Initially, it started as a way to get things down on paper.

Mike Raita, a Birmingham sportscaster whose career spanned for nearly 30 years at Fox 6 and ABC 33/40, did not set out to write a book, but after 33/40 declined to extend his contract in 2017, the longtime broadcaster began to slowly write down stories from his career.

After sharing a few passages with Tom Horn, one of his best friends from growing up in Ohio, he became encouraged to continue writing. Horn died of cancer in 2018.

"He enjoyed the stories and said ‘Hey, you should write a book,’ " Raita said.

Over the course of two years, Raita began reflecting on his career and writing about his experiences, beginning with a brief stop at CNN in 1981 and then working in different markets before arriving in Birmingham in 1989.

The memories are collected in Raita’s memoir, "The Show Goes On," which he published himself and is currently available in only one book store: Little Professor Books in Homewood.

"I didn’t want to make the book just about me; I wanted to make it about local television," he said. "I wanted to pull back the curtain because I think people would be surprised with how unglamorous the business is."

In the book, Raita tells many stories from his career covering countless games and sports events across Alabama and the country. He also writes about being diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer in 2010, which required treatment and a few weeks away from the TV. Raita, now cancer-free, believes the stress from work may have contributed to his condition.

"I just put my head down and I never worried about it," he said. "I never had a pity party. I never thought about dying."

Throughout "The Show Goes On," Raita pulls few punches about the people he worked alongside and the personalities he covered over the years. He called former CNN anchor and colleague Kathleen Sullivan a "stereotypical TV news anchor with a huge ego." ESPN commentator Paul Finebaum is mentioned when Raita recalled a brief Sunday night football program he and Finebaum worked on for ABC 33/40 in 2003.

"Paul was more interested in delivering clever and acerbic one-liners than he was in delivering well thought-out opinions," Raita wrote in the book.

Nonetheless, Raita’s characterization didn’t stop Finebaum from writing the foreword to the book.

"There have been many good sportscasters to come through Birmingham over the years. But none have ever been as unique as Mike," Finebaum wrote. "He was an original, a one of a kind personality that we had never seen the likes of — and in today’s depressed television environment, will likely never see again."

While Raita is humble about his legacy as a sportscaster, others point to him as both a dogged reporter and important figure in Alabama media. Rick Karle, Fox 6’s sports director for more than 30 years before the station laid him off last year, said Raita’s attention to high school sports left a mark in the community.

"He should be credited for bringing high school football to the forefront," Karle said.

Karle and Raita’s relationship went back and forth over the years in Birmingham. They started as colleagues at Fox 6 and then became competitors when Raita went to ABC 33/40. Karle said he would record every broadcast Raita did to see how he covered it and if he could have done any better.

"I think he made me better and I made him better once we were competitors," Karle said.

In Karle’s words, if he was more of a Labrador retriever as a journalist, Raita was a bulldog who would stand up to anyone he needed to.

"He was a bulldog reporter who was aggressive, tried to be fair but would do a really good job of holding people accountable, which I think has been kind of lost today," he said.

Nick Saban also makes his way into the book with Raita writing that Saban ruined sports coverage in the state because many news organizations placed more emphasis on Crimson Tide and Auburn sports coverage than airing stories about smaller colleges like Jacksonville State and UAB.

"Every time Saban has a speaking engagement or a public appearance, schedules are rearranged to make sure it gets covered," Raita wrote. "When Saban plays golf in a charity event, he holds court. Enough already."

Raita, now a digital manager at Strong Automotive Merchandising, holds no hard feelings toward ABC 33/40 for letting him go. In fact, the changing era of journalism and the focus on chasing what other reporters were chasing was one aspect Raita feels burned him out.

"The job got stale, and I lost sight of the mission," he said. "The mission was to serve the viewer in the best way possible and to tell the extraordinary stories about ordinary people."

Today, Raita yearns for no part of the business. During the last two college football national championships, the man who had spent so many years covering them was in bed by halftime.

"I like who I am," he said. "The show goes on."

Despite not being in journalism anymore, Raita still believes there is a future for local broadcasters to continue covering sports.

"Give them something they can’t find anywhere else," he said.

Raita's book is currently available at Little Professor Books in Homewood, which can be bought by contacting them at 205-870-7461. On Saturday, Raita will be signing books at the Birmingham Barons game at 6:30 p.m. at Regions Field.

Reach Drew Taylor at drew.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0204.