It's one of my bromides for those times when my daughter wonders aloud, like many young children, if other kids think she's different.

I tell her to remember the original "Shrek" and what Mike Myers says to Eddie Murphy in that inimitable Scottish brogue, "Different is good, Donkey."

Shrek's wisdom echoes with me now as I embark on a new path in journalism. This fall, I'm joining CBC's outstanding consumer watchdog program Marketplace as a co-host with the indomitable Erica Johnson.

I'm replacing Wendy Mesley, which of course puts me in the mindset of Aaron Rodgers taking over from Brett Favre. I can only hope to be half as good.

This shift brings an end to 27 years as a full-time sports journalist...starting with CBC Radio in Montreal in 1983 when the Montreal Expos were 20 years away from leaving, the Concordes were just three years away from folding, and the Canadiens were a decade away from their last Stanley Cup.

Since then I've been fortunate to be your eyes and ears at some of the biggest events in sports and some of the smallest too, and witnessed astonishing changes of how we cover sports, how we tell stories.

Local suppertime and late night TV sportscasts had huge presence and influence in most Canadian cities. Today, they've been rendered almost obsolete by the remarkable reach and wealth of Canada's all-sports channels.

Many women are key hosts on those booming sports networks and other big properties, a seeming impossibility when I started. Back then, just seeing a female sports reporter in a locker room was about as common as an eclipse.

Sportswriters never spouted their opinions on TV. Now they have their own shows and actually do television. My friend Stephen Brunt has just been nominated for a Gemini Award.

The print community often ridiculed TV sports or those who worked in it. Now many papers have a columnist whose role is to regularly dissect what is said and seen on Canadian sports TV.

A brave new TV world

Then there's technology. From single system film and three-inch videotape to digital video and desktop editing, it is a brave new TV world. Many of the most important innovations in the industry were driven, in large measure, by the demands of television sports and the expectations of an audience that was growing exponentially.

If someone had told me that I would be able to write a 140-character bulletin on a handheld portable computer, add a picture and send it to the world instantly...I would've asked what colour the sky was in your world.

Yet there I was at Soccer City in Johannesburg, sending live updates on Twitter complete with colour photos. At times, it felt like the age of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!"

But those are all just trends.

What has been so rewarding, so unforgettable along this road I've traveled is the people I have met along the way.

A soft spoken sprinter in Montreal pushing ahead in the wake of an international scandal; a dignified swimmer who but for politics might have been an Olympic champion; a 90-year-old curler hurrying hard in Winnipeg; an elite rider who overcame inner demons to win Olympic gold, a hockey player whose NHL dream ended in a shocking moment of violence.

So many more stories, so many passionate, committed Canadians who see sport and the opportunity to be part of it...as essential to our identity as Medicare or Bloody Caesars.

When setting out with CBC almost three decades ago, my goal was to cover sports the way we cover politics or health or business.

Analyze and explain success and failure; hold owners, managers, coaches and athletes accountable for performance; educate, enlighten, inform and make the world of sports accessible. Not a place where a foreign language is spoken but a place where, as the NBA says "Amazing Happens."

That's why I feel comfortable moving to my new team. It's different but it's the same. It's still good old story telling and for me, that's the best game you can name.