Welcome To Page 11
Shit another blog.
The last thing the Internet needs, besides more Kim Kardashian West screenshots of her text conversations with Kanye West, is another blog to muddy up the content waters that are so polluted with filth and lost souls that Lake Lanier has grown rather jealous, but here we are.
I’m doing this.
I’m doing this because I have to do this. As much as I love doing my podcast each week, I never get quite the same satisfying feeling that I always get after I hit publish on a piece that I have written. It’s euphoric. I’ve written a lot, sporadically, on another page on this site with the Very Official Name of “Blog”, but I always wanted to branch off and start a page that has a real name, a real edge, a real sentiment that fits who I am both as a writer and as a human being.
Enter Page 11.
Growing up, I read a ton of ESPN’s Page 2. I still have several columnists Page 2 columns bookmarked to this day so that I can go back and revisit them whenever I feel like I need some inspiration or direction. I miss it. I miss that kind of writing and journalism on ESPN. But Page 2 is a thing of the past. It’s not coming back and I don’t want to bring it back. Instead, I want to blaze my own trail like Miguel Prado on ‘Dexter’ after learning the tricks of the trade from Miami’s favorite serial killer. So Page 11 is alive.
But where does Page 11 stem from? Well, I’m glad you didn’t ask and I just assumed you might, because I grew up with a dad who served in the military — Marines, specifically. I have uncles and grandfathers and great grandfathers who have severed in the Army, Navy, etc. But after doing some digging, I found there was this thing called “Page 11” in the USMC, which can be both positive or negative for the a service member, depending on the circumstance. By my estimation, it’s really an administrative remarks page for a service member that usually has a negative aura around it — is that not what a sports column oftentimes feels like? An administrative figure writing out his or her remarks about a person or team or event that usually has a negative aura around it?
Hopefully you see where I am going with this.
I think it’s perfect. It’s a name that makes sense for me, it’s a name that speaks to my personality and writing style, and it’s a name that has some sort of connection to my dad and my family. (It doesn’t hurt that the number “11” is my dad’s favorite number.)
On this page, you will see posts about my podcast, you will see pieces about the sports that I am watching, the movies and television shows I am seeing, and, really, whatever the fuck else I feel inspired to write about because that is what I do. A light bulb goes off and everything else in the world freezes — I have to write this down. I have to get this on paper — er, Google Doc — and send it out into the world. Nothing excites me more. It’s hard to imagine something else ever will.
Now about that damn light bulb.