The Basement View

Fresh Start_365: A true Fresh Start Every single day for an ENTIRE year! Give or take a few days because of wifi or just a scheduling mishap, I had an article for every single day for a year. This did teach me a lot about myself and what my voice is as a writer, I will be needing a break from writing every day. I will return to do the “Fresh Start” series at some point, but it won’t be for a while. To think that a series would last this long for me and the fact that I actually followed through with writing every single day. This was just a wild idea that I got while writing an Alex Rodriguez piece in a Starbucks right outside Ocean City Maryland, I never thought I’d actually finish it. I wanted to do this because I wasn’t happy with the amount of stuff I was writing or wanting to perfect every article that I put out. What this did for me is to just write and not care about what it was about or the structure, or how many words and just let myself roam free. While being an es

Fresh Start_364: The Kyrie Trade I’m going to end my thank you articles to get back to sports for a day. The Kyrie Irving saga throughout this summer has been the number one storyline in the NBA next to Lebron James possibly going to Los Angeles next summer to team-up with Lonzo Ball and possibly Paul George and Russell Westbrook. Kyrie got his wish with a trade to Boston. The Celtics have traded away some of their war chest to get the All-Star point guard. The price for Irving was Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, and the Brooklyn Nets 2018 first round pick. The trade just doesn’t make any sense to me for either team. Yes, Irving does give Boston a better player than Thomas, but the Celtics aren’t as good a team because of this trade. Not only do you trade anyway your franchise player in Thomas, but you also give Cleveland a good roll player in Crowder, and a good pick in the Brooklyn pick. Potentially the Cavs could win the title and still get the first pick in the

Fresh Start_363: Thanks mom and dad Mom and dad, I mean what else can be said. Everyone says that their parents are the best, but for me mine are the best. My parents aren’t like others in my town, they are happily married and support all their children. My mom always said “if you aren’t doing something in sports, you aren’t going to be happy” and well you know that momma knows best. So, thank you for supporting me and I hope you’ve like the last couple of days on my blog. Honestly, I would be nothing without my dad. If I wasn’t in the car while you were listening to Mike Francesa or Michael Kay. Or having random sports conversations even with my crazy ideas. Or teaching me how to a conclusion when I was in 5 th grade. Or teaching to love the greatest game in the world aka baseball. Or the time that you took me to my first basketball game on Super Bowl Sunday to see my favorite basketball player ever Vince Carter, and I’ll never forget when Joe Johnson hit a half-court sho

Fresh Start_362: Inspirations My next thank you is to my influences. There has been many but there are few specifically made this past year happen. So, I’d like to thank a few people… I’d like to thank Bill Simmons, my 11 th grade English teacher Mr. Schofield, and the Head of the Communications at Cobleskill Erik Hage. Simmons is one of my biggest inspirations out there and listening to his podcast all last year once he was let go ESPN he gave me the inspiration to say “hey I can do this too.” Along the road you have to have people to believe in you and well Mr. Schofield was the first one for. I wrote a series of papers for him in high school and he sat me down and told me I actually had something in my writing. I didn’t realize it until a year later but thank you for believing in me. The same thing can be said for Mr. Erik Hage. He was once a journalist himself in the Boston area (I think I have something for Boston sports guys I don’t know) but he also has written a cou

Fresh Start_361: Thank you to my grandparents My next thank you letter is to my grandparents. My Grandmother, Popop, and Granny. You three are as big a part of this as I am. The three of you are my other editors on the go, while also being a great influence to me. Grandma and Popop with you two being Cub, Giant, Knick, Ranger Pirate, Steeler, and Penguin fans your outlook on sports is completely different from mine. I wouldn’t be the same writer if we didn’t have the conversations about the craziness and wonderfulness that is sports. Not to mention the great conversations about politics and life that I have learned a lot from. You are a daily inspiration and thank you so much for giving me an outlet for great conversation, not to mention being a part of the greatest set of grandparents a kid could ever have. I love you guys so much. Granny, yes you are the other part of that set, but thank you for helping me fall in love with our Jets. I know we haven’t had much to cheer for, b

Fresh Start_360: Thank you friends Continuing with the “movie credits” over the next five days, I want to write a couple of letters to the people who helped and supported me through this process and made me the writer I am. I already wrote a letter to my hometown and how that made me but these four groups of people have been my backbone through this process. My first letter has to go to my friends. By the way these thank you letters are in no order by any means they just have to be written. So here it goes: To my unbelievable friends, I don’t know if I’d be here without you. Thanks to the hours of smiles, laughs, hang outs, and just good times, I have been able to find myself and realize my dream while I had your support. In particular I want to thank a small few. Don’t take it personally, I don’t have enough time to give everyone a letter. That letter would be 50,000 words and even then it wouldn’t be enough. First off I have to thank my best friend in the whole wide w

Fresh Start_359: The Letter to myself that I could have only dreamed of After doing 358 articles in a row, and a ton of life hitting me in the face, this year has been incredible and I now have time to say some thank you’s. As J. Cole says in “Note to Self” on his 2014 Forest Hills Drive album “This is the movie credits, if you don’t want to sit through the credits-get your ass up and walk out the theater.” So, the year that I am talking about is August 23 rd 2016 not January 1 st to now. The first thank you is to the 19-year-old me that came up with this crazy idea. And, it’s crazy to believe that I am almost there, and I am such a better writer, podcaster, and person now that I know what I want. I have a better understanding of the journalism world because of what I’ve done over this past year. I have done what I set out to be and that is become a better writer and storyteller. That was the main goal and I’ve done that and will continue to get better the longer and longe

Fresh Start_358: Fake News I don’t usually get political on this blog because I stand by the motto of “keep politics out of sports.” I talk politics but not through my writing. Maybe that will change at some point in my life, but for the foreseeable future I’ll stick to sports… for the most part. I don’t speak my mind about politics because my knowledge about the topics discussed in politics isn’t as well-known. I did speak my mind the day after the election daring the newly elected president to come at me for speaking my mind in journalism. This time it is just out of sheer confusion. During a press conference in Trump Towers yesterday, President Trump said something about the white supremacy riots in Charlottesville Virginia. “There are fine people on both sides” said the President—WHAT! How can you say that about white supremacists, white nationalists, and KKK members? Nobody says that there are “fine people” in those groups no matter what political party you are associa

Fresh Start_357: Judges struggles aren’t that big of a deal There is a changing of the guard going underway in the Bronx. Aaron Judge has been utterly incredible this season for the Yankees, but he has struggled since the All-Star break. He has stroke out in 30 straight games, and hasn’t seemed liked the same player. It was only a matter of time until we saw a drop off from Judge, but nobody saw the drop being like this. Since Judge starting struggling, the Yankees have fell out of first place, but it’s okay because guys like Aaron Hicks and Gary Sanchez are stepping up. These are the same two players that helped the bombers make a run at the playoffs. Hicks stroke lighting in a bottle last August and September and he is doing it again this year. Gary Sanchez has quietly hit 20 homers behind the massive shadow of Aaron Judge, and is setting his sights on having a good end to the season. Sanchez might help the Yankees lock down the first Wild Card spot and help them host som

Fresh Start_356: Improving the fan experience Having gone to a fair amount of baseball games in my life, and well I think the game experience is simply amazing. Going to the game is something that still gives me goosebumps and butterflies. I always think “what if I see a perfect game, or a no hitter, or a game winning grand slam” the possibilities are endless and just being in the building makes me happy. However, I am not naïve to the fact that the experience has some room for improvement. There is always something that you could bring to the game that wasn’t there before, and it’s like throwing thumbtacks at a corkboard one will stick. While these are just a few, they will be well received around baseball: 1.      Screens shielding the lower levels to protect fans While it might not be fun to look through a screen while being that close to the action, but let’s not be stupid here, ball players aren’t being made like they used too. Guys like Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge,

Fresh Start_355: 1 st Preseason Game of 2017 recap Preseason football means absolutely nothing… I know that and so do you, but there is something about the return of football that gets me excited. Even with the Jets looking like they are going to be one of the worst teams in the franchises’ history a part of me cannot wait to watch the Jets on Sunday’s. The other part of me wants to play fantasy football and just get lost in rabbit holes of who to play on each Sunday. I love the Jets don’t get me wrong, but I need something to feel my time on Sunday’s with how bad I personally think the Jets will be. Watching majority of the first preseason game of 2017—I liked what I saw but it was against cupcake teams that are fighting for a roster spot themselves. Christian Hackenberg was put in a spot to succeed with low risk immediate throws and still went 18/25 for 125 yards. The receivers didn’t help Hackenberg that much with so drops but all in all it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve seen

Fresh Start_355: 1 st Preseason Game of 2017 recap Preseason football means absolutely nothing… I know that and so do you, but there is something about the return of football that gets me excited. Even with the Jets looking like they are going to be one of the worst teams in the franchises’ history a part of me cannot wait to watch the Jets on Sunday’s. The other part of me wants to play fantasy football and just get lost in rabbit holes of who to play on each Sunday. I love the Jets don’t get me wrong, but I need something to feel my time on Sunday’s with how bad I personally think the Jets will be. Watching majority of the first preseason game of 2017—I liked what I saw but it was against cupcake teams that are fighting for a roster spot themselves. Christian Hackenberg was put in a spot to succeed with low risk immediate throws and still went 18/25 for 125 yards. The receivers didn’t help Hackenberg that much with so drops but all in all it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve seen

Fresh Start_ 354: The start to a PAINFUL season Say what you will about Preseason Football, but I honestly cannot wait to watch some Jet football. As crazy as that sounds, I noticed that while torturing myself through Episode 245 of the Bill Simmons podcast. That particular podcast was about the 25 best wins under the Brady-Belichick Era. I don’t know why I listened to the podcast, I saw what it was and I hate the Patriots with all of my being, but I listened to it anyway because I just wanted to listen to football talk. It was an interesting, but it wasn’t a pleasant near two-hour podcast for me at all. I don’t know why I am looking forward to watch one of the worst teams in football, but I just want to see my Jets again. Maybe that will change a few snaps into the first Preseason game against the Titans but we will see. I don’t know how many times I will say this enthusiastically; but LET’S GO JETS! Sources:(theringer.com) Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and shar

Fresh Start_353: Shifting in Buffalo What are the Buffalo Bills doing? After letting Mike Gillislee and Stephon Gilmore walk to the rival Patriots, changing headed coaches, the Bills looked they were trying to step out of the whole the organization has been in for seemingly forever. However, with these two trades today the Bills look like they have other ideas. The Bills in two separate deals traded away star wide receiver Sammy Watkins and number one corner Ronald Darby. Watkins goes to the L.A. Rams for E.J. Gaines and a 2018 2 nd round pick. The Darby trade sees the corner go to Philadelphia while Jordan Matthews and a 2018 3 rd round pick go to Buffalo. I don’t really know what direction the Bills are going with the mixture of talent that they have on roster. With players like LeSean McCoy and Tyrod Taylor in the backfield, with Kyle Williams and Marcell Dareus on the interior defensive line. The AFC with injuries in Miami and now these trades in Buffalo has officially

Fresh Start_352: Happy Birthday to me Today is my 20 th birthday, and honestly I don’t want to keep you long today. I know my articles this week haven’t been the longest in the world, but that is just the nature of the beast sometimes. With this past summer being crazy, and writing this article today is no exception. I have recorded a podcast in a car in the middle of Italy and now I am writing an article in a car on my way back from Maryland very early in the morning. I am excited to celebrate 20 and I hope there are many more birthdays for me, but the main thing I want to say today is just enjoy life and say I love you to someone you know because you never know when it’ll be the last time you say it. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!

Fresh Start_351: The Ringer 2.0 There is no secret that I am a big fan of Bill Simmons and the podcast network/website he has created on his own (with some help). I have repeatedly used some of what was said on his podcast and his network of podcasts to validate some of my points on my podcast, while also just pointing out some good points made on the shows. I have also used theringer.com as a research tool to mold some of my articles that I have put out in the past. Medium is a wonderful platform for writing and I’m not one for telling another person’s story, but medium helped Simmons and his crew to launch their site maybe before it was ready. I have done something similar with the platform, but already having my own platform with blogger, medium is just another outlet to content. In the age of companies moving away from written content, medium, blogger, vox have given journalist and bloggers the ability to just create. It’s refreshing and I’ll continue to sound like a bro

Fresh Start_350: 350; Unbelievable I cannot believe that I have done this for 350 straight days. It doesn’t even like it has been almost a year to the day that I started writing every day. It has been difficult to get the articles up each day, but this long ride of 350 days and counting has been so much fun. I have accomplished what I set out to do when I first started and I’m still learning as I go. I understand that I am nowhere close to where I think I can be with my writing style or potential that I have. Going to study journalism this fall will help me, but this journey with this series has helped me so much. Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!

  Fresh Start_349: My favorite place in the world Let me tell you about my favorite place in the continental United States. The reason I say the continental United States is because I have been fortunate to have gone to Hawaii in my lifetime and that place is my definition of paradise but this place comes extremely close. It’s a small island campsite in between the Atlantic Ocean and Chincoteague Bay. Assateague Island is that place for me. I personally love the beach and this is camping on the beach in the middle of nowhere. The Zac Brown Band song “Toes” could have been about this place. The island escape off the grid from everything might not always be needed but it is definitely appreciated. My family and I go down to the island every year and it just so happens when we go on vacation as a family it always falls around my birthday. I love the place and just want to give it a quick shout-out! Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on my way out!

Fresh Start_348: The PGA Championship It is about this time of year where I just get fascinated with golf. Golf hasn’t been a stranger to this blog, but I wouldn’t say it has been a mainstay either. I put out an article about the Masters at the beginning of April and that’s about all the golf coverage you’ll see from me, but I can’t lie some parts of the year I can’t get enough of golf. With the British Open last week and the PGA Championship this week, golf is at its apex of its season. All of the top golfers have had a couple of months to iron out their games for this run at two majors in just two weeks. I understand that The Masters is a whole animal within itself, but the British Open and the PGA Championship are two majors that would make a great end to someone’s season. The thing that amazes me about golf is just the simple fact of actually playing the game. It is just hard to make the ball go straight, especially for over 150-200+ yards. I don’t play often but when I do

Fresh Start_347: Grading the new additions With Sonny Grey and now Jaime Garcia both barely getting through their first respective starts in Pinstripes it’s fair to give them a grade. I like both Grey and Garcia and think they will help the bombers as August and September come and pass; it’s just bad luck that they happened to face the remaining American League champs. Grey and Garcia will both help the Yankees win and I think that is well known not only throughout the fan base but from reading various papers articles from the bigger publications the media also seems to get it. The sample size is also only one game, and the team as a whole didn’t give their best collective effort to help Grey and Garcia on back to back nights. Three errors for Grey and no run support for Garcia against Trevor Bauer—a pitcher the usually hit well the bombers now find themselves three games back of the Red Sox for first in the division. As far as grades go; I’d give Grey a B/B- for his great perfo

Fresh Start_346: My plead for journalism Talking on my podcast with my good friend Dayton Brown, we got to talking about how we came about and started our podcasts and writing careers. The biggest obstacle for us both at the time that we started was actually starting to write and publicize it. For me I didn’t think I was good enough. The issue of my opinions being there wasn’t the issue it just was how do I start and the fear of not being good enough when I actually started. That quickly went away when I started this blog almost three years ago. As you listen further into the podcast, the topic of sports journalism comes about and the need for it. The under appreciation for good sports writing is at an all-time high and what we fear is just people undervaluing the art of sports writing so much that it will just stop all together. Every medium goes through the same period that journalism at a whole is going through right now. Society picks out niches for every medium to withhold an

In Between the Pinstripes_33: The new guy in town Well, it feels good to be writing this again. I stopped back in May because I just didn’t have fun anymore writing these columns. They felt forced and repetitive and I just didn’t feel like putting out content that I didn’t have my full faith behind. I love the Yankees and have continued to watch the ebbs and flows of the current season, and now I feel like is a good time to briefly bring back this series. It will only be for a few short days (for now), but will be back in full effect starting with September call ups on September 1 st . There will be random iterations of this column series throughout the month of August, but nothing regular. Getting into tonight’s game against Cleveland, it was a special one. It was the first start for the prized jewel that the Yankees got at the July Trade Deadline in Sonny Grey. Grey was 6-5 with a 3.43 ERA in Oakland this year, and well his introduction in Pinstripes wasn’t the best of result

Fresh Start_345: Hey Maccagnan; take the bounty and run I may be outed by Jets Nation for this; but trade Sheldon Richardson. If you think about the direction that the Jets have gone this offseason heading into the 2017 Preseason, it’s a rebuild (don’t listen to the players). Looking at the production that Richardson put out last season with 62 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, and only one forced fumble in 15 games last season—the Jets should feel blessed that there are offers for Richardson. The package that Richardson should grant in return is a 1 st round pick in the early to mid-first round if not two second round picks. It will better the team as a whole with the cuts that they have made and the way they drafted in this past Aprils’ draft. It’ll be better for the Jets and their fans in the long term, believe me. Richardson will not benefit the Jets because you can lose win him and you can lose without him. It is better to get a return from Seattle or Washington. I think that

Fresh Start_344: Trouble in Baltimore Joe Flacco was once considered one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL following his 2012 Super Bowl win over the San Francisco 49’ers. Now, he is considered a middle of the line quarterback if not less than average. He has also been on the shelf for some major periods of time over the past two seasons with a knee and shoulder injury. Now, entering the 2017 Training Camp for the Baltimore Ravens he has suffered a back injury. It is unclear how much time Flacco will miss, but it is important time for him to be missing. Ryan Mallet has been his replacement so far in camp, and everything coming out of Baltimore is pointing to him being on the bench by the time the second Preseason game starts. The question of who is backup quarterback will be in Baltimore and the stopgap quarterback in the wake of Flacco’s injury must be answered. Colin Kaepernick has been rumored as the possible signing to fix the quarterback whole that they have, but wit

Fresh Start_343: Pimping myself out… again This article is just a reminder that I have a podcast that I post every Tuesday and Thursday talking about sports, culture, and sometimes politics. I also have a mailbag email that I want to try to get off the ground. You can email me any questions you have about anything sports at thesportsmailbag@gmail.com . I love producing and being the host of my own podcast just as much as I love writing articles. Please go check out my podcast “The Grind Hours Podcast” on SoundCloud. The link is www.soundcloud.com/grindhours If you haven’t already please like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!