Meet Knox News' new Tennessee baseball writer Emmett Siegel – Knoxville News Sentinel

I’ll be honest. I don’t particularly like writing about myself. For a reason I can’t quite pin down, it makes me a bit uncomfortable.
The good news is I shouldn’t have to do it much in this job, so let’s get this one out of the way.
I’m Emmett Siegel, and I’m very excited to be joining Knox News for a newly created position to focus on Tennessee baseball.
I know it’s odd timing to be joining the baseball beat with only a few weeks left in the regular season, but I’m ready to jump in headfirst as the Vols head down the stretch of SEC play toward the postseason. And, as we all know, the college sports news cycle never ends.
A bit of background on myself: I’m from the Washington, D.C. area, growing up in the Maryland suburbs and staying local for college at the University of Maryland. I didn’t have to go far for my first job at The Washington Post, where I covered high school sports.
That provided my first professional opportunity to document the power of sports and how it can bring a community together. It can also change lives for stars like Nate Ament, who I profiled when he was in high school. Some of you may have heard of that guy before.
My foray into journalism was a bit of an accident. I wrote for my high school newspaper’s not-at-all-robust sports section, but mostly because I had friends I could talk to during that period. As I enrolled in college unsure what I wanted to pursue professionally, I kept journalism in the back of my mind but no closer.
One day my sophomore year, I decided to walk a different route than usual between classes (I probably just had some time to kill). I ran into a friend from high school and he asked if I was still interested in sports writing. I said maybe, so he gave me the phone number of someone he knew was looking for students interested in writing about Maryland athletics. Why not just give it a try?
Four years later, sports journalism is my full-time job. Funny how things work out that way.
Journalism is how I ended up in Knoxville, which I previously had only ever experienced through a TV some 500 miles away, imagining what it might be like to experience the checkered spectacle of Neyland Stadium in person. Before I saw the city with my own eyes for the first time, I hadn’t really grasped Knoxville as a place that existed beyond the Tennessee athletic facilities.
Since arriving here, though, I’ve realized how robust this city truly is. It feels weirdly familiar for a place I’ve lived for – let me count – five days.
Being part of this community excites me. The chance to tell stories about Tennessee athletics, which I know mean so much to so many here and everywhere, excites me too.
Let’s do this.
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_

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