At the beginning of December, we recorded our 100th episode of the ‘Empire Sports Talk’ podcast! It’s been a long road to get here, but I just wanted to take a moment on this blog to thank all of you for your support over the years.

It seems only right to say a few words on the platform that started it all. Empire Sports Talk started as a blog known as “Roman Empire Sports Corner” all the way back in 2012. I was just a 20-year-old kid who had known exactly what he wanted to do since he was twelve years old – to talk about sports.

As a kid who had grown up with a disability, I was surrounded by friends who were athletes, but playing sports myself was all but out of the question. It hurt, but when I watched ESPN. I saw an opportunity. An opportunity to still be around sports in a different way. I studied the games, learned from the athletes, and absorbed everything I could. Attending my friends’ games became a regular thing for me. The baseball diamond in particular became something of a sanctuary for me. But an interesting dichotomy presented itself. I wanted more than anything to be out there, so sitting in the bleachers staring out at that field became both a purgatory and a safe haven that I grappled with for years.

In 2012, I published my first article of Blogspot.com, known as “More Than A Game.” The overall sentiment of that inaugural piece was very painting that very picture. Part of it read like this:

Sometimes baseball is more than just a game, more than a field, a team or a home run. It’s more than a win or a loss. It’s temporarily making best friends with complete strangers around you, coming together to root your team to victory. It can bring two enemies together and put best friends at odds for an afternoon. There’s nothing greater than showing that you’re part of a team, part of something special. This is America…this is baseball.

It was a way to express myself. I way I could get close to the sports I loved without the uniforms I never got a chance to wear.

I studied broadcast journalism and spent time on the college radio station to get the valuable experience I needed to get me on a path to my dream job. In 2014, I heard about podcasting for the first time. My own radio show all about sports, and I wouldn’t have to wait until graduation? Sign me up! Empire Sports Talk was born, first as audio only, then later on YouTube. It was rough at first, but it was mine. I continued faithfully for four years, largely setting down the blog focus on the podcast, until I began a full-time job that took up most of my time and energy. I took that job because I thought it was another step forward to my dream job. I even got to a place where that dream job was so close, I could taste it. But I was lied to. I was manipulated. The company and its executives couldn’t be trusted. I won’t name it, but you’d know it. You’d definitely know it. I’ll just tell you that if you bought sports jersey from any major sports merchandise website form 2018-2022, I probably worked on it, and the company’s CEO used to be part owner of an NBA team. That job took my soul, took my joy. It took everything I had to give and more, gave me nothing in return and left me bruised and broken. It wasn’t just me. That’s how they treat all of their people. That’s who you’re buying from.

Somewhere after my dream job disappeared, but I was still stuck in the company. I realized that I had nothing left for myself. So, I brought back the podcast. After a four-year hiatus, Empire Sports Talk lived again. In early 2023, I escaped that company. They had tried to kill my love of sports, but I took it back. I could breathe again…

So, twelve years after the birth of Roman Empire Sports Corner, and a decade after Empire Sports Talk, the podcast celebrates 100 episodes. This is more than a blog or a podcast: it’s a passion project, a pursuit, a dream worth chasing. But this can’t be a hobby forever. At 32 years old, I have to be a bit realistic. One final push, one last plea. Trying to chase my dream career one last time. Help me do that. Share this post, subscribe to the podcast and the YouTube channel, like all of the socials (linked on the top of the homepage). Help me finally make this dream a full-fledged reality.

No matter what the future holds, I appreciate you and all of your support. It’s been a wild journey. One that I never would have gone on if I didn’t love it. So, cheers to 100 and hopefully many more.

As I say at the end of most of the podcast episodes, “Today’s a good day to go 1-0, and I’ll see you next time.”