It’s a fair question, especially for anyone who’s followed Empire Sports Talk for any length of time. Why, after six years of not posting, would I bring the blog back for its periodical demise? After all, Empire Sports Talk had evolved from the written word to a video podcast posted on social media. But the answer to this question is bigger than “because I wanted to”. For that, let’s go back a little further.

I was 11 years old. I turned on SportsCenter and listened to Stuart Scott as he recapped the previous night’s action. This was the first time I realized that talking about sports could be a job. I had never even thought about a job before that. I was 11. But I was hooked. I was a sports junkie from day 1. When I was a baby, one of my parents’ friends built me a chair. It was made out of wood and had raised arm rests on both sides. It didn’t take long at all for me to discover that the space between the arm rests was the perfect size for a regulation basketball. I would stand (or sit, since I was barely old enough to stand) in front of that chair for hours, in nothing but a diaper, tossing that basketball into that chair. My parents have photographic evidence…

But from the moment I saw Stuart Scott on the 24/7 sports network, it was like all of my passion for sports that I was barely old enough to put into context yet, was now pointing me to something. After that day, I never considered another career path. As soon as I learned what broadcast journalism was, that was it. Then, on my 12th birthday, my grandparents gifted me with the greatest thing a 12-year-old boy could ask for: A PlayStation 2 – and with, a copy of the game I’d been begging for since I saw it on a commercial earlier that summer at their house: MLB 05. It was then that I discovered the incomparable voice of the greatest broadcaster of all time, Vin Scully. I have carried the inspiration from Scott and Scully with me into adulthood.

Now skipping ahead a bit, because shared a bit about the origins of Empire Sports Talk in the About section of this website (which is still a work in progress…), I tried to maintain both the blog (est. in 2012) and the podcast (est. in 2014) for a while, as I greatly appreciated each form of media for their distinct advantages. One allowed me to practice and hone my craft the way I’d dreamed it, and one allowed me the gift of creativity and time – to take my thoughts and be able to craft them, one at a time, into a message that hopefully could inspire someone in the same way that sports, and the words and stories of those like Scott, Scully and many others before me had inspired my own journey. I don’t know if I’ve accomplished that yet, but I am honored to try.

But a time came in 2018 when life got in the way of the pursuit. I began working a full-time job that was very loosely related to the field, and I quickly began to see a path within that company where my dream job would be accessible. Call it naivety, call it idealism, call it whatever you want…I put in my time and forged full steam ahead in hopes of reaching my goals. Only, the company had other ideas. I won’t say the name of the company here, but if you are familiar with the podcast and its social media pages. I haven’t been shy about calling out that company when I felt it was necessary (and it’s been very necessary lately, since they haven’t gotten the best press in the sports/jersey world recently).

After four years of mistreatment, corruption, and shear bad business, I separated from the company feeling the lowest I ever had. Certain management within the organization had left me feeling broken down, worthless, bitter, and certain that my once clear path to my dream was now permanently out of reach. This company has a history of treating people (including their customers) like trash and lying about it up, and I believe the day is coming soon that they will have to answer for it.

There was a point during that 4-year period where the first thought that would enter my head upon waking up EVERY morning was “No” or “I can’t do this”. Nothing was for me. My joy was gone. In its place was bitterness, anger, and a hopeless fatigue that nearly stole my love of sports that had once burned so brightly. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

Not long before I left that company, I realized that I desperately needed something in my life that was for me. So, Empire Sports Talk returned after a three-year hiatus. Giving second life to my dream had a similar effect on me. I began to find the joy in sports again – the joy that voices like Vin Scully and Stuart Scott, as well as the images of Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr had instilled in me.

Now in my early 30s, it’s no longer the dream of a starry-eyed idealistic 12-year-old. It’s the pursuit of a man who has been driven to strengthen the connective tissue between sports and life for the entirety of his. As someone who’s mild disability has kept him from ever taking a court or field alongside teammates like so many of the sports heroes (and classmates) he admired, writing about it and learning about it was the way in.

The reality though, is that, at the moment, and for all these years since the beginning of the blog, which was titled “Empire Sports Corner” at its inception in 2012, I’ve done it purely for love, and while that love still exists, one of the reasons I put it down in the first place was the difficulty of maintaining a blog and a podcast while holding down a full-time job and a life. This can’t remain a hobby forever.

I didn’t bring the blog back until recently the the birth of this site, but I still believe in the power of the written word just as much if not more than that of the spoken word. As someone who’s written in various forms for his whole life, I’m not often “proud” of my work in the way most creatives are, but the piece I think about often, that reminds me of why I do this each time I see it, is an article I wrote on Empire Sports Corner back in 2016. It was the year that three all-time greats, Vin Scully, Peyton Manning, and Kobe Bryant all walked away from their respective careers, and in a piece appropriately titled “Reverence”, I paid tribute to the three giants and appreciated that they each gave us the chance to say goodbye. Below is an excerpt from that article:

I wrote that eight years ago about three men who have long since retired – two of which who have passed on – but I still feel strongly about the sentiment and the ability of what sports can do for us. The parallels and life lessons that can be pulled from these games are invaluable.

So maybe this was a long-winded way to wind up at the admittedly straightforward conclusion that the title presents, but here it is: I brought the blog (and the podcast) back because I believe in the power of sports. To bring us joy, unity, lessons in triumph and tribulation, and what it means to love something that can’t always love you back. As I approach 2025, I am making one final big push to make a career out of the dream that I’ve held on to since I was 12. If, after that, it isn’t meant to be, I can at least set down my microphone and metaphorical pen knowing that I gave it everything I had. After all, for better or for worse, this can’t remain a hobby forever…