Saturday morning, my wife and kids and I are heading to Destin for a week for a week at the beach with her side of the family. It'll be a much-needed vacation and one I've looked forward to for some time now.
I generally do some work on vacations--usually writing and podcasting, and also checking the board--but have decided to completely un-plug from Saturday until about two Mondays or so from then. I'll leave the site in the capable hands of Sean Williams until that time and probably won't be checking in on the board during that time.
I think it'll be the first time in 15 years that I've been away from the site for a week, but I think it's something I need to do to re-charge my batteries, spend time with family, and just relaxing a bit. This last couple of months has taken a toll on me mentally and to some degree health-wise, too, and hopefully I'll come back better for it.
As for where things go when I get back, I don't know. I've not known exactly what to make of the coronavirus situation but the more I learn even as of tonight, I don't think this is just going away in two or three weeks. (And man, I hope I'm wrong about that.)
So with that, I'll have some content plan and a lot of that will probably be "walk-down-memory-lane with (x)" sort of stuff, particularly as it pertains to podcasts. There's always a demand for those but they've been increasingly hard to fit in; basically if baseball plays until the end of the season, there's about five weeks between that and the start of fall camp; that's the "off season" these days and it's really more like week or two off because people want football content as soon as July rolls around.
That adds a huge layer of uncertainty to what is increasingly becoming an odd situation with Vanderbilt athletics. There are angles of stories I never got to that I think are still of interest. I have requested a podcast with Candice Lee, and although I made it clear that the questions wouldn't be softball questions, they also won't be mean-spirited or unfair. I'm skeptical that'll happen, but we'll see. I have a lot more concern for the future of VU sports than optimism, but there's also a lot of ground to be covered in the coming months, an incoming chancellor who's a bit of a wild-card, and also a little bit of a movement with some ex-athletes who'd like to see sports get a fair share. Again, I think what I most need right now is time away from the situation, but I hope to have more clarity on where to go with all that when I'm back.
I also have some personal concern about where this is all headed as a business. I think conditions in the near future are going to make it challenging. There's never been a time I haven't worked at other things while I'm also doing the site, so that's nothing new, but some anxieties about staking the bulk of my professional career to this beat have occupied a lot of my thoughts also. So I'd appreciate your prayers in regards to wisdom with that situation and for doors to open or not open that allow me to continue to provide for my family.
I touched on this on the podcast today: When you get down to it, life is about community, leaving an impact and spending time with the ones you love. The last few months have been brutal on us all. The support through notes and calls and just nice words has meant a ton to me. I still think ya'll are worth fighting for and even if you don't always agree with my takes on things, that's where my heart is. I pray for safety and peace for all of us in the times ahead, that we can put whatever differences we have in the way of opinions, politics, whatever, aside and find some unity and community here. And frankly I pray that happens for the country, too, because we're all going to need it.
If you actually read all that to the end, thanks for taking the time to do so. I may check in some Friday or Saturday morning, but wanted to go ahead and write the bulk of this now while I had some time.
God bless you all,
Your publisher
I generally do some work on vacations--usually writing and podcasting, and also checking the board--but have decided to completely un-plug from Saturday until about two Mondays or so from then. I'll leave the site in the capable hands of Sean Williams until that time and probably won't be checking in on the board during that time.
I think it'll be the first time in 15 years that I've been away from the site for a week, but I think it's something I need to do to re-charge my batteries, spend time with family, and just relaxing a bit. This last couple of months has taken a toll on me mentally and to some degree health-wise, too, and hopefully I'll come back better for it.
As for where things go when I get back, I don't know. I've not known exactly what to make of the coronavirus situation but the more I learn even as of tonight, I don't think this is just going away in two or three weeks. (And man, I hope I'm wrong about that.)
So with that, I'll have some content plan and a lot of that will probably be "walk-down-memory-lane with (x)" sort of stuff, particularly as it pertains to podcasts. There's always a demand for those but they've been increasingly hard to fit in; basically if baseball plays until the end of the season, there's about five weeks between that and the start of fall camp; that's the "off season" these days and it's really more like week or two off because people want football content as soon as July rolls around.
That adds a huge layer of uncertainty to what is increasingly becoming an odd situation with Vanderbilt athletics. There are angles of stories I never got to that I think are still of interest. I have requested a podcast with Candice Lee, and although I made it clear that the questions wouldn't be softball questions, they also won't be mean-spirited or unfair. I'm skeptical that'll happen, but we'll see. I have a lot more concern for the future of VU sports than optimism, but there's also a lot of ground to be covered in the coming months, an incoming chancellor who's a bit of a wild-card, and also a little bit of a movement with some ex-athletes who'd like to see sports get a fair share. Again, I think what I most need right now is time away from the situation, but I hope to have more clarity on where to go with all that when I'm back.
I also have some personal concern about where this is all headed as a business. I think conditions in the near future are going to make it challenging. There's never been a time I haven't worked at other things while I'm also doing the site, so that's nothing new, but some anxieties about staking the bulk of my professional career to this beat have occupied a lot of my thoughts also. So I'd appreciate your prayers in regards to wisdom with that situation and for doors to open or not open that allow me to continue to provide for my family.
I touched on this on the podcast today: When you get down to it, life is about community, leaving an impact and spending time with the ones you love. The last few months have been brutal on us all. The support through notes and calls and just nice words has meant a ton to me. I still think ya'll are worth fighting for and even if you don't always agree with my takes on things, that's where my heart is. I pray for safety and peace for all of us in the times ahead, that we can put whatever differences we have in the way of opinions, politics, whatever, aside and find some unity and community here. And frankly I pray that happens for the country, too, because we're all going to need it.
If you actually read all that to the end, thanks for taking the time to do so. I may check in some Friday or Saturday morning, but wanted to go ahead and write the bulk of this now while I had some time.
God bless you all,
Your publisher
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