The day was Tuesday, May 23, 2023. It was 4:30 in the morning.  

I wake up to the sound of my brother crying, running down the stairs from his upstairs bedroom. I hear him busting into my mom’s room and waking her up, sadness coming through his voice.

“Daddy died,” are all the words I could hear him say before he and my mom burst into tears.

Three days prior, as a family, we had all gone to visit my dad in the hospital. He had gone into diabetic shock about two weeks prior. What I saw was a sight I’ll never forget. My dad could barely keep his eyes open, he wasn’t engaging with our conversations. 

Then, when he revealed he wasn’t hungry, and he wasn’t eating, I sadly knew the end was near, as I watched the same thing happen to my grandparents when they passed away. My dad worked inside houses as a heating and air conditioning expert for years. Not only did he ingest mold, but he also smoked for years. He began to have trouble breathing in 2016 and was diagnosed with cancer and COPD. While the cancer went into remission in 2018, the COPD continued to get worse and worse. For the last two years of his life, he was in and out of the hospital having trouble breathing.

Eight hours before that dreadful May morning, we had tried to talk to my dad over the phone, but he struggled to talk. His voice sounded as though he had a really bad case of strep throat. We all told him we loved him and told him we’d check in with the hospital staff and try to talk to him the next day. 

I received the last text from my father 48 hours prior, which simply said, “I love you, boy.”

I knew my dad was sick. I went from praying he would stay alive to praying he would pass away, just to take him out of his misery and relieve him from the pain. Tears are flowing as I type this paragraph. One of the last memories I have with my dad was Super Bowl Sunday 2023. My Philadelphia Eagles were taking the NFL’s next dynasty in the  Kansas City Chiefs. I was in college at Kent State the first time the Eagles won the Super Bowl in February 2018, making this the first time we were able to watch the birds in the big game together.

This Super Bowl was different for me. The 2022 Eagles squad was a special team and I wanted to celebrate a Super Bowl with my dad in the same room as me. 

My dad realized the Browns were never going to win a Super Bowl in his life. He was content with the Cavs title in 2016, but he wanted the Eagles to win the NFL Title SO BAD for me! He knew how much I loved the birds from Philly.

Then… the James Bradberry holding call happened, and I lost it like I never had before. You could hear me from my house across the globe.

“WHERE? WHERE?! WHERE’S THE FUCKING HOLD?!” I screamed (The replay was then shown). “THAT’S NOT FUCKING HOLDING! YOU GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME! THAT’S NOT FUCKING HOLDING! THEY’RE GOING TO GET BAILED OUT ON A FUCKING HOLD?! THE REFS ARE GOING TO DECIDE THE FUCKING SUPER BOWL?! YOU’RE FUCKING KIDDING ME!” 

Then, the Chiefs hit that kick and won the damn trophy.

I’ll be honest; winning Super Bowl LVII did not make this loss easier due to my circumstances. I knew my dad was sick and that night may be the last time we ever watched a football game together. We had the game! I was ready to celebrate like there was no tomorrow! Then, that happened!

All my dad could say was, “I’m sorry boy,” which I then again lost my mind, similar to my reaction during the game.

For the first time in a long time, I cried myself to sleep that night. I wasn’t necessarily upset about losing the Super Bowl. I was upset about the way we lost. I couldn’t stomach it after that ending. 

The Chiefs robbed me of one of the last good moments with my dad. That’s why this year is so personal to me, and why I want this Eagles team to win the Super Bowl in Las Vegas so badly! The pain of last year will only be eviscerated if this version of the Eagles, with these players, wins the hardest trophy to win in all of sports. 

I cried over my dad. I cried over the Eagles. I cried over BelieveLand, too.

Heading into 2023, I started to become frustrated with my position at BelieveLand Media, LLC. Yes, I was the general manager of the company. Yes, I was the co-host of the ‘All Things Cavs’ (ATC) podcast. And yes, I was unhappy, for various reasons:

1. My co-host of ATC –Joey Schneider – and I’s schedules were not matching up, making it hard to record.
2. At one point, BelieveLand had made a switch to cover mostly high school sports on the website instead of the pros, which was not what I signed up for when I took the opportunity in October 2021.

I understood the switch to high school sports was mainly due to the sponsorship revenue, but it felt to me as though the company was distancing itself from its original version, which was covering pro sports. I felt as though high school sports took precedence over pro sports, and the podcasts were starting to become a distant afterthought.

In mid-February, I started feeling fatigued with the position. I didn’t feel as though my editing style was getting through with the writers, nor did I feel I had the same passion for ATC I once did. What I didn’t know was Joey was feeling the same way about ATC.

Joey had stronger feelings about leaving ATC than me. I wanted to stick it out until the end of the season and see if we could recapture our ATC magic during a potential Cavalier playoff run. My co-host, on the other hand, was dead set on leaving and didn’t want to finish the Cavs season. I didn’t want to finish the year with a random co-host and then leave BelieveLand hanging, so I ultimately made the decision to leave with Joey.

The conversation I had with BelieveLand’s Owner and President Kevin Sledz at the beginning of March was a difficult conversation. I was the FIRST person Mr. Sledz brought in to help him with a brand-new sports media startup. Through BelieveLand, I met him, Joey, and a bunch of other tremendous individuals whom I still consider family today. I felt bad for leaving ATC in the middle of the season. I knew Kevin trusted me, and I felt I was letting him down. Tears did come down after that Tuesday night call.

Looking back,  I realized I made the right decision. BelieveLand has found its niche with high school football, and I have been able to take the time I would have spent towards BelieveLand and put it towards Brandon’s World.

Speaking of Brandon’s World, one of the reasons why I was comfortable leaving BelieveLand was because of this platform, Voltage Live. When I was getting ready to leave BelieveLand, I started texting Jenn Noga – a good friend from college –  expressing my frustrations. 

I had broached the topic of starting my own online radio station for Brandon’s World – a conversation we spent hours talking about while at Black Squirrel Radio when we were still in school. Jenn had mentioned how Voltage Live was just getting off the ground and it was looking for sports podcasts. 

She wanted me to take over the sports department, which I have done ever since. With Voltage, through written and podcasting content, Brandon’s World has grown tremendously, and I’ve had my best numbers in both audio and video content during the past year. 

As one of my first moves as sports director of Voltage Live, I brought over former BelieveLand colleague Josh Ungar. 

Josh is a talented individual. He can debate you on ANYTHING and has knowledge I can only dream of having. Josh can write but struggles with putting together a story structure. I mentored Josh when he was at BelieveLand and we had good chemistry. We knew if our schedules aligned, we could produce something special.

In comes Championship Rings!

On Tuesday, Sept. 5, Josh and I launched Championship Rings. In collaboration with Voltage Live, Josh and I debate the hottest stories in sports for one hour every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. 

It’s the debate show that both of us have always wanted! We’re not pigeon-toed to TV restrictions, and we don’t hold anything back! We debate each other HARD (even on some of the show topics), but at the end of the day, we like pushing each other.  I look forward to Tuesday nights as much as I do recording Brandon’s World.

Before the start of this paragraph, this narrative reached 1,558 words, and I have still yet to mention my full-time job as an associate editor at Mass Transit Magazine (that shows you how busy I have been this year!). The last year at Mass Transit has been the most important in my young, professional career. 

I’ve taken over our social media accounts; writing between four to six pieces of content per day for our gauntlet of a daily newsletter. I’ve also written six features, not including our massive 40 Under 40 program, where we highlight 40 people in the transit industry under the age of 40 who have made an impact, not only in the transit industry but among their colleagues and community. 

The day that the program launches on the website every year, our website traffic flies through the roof! I received an email from every single write-up I did from the nominees, thanking me for their write-ups. That meant a lot to me and showed how many great people are flooded throughout the transit industry.

Through my work on our newsletters and magazines, I’ve learned so much from my boss about how to write for a B2B magazine and how to craft features. I’ve learned a lot about what the transit industry entails, and I’m still learning. 

I’m excited for Mass Transit’s future in 2024. We went through four group publishers this year (I know!) and now I feel we have the right team, the right group, and the right types of content to make 2024 a big year for the brand. We’re launching a brand new Instagram page with a greater emphasis on our video and other digital content. 

I’ll be involved in said content, in addition to my other daily duties. 2023 was nothing to cry about for Mass Transit, even if there were days I would struggle to stay focused due to worrying about my dad. I love what I do during the 40-hour work week.

A few months after my dad passed, we had more changes happen to our family in August. Not only did my brother and his girlfriend move to Colorado, but we also rescued an old English sheepdog/poodle mix named Zayn, the first dog we have had in our household in seven years. 

I traveled to Denver to go see my brother and his girlfriend during our birthday week in September (we were born one day apart, three years apart). It was my first time flying, and I had a ball and loved Colorado. I can’t wait to go back for Easter weekend in late March.

When I wrote my narrative last year heading into 2023, I typed I wasn’t going to make a New Year’s Resolution. Instead, my goal was going to be to learn a lot.

Boy, did I crush that goal!

The most important thing I learned over the last 12 months is that life is hard, man! We all have different situations going on in our lives. There’s going to be good times, bad times. Good months, bad months. Good days, bad days. 

Sometimes, you need to wear your heart on your sleeve and cry. Everything happens for a reason. 

In the span of three months, I lost my father and made a difficult career choice. Within the next three months, I gained a dog and moved my office upstairs to where my brother used to sleep because he moved to the Rocky Mountains. That’s a hell of a swing!

I wouldn’t change any of my 2023 journey, not one bit of it. I miss my dad every single day. I think about him all the time while I’m working, podcasting, or watching a sporting event or a home renovation show, but I know he’s watching me from above.

Losing makes you stronger. The Eagles had to lose the Super Bowl to eventually win it.

I had to leave BelieveLand to carve out my niche in the sports media landscape.

I had to struggle at parts of the daily Mass Transit job when I started to become a better employee, writer, and asset to the organization.

I never cried so much this year. 2023 was ‘The Year of Tears.’ But hey! At least I didn’t catch COVID!

That said, 2024 is setting up to be a big year for me, in my professional career and personally.

Let’s see where this game of life takes me at the end of next year.