Former Times staffer

I was born in Iowa City, Iowa but moved to Florida when I was three, which technically makes me a Floridian. I grew up in Pinellas Park and Clearwater and attended Pinellas Park High School. The son of a physical education teacher and avid sports fan, I tried just about everything as a kid. I played golf, racquetball, tennis, fished, water skied and even played middle school football until I got hit trying to make a catch. That doesn’t happen in baseball, so I took that up full time. After graduating from Florida State and working in North Carolina for three years, I ended up back in St. Petersburg and started working part-time for the Times. I've been there ever since. I've worked as an editorial assistant, covered preps, written local feature stories, covered golf (and helped create a local golf website), outdoors, soccer, tennis and helped when needed with our local professional teams. In short, I've tried to be the utility infielder on a very talented team. I'm also the father of two kids who ended up playing soccer, but I’m still not sure what offsides is.

• @RodneyHomeTeam