Fifteen years ago—on July 17, 2011—I launched my very first blog post. At the time, my life revolved around Texas high school football, as I was working as a statistician for the Texas Sports Radio Network (1997–2014) and Thursday Night Lights (2009–2015). I even had a brief but cool stint with UTSA Football in 2012. TSRN broadcasted games on the radio, online, and through an app. TNL did the same, but with cameras and lights and yes, I was on TV a few times.
When I hit “publish”, I had no master plan. I just wanted a place to share what I saw from the press box—some stats, a few stories, and maybe a photo or two. I called it thestatmanspeaks.com, because… well, I was The Statman, and I wanted to speak (in written form, not audio). It worked, as I got people to read and interact with my blogs.
I took renovation photos of Alamo Stadium, a football stadium and the adjoining Alamo Convocation Center, a gymnasium in 2013 and 2014. Those photos appeared in a book, on television several times, the school district’s athletic website, and I was featured in a television interview with the local ABC station. I also took renovation photos of Lehnhoff Stadium in 2015 and the Northside Independent School District gymnasium in 2016.
In 2015, my wife asked me a question that helped shift everything: “Do you like being a statistician or a writer more?” I didn’t even pause. I said, “Writer.”
So, I stepped away from crunching numbers—retiring from TSRN in 2015 and TNL in 2016—and became a freelance writer and photographer. My last official game as a writer was in 2017. I did make a one-night-only comeback as a statistician in 2019.
Today, those early blog posts are sitting in draft limbo, hidden after that domain expired. Maybe I’ll re-publish them someday. Maybe not. Honestly, I’m not sure anyone would read them now—but if I do bring them back, it’ll be just for me. Just to keep the full picture of where I started.
Meanwhile, this week in Dad life:
I was less of a writer and more of a one-man home improvement crew.
- Builder: I assembled four large IKEA bookcases. My only complaint is they were heavy and I struggled to bring them in the house. A few weeks ago, I assembled two small IKEA bookcases for Nina’s and Niko’s bedroom. On July 4th, I picked up two medium bookcases from a co-worker. I had to move those to another room to make room for the IKEA ones.
- Plumber: I replaced three shower-heads—without flooding anything. Let me rephrase, we actually brought one and it leaked in two showers, so we returned it and got three different ones. It took less than five minutes to remove the old shower-heads and replace with them the new ones. No leaks, and everybody in the house gave the new shower-heads a thumbs up. And, I am proud to say that I am also the owner of a “plumbers wrench”.
- Exterminator: I destroyed a very large wasp nest. I have the stings (and the victory dance) to prove it, and they really hurt. Yes, Nina had to go to Home Depot (which is one of my worst places to go to) to buy wasp spray, a hose, and a nozzle.
Meanwhile, this week in Niko’s life:
- Builder: He built a fort out of used boxes in the master closet, all done on his own accord. I could hear him cutting boxes to his specification and then taping them together to form walls, doors, and windows. He lugged all the boxes from the garage, which was a lot of work in itself. Pretty impressive.
