Forever a Dream Shaker

I’m not here to preach patience, tell you to take a deep breath, or remind you that rebuilds are a work in progress. This time, I’m just here to tell you a story.

Back during the year 2020, I found myself stuck. I had been writing for the Weber State student newspaper since 2017 but I felt like I had developed as much as I could there, and needed something bigger. I tried Fansided, but after a few articles, I realized it wasn’t for me. I considered medium, but I wanted to join a platform not build one. I thought about what to do next, then suddenly SB Nation crossed my mind. I was excited, but also hesitant. Was I good enough? Would anyone ever see my email? Which site should I reach out to?

Back during the heavy quarantine days of the pandemic, I was simply BORED. I played 2K in my room nonstop, watched tons of movies and highlights. I had no games to cover, that all came crashing to an end when I was in Boise, ID covering the Big Sky tournament and it was canceled the morning after Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. When choosing which site I wanted to email, all of these things circled in my head. Why? It’s simple.

My favorite player to use in 2K20 was James Harden, one of my favorite players, in general, is Harden. The Houston Rockets were a team with a large market, an MVP duo, and were one of the best teams in the league; so I decided to reach out to Darren.

I typed out my email trying to get it perfect and it was probably waaay too long. I typed out my resume when in hindsight I could’ve just attached it. I sent over a few writing samples and at that moment hoped that everyone who has ever told me I was a good writer wasn’t lying. He ended up responding to my email, so I guess they weren’t? (thanks guys).

For a timestamp, this was during the bubble days while the Rockets were playing Oklahoma City in the opening round of the playoffs; my first story came right before the final game of that series. It got the best of SB Nation tag which was exciting, motivating, and made me realize that maybe I could do this after all?

Little did I know how great this would turn out to be.

I tried new styles of writing. I joined the Dream Take and podcasted for the first time, then another time, then a bunch of times as Jeremy Brener and Mike Brown showed me the ropes.

I participated in draft coverage that varied from interviewing Evan Mobley’s high school coach - which led to one of my favorite stories I’ve done. I watched the NBA Draft Combine and wrote about how Josh Christopher would be an intriguing prospect for the Rockets and ultimately just found myself loving everything about writing on this platform with this staff and all of you devoted readers.

Now it’s time to explain why you are reading this random story. On Monday, I worked my first day as a full-time writer at 247sports which means it’s time to say goodbye to this life-changing experience and all of you that played a part in it.

As a writer, there are going to be people that disagree with what you think but what’s great about the TDS audience is that it always was respectful. There have even been times that I’ve second-guessed my stance due to all of the compelling arguments being made in the comments. I’ll miss that.

Thank you, everyone, for everything. I couldn’t have reached this milestone without you.