Has it really been 15 years already? Oh my, it has

On this day, 15 years ago, I posted this, and the rest, as they say, is history.

That’s right: Jan. 22, 2010, was the beginning – at least publicly – of the website you are looking at today. You can’t tell from that post, at least not entirely, but things were a lot different.

There were no podcasts, no videos, no coaches polls or watch lists. In fact, for the first few weeks, there weren’t even photos, as I’d yet to acquire a camera.

For a short while, there were just words, and that’s where it always started for me.

On the 10th anniversary, I wrote about how this website came to be, and please go back to give it a read if you haven’t before. I also decided to do a weekly list of top 10 moments and athletes from the sports I’d covered the most over that first decade, but then six weeks later, the world went to crap and ended that venture.

Boy, has a lot changed in those five years, but you don’t need me to tell you all about that.

The change here has been noticeable, at least to me. Those things I mentioned above, the podcasts and the videos, etc., have become some of the more popular features on the site. For example, I received more feedback on last fall’s field hockey podcasts than anything I’ve ever done, except for maybe the old fitness column I used to write when I was at the Nashua Telegraph.

But like I said above, for me, it’s been about the words.

Truth is, I got into sports journalism, or sports writing, or whatever you want to call it, because of photography. Before I’d even attended a class as a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh, I’d signed up to take photos for the student paper, The Pitt News.

I never heard back from the photo editor, but I did get a call from the sports editor, asking me to attend the first weekly meeting. To that point, I’d never taken a journalism class, never thought about writing for a newspaper, and outside of a sad attempt at helping put out a student paper in junior high, had never attempted to write an article.

I went to the meeting, volunteered to do a story, and stuck with it. By the time senior year rolled around, I was the one running those meetings.

But as that naive freshman got a few more by-lines, I started to think if I stuck with this newspaper thing, I could then call myself a writer. Growing up, that’s what I always wanted to be, but think more along the lines of Stephen King than Bob Ryan.

Writing about sports felt like the best of both worlds. I got to be a writer and I got to watch sports, and if everything worked out right, I could make a living off it. It also meant actually approaching and talking to people, which, for those who have known me for a while, was not something I was ever good at.

That first story I volunteered for in college required me to do a phone interview and I must have spent an hour picking up and putting the phone back down, nervous about what I was going to ask and how dumb it would sound.

Since that first story – which was on Pitt men’s soccer team upsetting second-ranked St. John’s and was published Sept. 11, 2000, by the way – there have been a lot more interviews and a lot fewer nervous moments, at least when it comes to that.

The written words, though, have become less and less. That’s been good in some cases. I enjoy doing the various podcasts, and it’s so rewarding to hear that a lot of you do, too. “The Season” has been just as rewarding, but in a different way. I have had the opportunity to get to know some superb individuals in the process of doing it and it’s given me different perspectives, which has enhanced how I do this job.

And as a bonus, I now have a bunch of catchphrases, thanks to Robin Bowkett, that I use from time to time to annoy my wife.

At other times, I’d like to be writing more, and I feel like I should, but again, there’s something that is different. The stories don’t draw people in as much as they used to, not like the podcasts and the videos (and yes, I realize the irony of saying that a couple of hundred words into this).

I’ve wondered at times over the last year if it’s something I should cut back on entirely, especially if things hit a rough patch. As I’ve mentioned before, up until the start of 2024, I had worked a part-time job while doing the site, and I think if I had to go back to that, would I still be able to do as much here.

Thankfully, it hasn’t reached that point, and to be honest, I don’t think I could ever run the site like that. The writing is too important to me for that to happen.

Whether you read every word, or watch every video, or listen to each podcast, let me say thank you.

Thank you for being here, for being interested in not only what I’ve been doing, but for your interest in the student-athletes and their coaches and teams. As long as they keep letting me show up, and talking to me, I’ll keep covering them, hopefully for more than just another 15 years.

Editor’s Note

Since it didn’t exactly fit in above, I wanted to explain the photo at the top of the page, incase anyone wondered why I chose it.

If someone were to ask me what was the best photo that’s run on the site, and I only had a moment to chose, that’s the one I’m going with. It’s from the opening night of the 2016 football season and a game between Merrimack and Bedford.

That season, those two were the preseason favorites to win Division I, and they happened to meet at Bedford in Week 1. The atmosphere for that game was unlike any I’ve experienced before or since for a regular-season high school football game. It felt like a playoff game and the size of the crowd made it look like one.

I remember thinking at the time that I hoped the whole year felt like that, but unfortunately, it was an unrealistic thought. But for that Friday night, it delivered.

Bedford got out to a 17-0 lead before Merrimack came back and had chance to win on the final play, but the Bulldogs ultimately prevailed, 24-20. The picture is Merrimack’s Tyler DeNeill, right after he scored a touchdown as part of the comeback.

Sometimes people ask what is the process for taking great sports photos, and I’m sure there are some real things that I do that I could share with others. But a lot of times, for me at least, it comes down to luck.

Luck that I was standing on that side of the field. Luck that I happened to be paying enough attention to capture that moment after the play was done. Luck that the camera focused where I wanted it to, that I had my settings right for that lighting, and most of all, that DeNeill happened to look my way.

As I wrap this up, I continue to feel lucky that I’ve been able to continue doing this. Lucky that you out there have enjoyed this adventure enough to help support it in one way or another. Some of that’s been through memberships and sponsorships, while others it’s been your time and expertise.

I am thankful for all of it.