I Can't Believe I Got Paid for This

Bill Koch grew up on the West Side of Cincinnati competing against his two brothers in sports and following the Reds, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats, and the Bengals when they made their debut in 1968. He never dreamed that one day he would get to his earn his living writing about the teams he rooted for as a kid. I Can't Believe I Got Paid For This is a collection of Koch's memories from his days covering sports in his hometown, including his experiences with Mick Cronin, Bob Huggins, Tony Yates, Brian Kelly, Mark Dantonio, Butch Jones and others. During his 38-year career as a Cincinnati sportswriter, Koch has written extensively about UC athletics and the Reds. He has also written about the Bengals, Xavier University and high school athletics. He has covered 30 Crosstown Shootouts and has seen the rivalry up close from the vantage points of both UC and Xavier. In this book, he shares his encounters with such Cincinnati sports luminaries as Pete Rose, Oscar Robertson, Jack Twyman, Danny Fortson, Kenyon Martin, Charlie Coles and Pat Harmon. Koch was in Oakland when the Reds swept the A's in the 1990 World Series, covered UC when the Bearcats went to the Final Four in 1992 and when the UC football team went to the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl in 2008 and 2009. He also covered the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. As newspapers continue to lose subscribers, revenue and staff, Koch laments the decline of a business he loved. He writes about how sports helped him connect with his father and about how difficult it was for him to leave The Cincinnati Enquirer on Dec. 24, 2014, the day before his mother died of cancer.