As some would say, this is my first drive, first inning, first round.

This is my first column as sports editor of The Covington News and I could not be happier to be in this position.

Before we all dive in together with the games and stories that take place in Newton County, let me first introduce myself.

My name is Garrett Pitts, and I am Covington native. I grew up here and went to school here my whole life. 

During my years at Alcovy High School, I began to write for the school paper as my aspirations of becoming a sportswriter started to grow and get bigger by the day.

After graduating from Alcovy in 2018, I went to school at Kennesaw State where I am earning my degree for Journalism. For me, writing is just a part of this journey because the true vision is the opportunity to tell the stories that you are not always able to see or hear from the bleachers or the sideline.

Sports are one the things that bring me the most joy in this world. 

Growing up, I spent a lot of time (some would say too much time) watching SportsCenter and other sports shows instead of the typical shows and movies people my age would have watched growing up.

Now that I am older, there is nothing I love more than to debate sports with friends and family. My biggest rival when it comes to debating sports is my brother, who is one of the biggest Atlanta Braves and Georgia Tech fans I know.

As far as my favorite teams, it is as weird and odd as it gets.

I will get the normal one out of the way first, and it is that I am a big Georgia Bulldogs fan. Growing up and see multiple different years of heartbreak such as 2012 and 2018 was worth it after being able to see what that team has been able to accomplish (and what they will continue to accomplish) over the last two seasons. 

After the bulldogs, my next two favorite teams are the Packers in the NFL and the Cubs in the MLB (Like I said, it is odd). My entire family are big Packers fans but unfortunately, I am the only Cubs fan. This means I have to sit in agony and watch a large amount of Braves fans ride the wave of their historic season.

I have been fans of those three teams for a very long time and I have had the pleasure of being able to watch all of them play home games in their respective stadiums which are memories I will never forget.

If you go around Covington often, you might have seen me before as the manager of Your Pie for the last few years. Being right on the square has allowed me to meet with many great individuals who make this city 

great and I cannot wait to meet even more in my new role.

I have been a correspondent for The Covington News since 2019 and that has already allowed me the opportunity to meet some of the great athletes and coaches in this area. In my time as a correspondent, I have been honored to have been awarded two awards from the Georgia Press Association.

As I look ahead to Newton County athletics, I am very excited to get more hands on with these teams in order to tell their stories and triumphs.

I still believe Newton County is criminally underrated when it comes to athletics and I am going to make it my mission to highlight the great teams and athletes that play for these schools.

Overall, I am ready to get out there and meet all of you and dive into these sports seasons as football and softball continue to ramp up with basketball and wrestling looming in the distance.

In the meantime, follow me on social media to get news from all of your favorite school’s teams. My X account is @Garrettpitts9, but also make sure to be following the Covington News Sports account @CovNewsSports. And as always, if you see me at a game or event do not hesitate to come introduce yourself or even to debate on some of your favorite sports topics.

Let’s do this!

Garrett Pitts is the sports editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at gpitts@covnews.com