team. Because she’s bilingual, she sometimes doesn’t realize that she’s switched to Spanish (Spanglish?) so be on the lookout for that!
Greg Higgins was born in New Mexico, but as they say, got to Texas as fast as he could. He arrived in the Lone Star State just a few years before the Dallas Stars did. In 1998, he went to his first hockey game and has been hooked ever since. While he’s not what he would call a “classically trained” media person, he has some experience in the realm. He does a sports show on a local radio station outside the DFW area, has broadcast high school sports and some college sports, and spent two years as a credentialed media member covering the Dallas Mavericks. His love for DFW sports only knows one bound – he’s been a Buffalo Bills fan for far longer than it was cool to be one. When not watching sports, his wife occasionally talks him into a bike ride, but every now and then a workout or a lazy nap on the couch wins out.
Trent Allen became a fan of the Dallas Stars even though he grew up in Alabama, showing just how far this game and this team can reach in “non-traditional markets.” Because of the distance, Trent had to find new ways to connect with hockey fans because, surprisingly, it’s not all that popular in Tide land. That’s how he came to Defending Big D. He’s excited to use the platform to start a conversation with other hockey fans and describes his writing style as “having a conversation I’ve always wanted to have with people other than my dad and brothers (they’re great, too, but I need to branch out.)”
You can catch our new staff members here all season long as well as on their respective Twitter accounts (Amanda, Greg, and Trent). Welcome aboard and let’s get this party (season) started!