Looking back on 25 years covering Albany

ALBANY - For 25 years, a framed copy of Red Smith's Jan. 11, 1982, column from The New York Times has been perched on the wall overlooking my desk at the state Capitol in Albany.

The piece was, ostensibly, about his column appearing from then on just three days a week, down from four. The headline read: “Writing Less - and Better?”

It was, being a Red Smith column, about far more than that. It was about life, the interesting people he had met and was looking forward to meeting.