Seeing Geoff Jenkins retire could bring some sadness but, as someone who covered him for seven of his 10 years in Milwaukee, I remember a guy who could have let his "stud status" affect how he treated people. It did not.

He was a first-round pick in an era when the Brewers seemed to only develop one prospect at a time. "Geoff Jenkins is on the way" seemed to be the only ray of hope in an organization that did not yet have it figured out. When he got to Milwaukee, he did not disappoint and seemed comfortable with everyone deciding that he was the only hope the Brewers had.

That may not seem like a big deal because when everyone is telling you how great you are it may be easy to be patient. (Of course I have not experienced that feeling but when I do I plan on being surly and full of myself.)

Where Jenkins truly impressed us media types was that he endured a lot of silliness while his team had the goal of just winning as many as it lost. His first test with us had to be that every reporter seemed to think he was the only one who noticed that Jenks looked like Brett Favre. When everyone from national radio shows like Dan Patrick to affiliates in La Crosse gleefully point it out and you smile the same way each time, that is being a professional.

It carried to everything. When he signed a new contract during Spring Training one year, I was ready to do a phone interview with him for FOX 6. We had technical issues on our end and Geoff sat patiently while we worked it out. This was a huge day and I'm sure he wanted to go celebrate but he did not act like waiting 10 minutes was the equivalent of time in a Cold War prison like, quite frankly, many big-time athletes would.

My stories tended to be off-the-wall. When I featured how the stare that he gave a pitcher from the batter's box looked like something out of the movie "Scanners" he smiled and laughed and obliged with that same stare (and my head nearly exploded).

When I discovered that he was somewhat obsessed with "American Idol," he sat and ran down his favorites to win that year. I believe he picked Carrie Underwood and the story brought a good laugh.

When I found out that a pitcher during Spring Training had hit his brand new "More-Expensive-Than-My-Condo" sports car with a home run during practice, he played along as we did a mock investigation into who knew what and why.

My stories tended to be off the beaten path and normally players do not expect such questions when they do a sit-down with the local Fox affiliate. Jenkins pretty much always played along.

The last story I did with Geoff Jenkins was on opening day 2005. The Brewers had not had a winning season since 1992 and I found a near-13-year-old who had not been alive for any successful Brewers season. He said Geoff was his favorite player and I brought him over to meet the kid.

Instead of taking offense at the concept of the story (the Brewers had not been good for a long time) Geoff played along. Je joked that if times get tough he would remember this kid's face and push just a little harder. All along he smiled and also worked as hard as anyone I had ever seen.

Then, after winning his World Series elsewhere and having few people show interest in his services afterward he classes up the joint one last time. He decides to retire as a Brewer.

I have no offbeat angle for this Geoff Jenkins story. I just have a monumental thank you.