Adrian Wojnarowski shocked the world when he announced his retirement from the media last month. The former ESPN senior NBA insider was always the first to break NBA news and was paid an annual salary of $7 million to do so.
But while many think that Woj gave up a job that every other NBA reporter can only dream of, the man himself said that deploying 'Woj Bombs' on Twitter was far from being a dream job.
During Woj's interview on the Eye on College Basketball podcast, he talked about the worst part of being the top news breaker in the NBA.
"I've broken news side of the road, cemeteries," said Wojnarowski. "You know, how many times my kids were like parked in a cemetery while I'm breaking news? Just kids looking, and you kinda look at the rear-view mirror, and they're just looking at you like, 'What are you doing, man?' Yeah, a lot of cars pulled over in every corner of the world."
Woj sacrificed family time to break news
With 6.5 million followers on the social media platform X, Wojnarowski was the most tracked NBA journalist on planet Earth because he was almost always the first to deliver the biggest news around the league. Whether it was player movement, injuries, and everything else in between, everybody heard it first from a 'Woj Bomb'.
Adrian took the ESPN job in 2017 and although he established himself as one of the top NBA journalists in the world, he also had to sacrifice a lot of his personal times to be able to cover the league 24/7. That included plenty of time with his family, especially his kids.
"Disneyland was the worst," said Woj. "You go to Disneyland with your kids, and I remember reporting the Gilbert Arenas situation in Washington over a few days at Disneyland. And I remember, the phones, it was a Blackberry, it didn't charge very long and I remember just sitting there plugged by the water fountain while the kids are on rides. Not the best, not 'Dad of the Year' on that one."
Not about fame and fortune
At 55 years old, Wojnarowski has spent more than half of his life pursuing and living out his ambition of becoming a sports journalist. As he said last month, it's been 37 years since he was given his first byline, and since then, he's never stopped chasing the thrill of it. But with the opportunity to work for his alma mater and the chance to make up for lost time with his family, Woj says there was no sacrifice made and the decision was relatively easy.
"People say, 'Woj gave up millions of dollars and gave up TV fame, ' continued Woj. "Sure, that's true, but more than that, I gave up a lifestyle I didn't want to live anymore. That's what I gave up. It wasn't about the money or the fame. It was about choosing a life I wanted to live, choosing to be present in a way I couldn't be before. I don't feel like I sacrificed anything. I feel like I gained something much bigger by coming back to Bonaventure."
Many professionals - not just in sports- are consumed with chasing fame and fortune because those are the barometers of success to most. But take it from someone who's been there and done that. Life is more than just that lucrative job that everyone else desires. And not everything that glitters is gold.
Related: Adrian Wojnarowski's reaction on ESPN hiring Shams Charania as his successor: "You're around the best of the best"
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