Column: New PCJ sports reporter follows writing dreams

By Joe Peine
Posted 8/24/23

My name is Joseph Peine and I’m the new sports reporter for the Pierce County Journal. I was born on a farm south of Hastings, Minn. where I spent my early childhood years. When I was 12, I …

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Column: New PCJ sports reporter follows writing dreams

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My name is Joseph Peine and I’m the new sports reporter for the Pierce County Journal. I was born on a farm south of Hastings, Minn. where I spent my early childhood years. When I was 12, I moved to Prescott, and that’s where I graduated high school.

After graduation, I went to college at the University of Minnesota where I majored in Psychology, a degree which I was never very passionate about and ultimately, never used. Instead, I stayed in the service industry and traveled extensively. In my late 20’s, I was living in Colorado and had decided to become an airline pilot. As you can imagine, renting an airplane can get pricey, so to save money, I moved back to the area. A year and a half later, I purchased my first airplane.

Everything was moving along great. I got my first flight rating completed and was working towards my second, but then I met a girl and everything changed. The next thing I knew, we were flipping houses and I was selling my airplane to fund our fledgling business (I know, big mistake, right?) However, it led me to a series of great successes, and ultimately, it brought me to the profession I belong in: journalism.

I had always been passionate about writing and journalism, and even though I was seeing financial success in real estate, it felt like I was doing myself a disservice to throw my passion for writing away over a paycheck. I just didn’t want to be one of those people who lived their whole life without ever following their dreams. So at the age of 35, I said goodbye to the life I’d known and began a new one as a non-traditional student attending the Hubbard School of Journalism at the University of Minnesota.

It was here, surrounded by other burgeoning journalists and professionals already working in the field, that I finally found my place in the world. As I proceeded through my degree program, I found myself continuously gravitating towards sports journalism. I’d always been a diehard sports fan – especially for the Brewers and the Packers – but it wasn’t what prompted my return to higher education. That said, I had a number of articles published while attending the U of M, and all but one was about sports. At a certain point, I just realized that maybe I should listen to that old writer’s adage of “write what you know.” So, I know sports, I love sports and here I am, the Pierce County Journal’s new sports reporter.

Joe Peine, sports, Pierce County Journal