When Geoff Calkins told me he wanted to move away from just writing about sports, I knew a lot of people would — to put it bluntly — freak out. 

For 27 years, Geoff has covered sports in this city. But in that same time, Geoff has written so many really good, really important columns about so many people and events in Memphis that have nothing to do with sports. And so I wasn’t in any way worried. 

Calkins: Jennifer Biggs brought us together for lunch again. Even though she was stuck in a hospital room.

It’s strange, in fact, that one of the best columns Geoff has written for us at The Daily Memphian, he wrote just days ago. And it also wasn’t about sports. It was about Jennifer Biggs, our food and dining editor (and so much more) who is being treated for colon cancer. 

Geoff and I talked about all of this — the shift from sports, the changes to his radio show on 92.9, his friendship with Jennifer Biggs, and the upcoming fifth anniversary of The Daily Memphian — on this week’s episode of The Sidebar.

And as I always try to do on The Sidebar, I asked Geoff, like all the guests, what was his first concert.

Take a listen.

The Sidebar, which airs every Thursday at 11:30 a.m. on WYXR 91.7 FM, is also available as a podcast here on the site or wherever you get your podcasts.

Note: WYXR is a partnership between Crosstown Concourse, the University of Memphis and The Daily Memphian. As part of that partnership, I serve on the board of Crosstown Radio Partnership, which owns and oversees WYXR.