Simon meets Logan at the Spectrum

It was one of those little media moments that I live for in this job.

Greg Logan of Newsday got up early this morning to drive from Toronto to Buffalo, where he jumped on a commercial flight to JFK. Then he drove to 115 miles to the old Spectrum in time for Islanders practice, hoping he'd get five minutes with Chris Simon before the returning veteran disappeared for the day. For his efforts - let's face it, you could say it's his job, but that's a lot of hassle just to have one conversation - Logan got a lot more than that.

Simon didn't just agree to do an interview, which is sort of a player obligation anyway. Simon went out of his way to make Logan feel comfortable, inviting him to take a seat in the stall next to him. Then, because he has respected Logan's work ethic and fair reporting over the last year, Simon told the veteran Newsday scribe more than he's ever told anyone about the incident with Ryan Hollweg and his approach in what sometimes can be a very violent sport.

You can read the end result in Saturday's Newsday or on Newsday.com.

I enjoyed witnessing the athlete-to-reporter respect today. While there's been a lot of excitement about blogging lately, days like this are a reminder that sometimes there's nothing better than a determined and professional beat writer for a major daily newspaper getting a story no one else got.