ABOUT ME
I have been writing for the past 12 years. Though it hasn't been 12 years straight. I have written for many low profile websites and a few more popular ones. But I've never been "official" for lack of a better word. I stopped writing about 3-4 years ago because I lost my passion for it. A friend of mine talked me into writing for "What Culture" covering WWE. I was a fan back when it was the WWF, and I didn't like the product as it was. But it was a good opportunity, so I did it. I hated it. I hated what I was coving, I hated writing for that website. And it just made me hate writing and covering anything anymore. So I stopped altogether. It sucked because writing came naturally to me in school and I always excelled at it. It's relaxing, challenging, and most of all it is fun (for the most part). I finally got my passion back and am going to cover everything from the XFL, BIG3, Sports Logos & Uniforms, Tom Brady's final years, and maybe many more. I am no expert, I don't pretend to be. I don't always remember every player on every team, all the statistics, and I don't try to be the first one to post "breaking news". That's just not what I am, or what I like to do. I know what I see. My eye test is pretty damn good. As I said, I am not an "expert", I am not telling you I know everything, but the one thing I can boast about, is my eye test. It is something that has done me well for so many years, and not just with sports. I can sense how good a player or team is, even when they are struggling, a team with a losing record, people like to just label them according to that. But I can tell if a team is better than their record. I can see past a 300-yard performance by a QB and see he isn't what everyone thinks he is. My eye test and sports instincts are very good and it has given me a bit of confidence whenever I talk sports. So let me give you a look at what I have done, what I know, and what I have covered over the last decade.
Logos! Logos are what got me into sports in the first place. When I was younger, I was obsessed with sports logos. I could/can remember almost every single team from every sport, including most of the NCAA teams, and who played in each Super Bowl, just by seeing the logos. Logos are a big part of the teams I like, and a big part of the reason I don't like certain teams. It's just the way I have always been. I love logos and I have always covered them whenever I have been writing articles. I don't know why I enjoy them so much, I just know that I always have.
A natural progression would be from loving logos, to loving uniforms. Logos are one reason I like a team, the uniforms seal the deal. I could LOVE a logo, but if the team has bad uni's, I can't support them. I know, it's weird lol. It's just how I operate. For example. I like the Pittsburg Penguins logo, the skating Penguin. But when they went from Black and Yellow to Black and that "Vegas Gold", I was out. It was terrible. And then finally they came back to Black and Yellow and I let them out of the dungeon of disappointment. That's where I lock up all the teams with bad logos and/or uniforms. There is nothing that excites me more about sports than when a team unveils a new logo and/or uniforms. It's so fun. Even if they turn out bad, it's fun to witness and cover. It's my favorite thing about sports. I love logos and uniforms.
My first love (for an actual sport) was hockey. I have been watching the NHL since the very early '90s. I am not a "homer" (sports fan that is loyal to his home teams), as I don't really care for the Red Sox or the Celtics. I have a spot in my heart for the Patriots, though I can't stand Patriot fans... I swear they are the worst. But the one home town team that I LOVE and always have, are the Boston Bruins. They were the very first team, in any sport, that was "mine". My favorite hockey player of all time is Cam Neely. I have his jersey hanging up in my closet right now. I met him and Ray Bourque at the 1996 All-Star game here in Boston. Shook their hands and got both of their autographs on a pennant. I always wanted to play hockey but my parents couldn't afford the gear, and I never got to learn how to ice skate, so it was just roller hockey with family and friends at the park for me. But that didn't stop me from loving the game, supporting it and watching it all my life. I remember in 2006, I was rooting for the Carolina Hurricanes super hard. They were one of the teams I liked, and they were making a run for the Stanley Cup. When they finally won, I blasted the radio with "Rock You Like A Hurricane", holding a Carolina Hurricane flag and ran up and down the street waving it like an idiot lol. What? I was excited lol. Those are just a few of the many happy memories I have with hockey over my life time.
The first season I ever watched capped off with the 49ers defeating the Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, in '94. I have seen every single Super Bowl since then. As I have alluded to previously, I am from Boston and the Patriots due hold a small part of my sports heart, but they aren't my FAVORITE team. I don't really have that ONE team. I take pride in the Patriots winning 6 Championships since '01. But if they went 0-16 then next 10 years I wouldn't be heartbroken. I would still be a fan, I wouldn't disown them like I know a majority of these fans are going to do soon. God, I hate Patriot fans... But I LOVE the ebbs and flows of the NFL. Seeing teams climb to the top and fall back down. Great teams losing to underdogs and great cinderella stories. I can't wait for the Raiders to find a way back on top. I can't wait for the Browns to win their first Super Bowl. I can wait for the Lions to be a force in the league. The Chiefs winning the Super Bowl, the first time in 50 years. I love the stories, I love the history of the league. My favorite players of all time are Deion Sanders, Barry Sanders & Bo Jackson. They are all amazing to me. They are what made me want to play football. And I was damn good at it too. I mimicked their moves on the field. No one could touch me in pick up football at the park, I was always the first one picked. In high school, I played WR and had a big problem with the coach. I didn't like him, and he didn't like me. The assistant coaches would always put me, 1st team, in practice and I always showed up and showed out. I was a JR, and even though I was better than the SR, the head coach never started me, despite the assistant coaches pushing for it. I finally got put in on the last game of the year, against our rivals. We were down, with about a minute to go. It was a play the assistant coaches drew up specifically for me. The QB hit me right in the numbers, I turned, juked one defender, stiff-armed another and spun on the next, only this guy got my feet. As I went down, I stretched out. I landed. I look up, I see the ref as he ran over to me and threw up his hands to signal a touchdown. The whole sideline ran into the endzone jumping all over me. Then our defense gave up a touchdown within seconds and we lost the game. I was the hero no more lol. Before the next season, the coach started someone else above me. The assistant coach told me to hang in there and they would keep pushing for me. I didn't. I quit. I kept training and went to a private college to get my grades up. I had talks with SMU and Rutgers. If I could get my GPA to 3.5 by the end of my 2 years, I could transfer there and try out for the football team. I ended with a 3.42. But I found the love of my life, my now wife, and I wouldn't trade that for any football life. Since then I have been watching and covering the NFL for as long as I have been writing. Remember my "eye test" claim. Just a few examples. In the preseason, I picked the Patriots to go 15-1 and win the Super Bowl. They went 14-2 and won the Super Bowl against the Panthers. In the preseason, I picked the Steelers to go 12-4 and win the Super Bowl. They went 12-4 and won against the Cardinals. In the preseason, I picked the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl. They didn't. But they won the year after. I was close in the timing lol, but I was right about the team. Other teams I have picked made it far in the playoffs but lost, but that's just the way it goes. Everyone can't always be right. Remember when Chris Brussard "NBA Insider" tweeted: "Kawhi in deep soul searching. Wants Lakers but wants to make sure Big 3 will fit/work. Clippers out. It’s btwn Lakers & Raptors. Very close". And then Kawhi went to the Clippers? Lol. That was a massive fail. But it just goes to show that even "experts" get things wrong. And I never say "I KNOW" something, it's always just my opinion.
I have watched every game of the BIG3 since the very first game in 2017. I went to see it live when they came here to Boston in Season 2. I have always been a big fan and wanted to see it succeed. I have always liked playing basketball, but I've never been a big fan of the NBA. I find it slow and honestly 90% of each game is boring. It isn't anything exciting unless its a close game with the clock running down in the final few minutes of the game. It is all a bit pointless to me. Especially when they start purposely fouling at the end of the game to try and catch up. Slows the game down SO much. But the BIG3 is nothing like that. The first team to hit 25 points breaks for halftime and then the first team to 50 wins the game. A foul gives a player one shot for how many points they were attempting when the foul occurred. It is fast passed and when teams get close to that 50 mark it gets exciting in every game. I have wanted to cover the game since it started but I wasn't ready to start writing again and I didn't just want to do the BIG3 and nothing else. So even though I don't have much experience covering basketball in general, I KNOW the BIG3 and have decided to now cover it going forward.
I had been excited about the XFL ever since it was announced. I didn't like the first attempt. I thought it was awful. But seeing how they were running this second attempt and how serious they were taking it, the minds behind it. The more I learned about it, the more I became involved in it. This is when I decided to come back to writing. The XFL and BIG3 brought back my passion for writing and covering sports. The first season was a huge success, to me, though it was ended only after 5 weeks due to the COVID-19 virus. I had so much fun covering it and connecting with the community and I am back writing again because of that. Unfortunately, the XFL has ended operations as the problems the virus caused were too much to overcome. But it was great.
