The past week has certainly been a bittersweet one for the employees of The Citizen.

Two of the biggest stories of the year have been taking place - one that has energized the entire community and another that has us all feeling sad.

I'm talking, of course, about the amazing playoff run by the Auburn High School football team and the death of the beloved Leo Pinckney.

Both stories have tested those of us in the newsroom, who are trained to do our job objectively.

But how can the journalists covering these stories not get caught up in the emotion they bring?

The answer is that we always can't, but we always have to try.

When we learned of Leo's death Monday morning, there was no hesitation about what we needed to do. We quickly readied all of the material we had on hand, called a few extra people to come in early and got to work on a package that we hoped would give this incredible person the attention he deserved.

But as we were doing it, we were also dealing with our emotions. This was the kind, soft-spoken man who had always been in our lives at The Citizen, and it was difficult coming to terms with the fact that he was gone. It was an especially quiet newsroom that morning, and a few of us were shedding tears.

We got the paper out, though, and the reaction from the family and community was overwhelmingly positive. I think there's no doubt that our love for Leo came through in that coverage.

An entirely different emotion has been filling the newsroom staffers who are covering the Auburn football team. This group of teenagers will be trying to bring the state championship home today, but regardless of the game's outcome, they have already captured all of our hearts.

Our sports staff has been producing an amazing array of stories on this team, our photographers have captured incredible images and our news staff has been following the impact this story is having on the entire community.

While they've done this work with journalistic integrity - sticking to the facts and figures, and letting the players and coaches voices come through - I'm sure all of our staff has also been hoping for Maroon victories.

For both stories, we'll be out there today reporting, photographing, writing and editing. Leo's funeral is taking place in the morning, with the big game starting this afternoon.

The coverage will be on the front page Sunday, and we'll do our best to give you a balanced report. But you'll probably see a little of our human side coming through, and my guess is that most of you won't mind.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's column runs Saturday in The

Citizen, and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net