There are times in this business when you read another writer's brilliance and begin your own shame spiral. It's nothing more complicated than this: "Damn. Why didn't I ever think of that?"

I had such a moment Friday. It left me in my living room a little jealous, but nonetheless applauding to nobody in particular.

You are about to read the final words of Ed Daigneault's journalism career. Ed worked at the Waterbury Republican-American for 22 years covering UConn sports. He is a good dude. He's leaving the biz to pursue his dream, having recently opened the Clocktown Brewing Company in Thomaston.

Ed, always the craft beer savant, would talk happily on many UConn road trips about the euphoric nectar (and bristle when I'd order a Bud Light). Now he gets to take his swing. I'm proud to know someone  brave enough to dive into the service industry amid a pandemic. But then, if the dream is big enough, the facts don't count.

Ed left us with a note on Facebook I'd like to share. His words about the state of journalism in 2020 ought to be memorized, especially by those of you who espouse the "fake news" schtick from the occupant (but not for much longer) at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

"The distrust of media isn't the first reason why I'm leaving, but it's one of them. Yes, there is bias in journalism, but it's almost all at the cable news network/national paper level. Local journalism has none of that, yet is called 'fake news' far too often. That, of course, is (baloney)," Ed wrote.

"Journalists at our level work their (butts) off for embarrassingly low pay because they love it. They love serving readers. Even at the Rep-Am, we've been hit with the 'fake news' label simply because people don't like what is reported. Here's my advice: read more. Turn off the damn television. Get off the internet and social media. Grab multiple newspapers and read.

"The people I've worked with over the last 30 years have all done what they believe to be right. They've done it well. Sure, journalists get things wrong and thousands of people see that. Everybody screws up in their job, but not everybody is subject to the same sort of scrutiny. Journalists know that going in and have incredibly thick skin. We chose the profession and chose to live with what comes with it. It's part of the job, but it's also part of the consumers' job to do some critical thinking of their own. And that particular art, which requires little effort, seems to have been lost."

At the core of critical thinking's sabbatical is the notion of "fake news." If only it were an innocuous, dismissive wave tethered to disagreement. It's so much more. It carpet bombs an entire industry of mostly innocent people, sickeningly approved and encouraged by the leader of the free world (but not for much longer).

Perhaps he's said other things that have offended you more. But me? This is the way I pay my bills. You'll forgive me for failing to bow at his altar.

This is where the "critical thinking" part is so critical. I am as disgusted by MSNBC as I am by Fox News. It's not journalism. It's vaudeville. A tenet of journalism, which cable news really ought to start practicing, is to rebuild the Berlin Wall that used to stand between reporting facts and sharing opinions.

It used to work this way: A reporter would provide the who-what-when-where of a news story. No editorial comment. Much like balls and strikes. News reporters are supposed to be dispassionate — "crows on a telephone wire" — as Sally Jenkins once wrote in the Washington Post.

Once the facts have been reported, the columnist/pundit is free to opine. But not until. That line has been blurred in recent years by pundits who break news and comment on it simultaneously. No wonder readers and viewers think the news is biased. In some circles, it is. Poor Walter Cronkite must be up in heaven yearning for some of Ed's craft beer to numb the pain.

Here is what I learned about this business a long time ago: Our inherent individualism invites us to seek news sources that reinforce and intensify our predispositions and prejudices. That's called being human. Except that we're supposed to agree to disagree, not morph into a cacophony of blatherers shouting damnation at one another. (But I wonder where we learned that?)

You may not (and frankly shouldn't) always agree with me. Or us. Just know there is nothing "fake" about what we're doing here. We try really hard every day. So the next time you resort to the "fake news" thing, remember who you are truly hurting. It's not some millionaire national talking head who's good at reading a prompter. It's us. The local guys.

Godspeed to Ed, his family and his new business. Bet there's nothing fake about his beer.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro