Greetings from Champaign

Hi. I'm back. For how long? Who knows. I have said in this space before that I've wanted to maintain a consistent blogging schedule. That's fallen flat more than a few times.

What I'm willing to tell you now is that I have moved to Illinois in an effort to further my career. Working at WHIZ was very rewarding in several different ways, and I always told myself I'd only leave Zanesville if I could find a job where my NEXT job after that would bring me back to Ohio. I believe I've found that at WICD.

Less than a month in, I'm doing more work than I've ever done, and it's incredibly rewarding. Being one man in a Big Ten market pulls you in a lot of different directions, with a lot on your plate every single day. When that plate gets consumed, it's a fun drive home. When I leave a little on it, I constantly hope that the following day will be better. That's how it works, and it is a blast. I've learned from a lot of different people (inadvertently or otherwise) that if you don't stop to enjoy what you're doing in this business, you won't last very long. This afternoon, I took a moment to check out the bronze plaque that marks the dedication of Memorial Stadium. It made me think about how lucky I am to be a part of something so many people have held so sacred for so many years.

Hopefully, I'll be a little more consistent with my posts. I'm very grateful to be where I am, and hopefully if you played a role in getting me here, you have already received some sort of "thank you". If not, thank you. And see you soon. 

Losing in Memphis

Rewind to this summer and fall, when my good friend Marc Juszak was crushing me for my Cleveland Indians, Browns and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I told him, "you just wait until Xavier starts playing, I will destroy you." Needless to say, I've had countless opportunites to destroy Juice's alma mater. Here's my latest effort, after the epic collapse to the Memphis Tigers. "Losing in Memphis" borrowed from Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis"

Welcome Back. Nicholas Sparks is Terrible.

This is probably my 18 millionth attempt to get a blog started. This blog will contain nothing in particular. You can expect a heavy dose of sports, and a little of everything else. The first post will fall in the latter category.

My niece knew I had a thought on all Nicholas Sparks books, so she asked me to share it with her. I have always had a problem with the pure drivel that Sparks writes; I don't fault the guy for making an honest living, but it just amazes me how he gets away with writing books that contain such horrible overarching messages.

Here's how every Nicholas Sparks book goes. I'll preface this by saying I have NEVER read a single Sparks book (but I have--reluctantly--seen The Notebook). A girl I used to work with read them ALL, almost as soon as they came out, and would readily offer unsolicited plot lines to anyone who would listen. It is based on these one-sided "conversations" on which I base the following theories.