It’s been a while you guys

Hi. It’s been a while. 

October 3rd to be exact. Two months. This is the longest I’ve gone without posting since Fansmanship.com was born. 

I heard a podcast recently where Bill Simmons said that “the easiest thing to do is not write.” It really hit home.

Over the past 7 or 8 years, I’ve been writing on this site. At first, it was about whatever I felt like writing about in sports. Eventually, it became more and more based around Cal Poly and local sports. For the past few months, it just hasn’t happened. 

In 2012, I spent nearly half the year on the road for my real job, a career in education that I truly love. During that year, I wrote probably over 100 posts for this website, one I started with a few friends. It was a fun thing to occupy my time on the road, and as I had some fun sporting experiences in various cities. Without any pictures, I didn’t like the posts and site as much, so I wanted to make my own. I bought a Canon T3i with some airline miles and bought a $300 lens that would work well in low light.

In the Fall of 2012, I traveled to Laramie, Wyoming to watch and cover the Cal Poly football upset the Cowboys. It’s still the last game the Mustangs have won over an FBS opponent. During the game, I took an out-of-focus picture of a Cal Poly player scoring a touchdown. At the time, I thought it was the greatest photo ever. An outlet around the Big Sky used it as a small part of their roundup. While I still focused on writing, this photography thing was fun, too.

In the years since, doing both has been a challenge. I had written in the past, and so the new challenge of getting better at making great photos has been some kind of driving force. Sometime around 2014 or so, I think I realized that doing both — writing halfway decent posts and making photos — was a really hard task. Did I mention I was also hosting and producing a podcast? Over the past year or so, my time has been spent mostly on photography and, at times, podcasting. Make no mistake though, I still like to write. 

This Fall, things have been really busy. When something had to give, it was the writing that I had always so cherished that fell off. So it goes. 

There are absolutely stories to tell that I missed. Without a strong local media presence, they are stories that were legitimately missed. Stories about athletes overcoming things I could never imagine, about people around the local sports community doing some really incredible things, and stories about everyday, mundane things that I love to celebrate. Thinking about it makes me frustrated, wistful, and a little crazy on the inside. I want to be able to do it all. To do everything.

I know, when given the time there is in a day and the choices that have been in front of me, that I’ve made the right ones. My (hopefully) ever-improving photography is something I’m very proud of and that I continue to work aggressively on. And I’ve watched my two amazing young children do what young children do. They get bigger. Unfortunately, the day doesn’t get longer to accommodate. 

Writing is a muscle. A habit. I never claimed to be great at it, but I enjoyed it and have always enjoyed knowing that at least a few people look at it from time to time. 

I’m hoping that the winter and spring make more time for me to write than the Fall did. Here’s to eternal fresh starts, to content, and to continuing to get to do what I love — all day, every day. 

As always, thanks for reading.