Dave Wirth has been covering sports in Tampa for 3 decades. 

Tomorrow, he signs off from WTSP as he is another in the long list to take the Tegna buyout. 

"It's starting to hit home," Wirth said before Wednesday's 6 p.m. broadcast. "It feels a little strange to be leaving, but there's an awfully good feeling of relief, too."

"I tried to impart to people watching it that sports is entertainment, that sports is fun, that it's our escape," he said. "I hope that's the way I did it."

The station announced his retirement in a Facebook post.

"Dave Wirth is going to have a little bit more me-time and a lot more tee-times," the post reads. A video features anchor Reginald Roundtree playing a golf announcer, while Wirth sweats under the pressure of making a putt.

"It all comes down to this. A lifetime of work on the line," Roundtree says with faux gravitas. "This. Final. Putt."

"Reg, will you knock it off?" Wirth replies. "I'm retiring from TV, not from golf."

Some of the greatest moments of his career, he said Wednesday, were covering major moments in Tampa Bay sports history: the Lightning's Stanley Cup win, the Buccaneers' Super Bowl win, the Rays' run in the World Series.

"It feels like it's time for me to step away for a while," he said. "I do feel like I have some gas left in the tank, so I'm pretty sure I'll be doing something else with my life in due time.

H/T Tampa Bay Times