Thanks for visiting my site. I figure it’s important to give you a little background on me and why you should want to read my blog and participate in this community.

I have been obsessed with sports my entire life. Over the years I played football, basketball, soccer, tennis, pickleball, cross country, track competitively. Participating in sports has instilled in me all the values that I carry with me in every day life: hard work, effort, teamwork, passion, humility, loyalty, sportsmanship. Being a 15 year old high school kid and waking up at 5am to go run 6 miles with my teammates before school showed me what those qualities really meant, and how they didn’t always lead to success. Sometimes you can do everything in your power to reach your goals, but you fall short. All you can do is be proud of the work you put in and figure out what the next chapter is. For me, my next chapter is writing.

I have no experience writing. Other than doing the bare minimum to pass my college English classes, I never had any interest in writing as a hobby. I always thought writing was subjective, and you could never prove who was a good and who was a bad writer. But that’s why I love sports. At the end of the day, it’s the numbers that matter. The final score. The final record. The champion. That’s why I want to take my love for sports and share it with the world. It’s my biggest personal passion, and I know I have a lot to offer in this space.

If you made it this far you might be asking, why Illinois sports? It comes back to all of those values I mentioned and how they shaped my experience as a University of Illinois grad. I love University of Illinois for the lifelong friendships I made, my participation in U of I Cross Country and Track Club, and my memories from attending sporting events.

Like most of you that have graduated within the last 15 years, the football and basketball teams were bad. While I was a 4-year student we won 6 big ten football games and made 1 NCAA March Madness Tournament. For a major power 5 university it doesn’t get much worse than that. Despite the poor record, I have and will always tune in with excitement and hope every single year. What’s the alternative? Assume we are going to suck every year? What’s the fun in that. Nobody knows what is going to happen before it happens, so let’s enjoy the ride.

That’s the purpose of this blog, allow everyone to enjoy the ride along with me. There will be ups and downs, but when you stick it out that’s what makes the ups even sweeter. I’m looking forward to sharing these sweeter times with you all and making memories that will last forever. I-L-L