The editorial staff in the Journal-World sports department works around the clock year-round to be your best source for breaking KU sports news, features and opinions. Here's your chance to get to know the men behind the bylines a little more personally.

Tom Keegan - Journal-World sports editor
Tom Keegan, sports editor/columnist/Spodcaster/panelist for "The Drive" television show for the World Company, has a diverse media background as a baseball writer, author, and sports talk radio host. A 1981 graduate of Marquette University, Keegan has written for the Orange County Register, National Sports Daily, Daily Southtown, Baltimore Sun and New York Post. Keegan also was co-host of an afternoon drive-time radio show on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York.
Keegan, born March 22, 1959, has written three baseball books. During his career, Keegan has interviewed, among others, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Jim Brown, John Hadl, Michael Jordan, Sandy Koufax, Tommy Lasorda, Willie Mays, Liza Minelli, Denny McLain (in prison), Terrell Owens, Cal Ripken, Jim Ryun, Wes Santee, Gale Sayers, Mike Tyson and Dwyane Wade.
Favorite teams: Marquette basketball, Rochester Red Wings.
Favorite sports moment: Kirk Gibson's Game 1 home run in the 1988 World Series.
Favorite sports quote: "I'll always take your calls, but don't ever call me again." -Told that by George Steinbrenner.

Gary Bedore - Journal-World KU men's basketball beat writer
Gary has covered KU basketball exclusively since Roy Williams' first year. Before that, he also covered the Royals, Chiefs and Lawrence High when it was the only school in town. He's from Chicago's South Side, as well as the Western suburb of Lisle, and a fan of both Benet Academy and Brother Rice, where he split his high school years before attending KU.
Favorite teams: White Sox, Bulls during Jordan era, Bears, Illinois Institute of Technology basketball, Brother Rice and Benet High football and basketball, Gabe Kaplan (poker), Anna Kournikova (tennis).
Favorite sports moment: White Sox World Series title two seasons ago.
Favorite sports quote: "My mom said I woke up from a dead sleep one time and said, 'I need some hot dogs from Steak and Shake.' I didn't even remember saying that. I was pretty messed up. -Jeff Graves commenting to me about his recovery from a car wreck at KU.

Matt Tait Journal-World KU football beat writer/'Hawks in the NBA blogger
A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He attended Pinckney Elementary School for two years, West Junior High for three and graduated from Lawrence High in 1996. After that Matt attended the University of Kansas, where he graduated in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. While in college, Matt covered the KU baseball and basketball teams for the University Daily Kansan. In addition, he was the publisher of a KU sports web site run by Rivals.com, which he continued to do for a little more than a year after graduation. Matt joined the World Company in June of 2001, when he was hired to become the sports editor of the Bonner Springs Chieftain and Basehor Sentinel weekly newspapers. In 2004, Matt's position grew to include becoming the sports editor of the Shawnee Dispatch, another weekly, which he helped start from the ground up. In July of 2007 he made the move to the big leagues when he was named High School Sports Editor at the Journal-World. Throughout his career Matt has covered a variety of sporting events from KU basketball games and NASCAR races at Kansas Speedway to minor league baseball games and school board meetings. But his favorite always has been high school sports. Matt credits the enthusiasm and passion of the young student-athletes for his love of the beat, and prides himself on the relationships he creates with the athletes and coaches he covers.
Favorite teams: Any and all Colorado sports teams, along with the Jayhawks.
Favorite Sports Moment: John Elway's helicopter dive for a first down during Denver's 31-24 victory against Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXII
Favorite sports quote: "I cannot really hear what Jeremy says because I've got my two Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears." - former Colorado Avalanche goalie, Patrick Roy, responding to criticism from Jeremy Roenick

Jesse Newell KUsports.com online editor
Jesse Newell has been online editor at KUsports.com since August of 2008, coming from The Emporia Gazette, where he covered Emporia State sports. A native of Emporia, Jesse double-majored in journalism and communication studies at the University of Kansas, graduating in 2006. In addition to sports, Jesse enjoys sleeping in and Royals baseball games, even though his record at the "K" is usually uninspiring.
Favorite teams: Kansas City Royals, Kansas City Chiefs.
Favorite sports moment: Trying out for the KU men's basketball team as a senior in college.
Favorite sports quote: "Come after me! I'm a man! I'm 40!" - Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy

Dugan Arnett - KUSports.com feature writer
Dugan Arnett has covered the KU football team for the Journal-World and KUSports.com since July of 2008. A 2006 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he grew up in Kansas City and attended Blue Springs South High School, home of the Jaguars (ROAR!). Prior to arriving at the Journal-World, he spent 18 months as an enterprise/high school sports reporter in Port Charlotte, Fla., where he covered everything from skeet shooting championships to push-up competitions.
His hobbies include, but are not limited to, kickboxing and getting asked out a lot by girls.
Favorite teams: Any team that Brandon Jennings is on.
Favorite sports quote: "Just touched down in New Orleans. Wats good with it. Holla atcha boy" - Mario Chalmers, via Twitter

Kevin Romary - 6News Sports director
Kevin joined the 6News Sports Team in 1997. Four years later, he became Sports Director. The Mansfield, Texas native and University of Kansas graduate lives in Lawrence. He spends his spare time on the links at Eagle Bend and occasionally plays a few sets of tennis.
Favorite Teams: KU, and all pro teams from Dallas.
Favorite Sports Moment: Making my first hole in one with my dad watching on.
Favorite Sports Quote: "Game, Blouses."

Andrew Baker - 6News sports anchor
Andrew joined the Channel 6 Sports team immediately after graduating from the University of Kansas in 2007 and says he feels fortunate to have found a job in his chosen field and to be part of the coverage team of the Orange Bowl and Final Four Championship. You can find him anchoring the 10 p.m. sports broadcast Sunday through Friday and broadcasting our High School Games of the Week with John Morris. Andrew's Dad is Canadian, so he was born in Toronto, Ontario, and lived there for his first eight years. His Mom's Kansas roots finally brought his family back to the Overland Park area, where he attended grades three through 12. Then, following family tradition, Andrew enrolled at KU and the School of Journalism. While there he realized that the closest he would come to "running out of that tunnel" was behind a microphone. Hence, the allure of sports broadcasting. At Blue Valley Northwest Andrew enjoyed playing freshman basketball and all four years on the varsity golf team. At Northwest he was awarded first place in the Sports Feature category by the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. While at KU he finished in first place for the Mark of Excellence Award for a story on the "Evolution of KU Cheerleading." The Summer before his senior year he interned with WDAF in Kansas City and was able to learn what it takes to succeed in the business. When he's not working, Andrew enjoys friends, golfing, watching movies, eating vegetables and taking his vitamins.
Favorite Teams: New England Patriots, KU, Toronto Blue Jays, Toronto Maple Leafs
Favorite Sports Moment: Joe Carter's home run in the top of the ninth in game six of the 1993 World Series against Philadelphia
Favorite Sports Quote: "There's no 'I' in team, but there's an 'I' in win." - Michael Jordan
Hobbies: Playing as much golf as I can, and taking Dugan to the hole on a regular basis.

Eric Sorrentino Sports copy editor/KUSports.com Big 12 blogger
Eric has worked at the Journal-World since February 2008 as a sports copy editor. He also keep the Conference Chatter blog on KUSports.com. His previous jobs were sports editor of The Mirror in Tonganoxie, part-time sports writer for the Journal-World and sports editor of the University Daily Kansan. He graduated from the William Allen White School of Journalism in 2006. The Texas state flag in Eric's room is sort of a giveaway of where he grew up. Plano is his hometown and he enjoys watching the Texas Rangers and Dallas Mavericks. He's also lived in Coral Springs, Fla. and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. While Eric's still not convinced the Big 12 is the best football conference, he's also convinced it won't be long until it is. He says the worst sports argument ever is that the best college football team could beat the worst NFL squad. His favorite sports movie of all-time is Bull Durham. Favorite movie of all-time is Back to the Future. Eric considers his parents and brother David as the most important parts of his life. In his spare time, Eric likes to watch the Texas Rangers online, shoot threes in Journal-World pick-up games and listen to music. Some favorite bands include Fair to Midland, Metallica, Sevendust, Avenged Sevenfold and AFI. You can follow Eric on Twitter, where he updates his my page with blogs, podcasts, features and more on the Big 12.
Favorite teams: Texas Rangers, Oakland Raiders, Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars.
Favorite sports moment: Former Rangers catcher Rod Barajas hitting a game-winning home run to beat the Yankees, 4-3, in May 2004.
Favorite sports quote: "The Bears are who we thought they were. We played them in the preseason ... We played them in the third game, everyone played three quarters, the Bears - are who we THOUGHT they were." - Former Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green

Bill Mayer - Contributing editor
Joined Journal-World staff in 1950 and has ranged from reporter, sports editor, news editor, managing editor and executive editor and columnist-editorialist before semi-retiring as contributing editor. Native of Kansas City, Kan., World War II Army Air Corps veteran and graduate of Wyandotte High School and Kansas University. Main hobby reading - anything fair or foul that might help provide fodder for J-W editorials and columns.
Favorite teams: Jayhawks, Lions and Firebirds and once the Celtics and Yankees.
Favorite sports moment: Forrest Griffith's last-minute touchdown that gave Kansas a 20-14 football victory over Missouri here in 1947 and sent the Jayhawks to their first bowl game.
Two favorite sports quotes: Boston Celtics' Bill Russell when asked by a young reporter how he thought he might have fared against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: "You've got that backward, son."