Having covered sports in Atlanta for 29 years, I learned a long time ago to never say, “Well, that will never happen.” Because, quite frankly, it almost always does. And has. And the unimaginable endings have left fans, athletes, coaches, Buckhead executives and Waffle House grill cooks scattered on the asphalt like parts from a blown Chevy engine, making slightly audible whimpering noises.

So a couple of weeks ago, this happened: I was taking some down time in St. Augustine, Florida, with the family when my sister said she wanted to see the Ponce de Leon “Fountain of Youth,” presumably because the Easter Bunny didn’t have a theme park. There was appropriate mocking, but we went. I even sipped from the “magical and restorative” waters, partly because it was hot and I wanted to get my $15 worth.

I didn’t grow hair, or abs, or suddenly feel compelled to take 27 selfies. But a few minutes later, I received a text message from somebody at The Athletic. Then there was a phone conversation, an extension of others we had had during the previous weeks. By the end of the day, I was convinced of two things: 1) The Athletic was everything I wanted as a journalist and a sports consumer; and 2) I take it all back, Juan Ponce – you discovered restorative and high-quality H20.

This was a difficult decision. Atlanta has been my home since 1989, and the Journal-Constitution and its readers have been my family. But sometimes change is good. Sometimes change feels right. Sometimes you look up and see what somebody else is doing and think, “I want to be a part of that.”

The Athletic launched two years ago with a simple philosophy: People will pay for a quality product they want. See: Netflix, Spotify, HBO.

The Athletic is subscription-only. There’s no advertising. That means you get words, pictures, timely and insightful analysis on local teams and long-form journalism without the obtrusive pop-up ads or auto-start videos that force consumers – present company included – to play media whack-a-mole when you just wanted to see the Braves’ box score.

It’s working. The Athletic has grown to about 30 bureaus in the U.S. and Canada. For the price of about one latte per month, minus the fat grams, you get that city’s content on all of the major teams and every city’s content, as well as national sports.

Hello, Atlanta. The Athletic has arrived.

I’m excited to announce I’ve joined Atlanta’s new team as Senior Writer.

Follow me there. Follow David O’Brien on the Braves. Follow Seth Emerson on Georgia. Follow Jason Butt on the Falcons, Felipe Cardenas on Atlanta United and Chris Kirschner on Georgia Tech and more, along with Tori McElhaney and Nubyjas Wilborn as we come together for the best sports coverage of any media outlet in Atlanta.

Falcons head coach Dan Quinn, left, shares his thoughts on the team with Jeff Schultz.

Nothing about my job changes. I will still cover Atlanta sports for you. My opinions come with me. My relationships with owners, general managers, coaches and athletes come with me.

Yes, Weekend Predictions come with me, although Lilly remains a holdout. She wants a title, but she’ll settle for cheese.

I would not make this change if I didn’t believe in the product. Athletes change teams because they want to compete for championships. I’m doing it because I wanted that feeling again. It’s a feeling that has been waning, given the economic realities and softening principles in today’s media world.

Greatness is not pursued through meatball journalism – aggregation and slapping together six-paragraph blogs every time somebody gets hot or slumps or burps.

Greatness is not pursued when decisions for print or digital products are suddenly being made by sales people who’ve never spent a minute in a newsroom and believe the path to success comes from more headlines about the weather and website fronts that look like TMZ’s little brother.

Cut through all of the blather in today’s media landscape, from mainstream outlets to blogs to mutant Facebook feeds. This is what emerges: It’s not important to be the most active, overly caffeinated, keyboard-banger in the press box. What matters is being the most important read when news breaks and story lines develop – and in Atlanta, they always develop.

If I didn’t believe we would succeed, if I didn’t think The Athletic has figured out what nobody else has, I wouldn’t have made the move.

I was living in San Francisco in 1989 when the AJC phoned to express interest in hiring me. Atlanta’s sports section was a destination job in the business. It had deep pockets and some of the best talent in the industry, including Dave Kindred and Chris Mortensen. I was flattered, excited and humbled.

I feel like that again. I’m joining a staff with the likes of Ken Rosenthal and Jayson Stark on baseball, Stewart Mandel and Bruce Feldman on college football, Seth Davis and Dana O’Neil on college basketball and Richard Deitsch on sports media, along with contributors including Peter Gammons, Joe Posnanski, Jeff Pearlman, Lisa Olson and Don Banks.

We have a deep bench. Everybody can start. We’ll prove it to you.

Thanks for the last chapter, and I hope you’ll join me for the next one. And thank you, Juan Ponce.

If you haven’t subscribed yet, join now with this link to get 40% off: theathletic.com/welcome

(Top photo of Hank Aaron and Jeff Schultz-Jeff Schultz)