Ever see a perfect sunset?

Like, a really perfect one, the type that you see on postcards or the Travel Channel? The ones where, if you time it just right, a full array of colors pops across the horizon, the pinks and purples and blues and yellows and greens?

I have.

It was on my last night living in Hawaii in 2012. I had just accepted a job covering high school sports in Portland, an agonizing decision needing weeks that was allowed a couple of days.

I’d have to trade those perfect sunsets and the beach and the surf and the Tradewinds for Banks and Forest Grove and a small chance at turning this cross-Pacific move into a career.

I vividly remember that night thinking about how I could leave such a beautiful place. And if I did, it better work out.

Six years later, I can say it has.

After two years of covering high schools, I was promoted to the Oregon Ducks beat in 2014. Since then, I’ve covered a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, a Rose Bowl, a national championship game, two Elite Eights and one Final Four.

If you’re talking about timing, I literally couldn’t have timed my emergence onto the Oregon beat better. In fact, the past four seasons, I would argue, have been the wildest in Oregon history. Sure, I missed out on Kenny Wheaton’s pick, Joey Harrington’s billboard and Chip Kelly’s blur offense, but over the past four years I’ve seen the Ducks at the top and I’ve seen the Ducks at the bottom. I covered the end of Mark Helfrich’s time at Oregon. I covered Willie Taggart’s mercenary season. And now I’m ready to cover the beginning of the Mario Cristobal era in Eugene.

And I couldn’t be happier to be doing it at The Athletic.

Why?

If you’re familiar with The Athletic, you probably know why. In just a couple of years, it has delivered on its promise to provide well-rounded, meaningful stories that are worth paying for. I’m proud of the work we accomplished at my last job, but The Athletic brings the promise that every story I write, every story that you pay for, is worth reading. Given time and resources, you can expect fewer lists of uniform combinations and more analysis, features and deeply researched pieces that illustrate what exactly is happening in Eugene.

I couldn’t be more excited to join an organization that is investing in the industry.

Let me take you back to January 2015 at AT&T Stadium. It’s the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff national championship game between Oregon and Ohio State, and the hour is pushing toward 11 p.m.

The events leading up to the game and what transpired during it made for a long list of storylines to report on in the locker room afterward. Was this Marcus Mariota’s last game as a Duck? How much did Darren Carrington’s suspension change the game plan? What, exactly, happened?

Locker room time had been so valuable the week earlier, when the Ducks dominated Florida State in the Rose Bowl. It’s rare access we don’t get during the season, and it led to intriguing stories from all of us, including this one I wrote about Pharaoh Brown, still recovering from his knee injury, watching with a rose in his hand as his teammates celebrated around him.

But after the final horn sounded and red-and-white confetti fell from the rafters at Jerry World, we were stuck up in the press box. Unfortunately because of kickoff time and the constraints we continue to see placed upon newspapers, our deadline was impossible to turn had we gone to the locker room. We stayed up there, hit deadline and eventually made our way down to an empty field and closed locker room.

I don’t even remember what I wrote.

There was no introspection from Helfrich after the biggest game of his college career. There was no context from Oregon defenders who were shredded by Ezekiel Elliott. There was no color for a story our employers spent thousands of dollars to send us to cover.

We were there, we were fully prepared and we weren’t able to tell a complete story.

That’s why I’m joining The Athletic. Here, you’ll get all the news, analysis and coverage on present, future and even past Ducks that you would expect from a traditional beat writer. Above all else, you’ll have color. The leaves on the trees — as the editor who persuaded me to move from Hawaii to Oregon years ago once told me — will be filled in. The Athletic is growing and investing in its product. Really, it was a no-brainer for me to join the staff and hop along for the ride as Oregon enters a new era of football.

If you read me at my last job, you know that I like to search for unique angles — dysentery, anyone? — and tell the human side of things. Though Xs and Os are massively important, I got into this business to tell the stories from on the field and off it. Fortunately, The Athletic has come around at the perfect time to provide a platform for both here in Oregon, and I can’t wait to get started.

If you haven’t joined yet, get 40% off with this special link: theathletic.com/cfbexpansion

(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA TODAY Sports)