Chronicle Sports Reporter Brad Joyal Bids Farewell

When I was a young boy, I’d often wake up in the morning and find a sports story cut out of the local newspaper waiting for me on my kitchen table with a handwritten note.

 “Good story. Read this,” my father would write.

 Back then, my biggest dream wasn’t to be digging into the batter’s box at Fenway Park or gliding across the TD Garden ice. I wanted to be in the press box, writing about Boston’s home teams. 

 After 12 years of working as a sports writer full time, the time has come for me to pursue a new challenge — a new dream, even — outside of the industry. 

 I’ve been fortunate to gain a wide range of experiences in journalism. I got my start in video and radio, working as an intern for Charter TV3 in Worcester, had a brief stint as a radio producer, and then worked for a bit as a member of Harvard’s athletic department’s video production team, back when video streaming sports was really starting to gain traction. (Yes, I am that old).

 A former MetroWest Daily News sports editor gave me my first shot at writing professionally, and Brendan Hall and Scott Barboza really helped me boost my confidence as a writer as a stringer who helped out with their ESPN Boston coverage. 

 My journalism journey even brought me north to Alaska, where I worked as the sports reporter/copy editor for the state’s lone daily newspaper, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, from 2016 until 2019. 

If you ever want to take yourself out of your comfort zone, the 49th state is a good place to do it. You’ll learn a lot about yourself changing a tire at 30 below, driving 40 minutes to fetch water from the spring, and encountering a moose when you shuffle around the corner of your cabin during a 2 a.m. trip to the outhouse. 

Moving out to Alaska was a risk, but so was my decision to return to Cape Cod without any work lined up. Thankfully, I quickly started getting assigned to write stories for the Cape Cod Times, then the Boston Globe’s high school sports editor Craig Larson brought me on as a freelancer, allowing me to fulfill a lifelong dream of seeing my byline in the nation’s best sports section. 

The start of COVID was a scary time to be a freelance reporter. Games came to a halt, story ideas dried up, and there wasn’t much available work that extended beyond the workload newspapers could hand off to their staff. 

Determined to find a steady paycheck, I started looking outside journalism for new opportunities. I scoured the internet for copywriting and marketing jobs, and really thought I was weeks — if not days — away from bailing on journalism to write a new chapter of my professional career. 

That’s one reason I will always be grateful for The Cape Cod Chronicle. 

Chronicle owner and publisher Hank Hyora offered me the opportunity to join the newspaper full time in December 2020, and I spent the last four and a half years being the Lower Cape’s sports scribe for the newspaper. 

 To steal — and slightly alter — Maine’s state slogan, “The Chronicle is the way newspapers should be.” I often said that to family and friends when they’d ask me about my time at the Chatham-based paper. 

 It starts at the top with Hank, a truly caring and passionate boss who would try to run through a brick wall for his employees and the paper. Editors Tim Wood and Alan Pollock empower reporters to hone their writing skills and master their craft, and the entire staff of reporters takes great pride in representing the Chatham, Harwich, Brewster and Orleans communities.

 Every employee at the newspaper — from the editorial staff to the folks behind the scenes in production and advertising — are kind, genuine people that care deeply about The Chronicle. Many of them have been since I still had hair on my head…just to give you an idea about their dedication and longevity. 

 It’s been an honor to have the opportunity to play a small role at The Chronicle since 2020. I saw the newspaper grow to include Brewster, and I’ve met so many wonderful people from around the Lower Cape. 

 Of course, there were exciting stories I was fortunate to tell. From deep postseason runs to Cape League and state titles in my final year, I enjoyed it all. I can’t thank the coaches, players and athletic directors enough for taking the time to connect with me for a few minutes after practices and games, returning my phone calls, and allowing me to tell their stories. 

 I must admit, it’s sad to leave The Chronicle because I know there’s no place like it. Certainly not in the journalism bubble. In a world where newspapers are shrinking, AI is being introduced, and the focus has shifted from producing the best news possible to “how can we cut corners?” The Chronicle has held its ground. 

 Perhaps I’ve just seen the good, the bad and the ugly to know how lucky I had it during my run at The Chronicle. I promise you, the readers, there isn’t a newspaper staff that takes more pride in the work that it does. It truly is a special place. 

 Thank you for giving me the opportunity to chronicle a brief period of sports news on the Cape. It truly was a dream come true for this sports fan, who fell in love with baseball at Cape League fields and spent countless hours throwing footballs, shooting hoops, and playing street hockey as a child. 

 I have no doubt The Chronicle will continue to thrive in my absence. The paper employs too many All Stars for anything but continued success.