A Farewell To Blogs

ACassady_KSR

“It was all a dream

I used to read Cats Pause Magazine

Oscar Combs and Dave B up in the limousine.”

At age 22 my grandfather was a man of many accomplishments. He had led his tiny school from the mountains, the Inez Indians, to the 1954 state championship. It’s one of only four ever won by teams from the 15th region and earned him the number 1 jersey in the Kentucky-Indiana all-star game. He then went on to play at Kentucky alongside the Fiddlin’ Five as they won the 1958 National Championship. His image forever enshrined in Kentucky Wildcat history.

At age 22 my greatest accomplishment was beating Contra on the NES without using cheat codes.

That’s how my first ever piece of published writing began. The piece was an article about my experience trying to forge some accomplishments of my own by making it in UK’s 2010 open basketball tryout. Honestly, I had no shot but it was a cool idea that my creative writing professor thought would make for a one-off funny story. In hindsight it’s one that actually begun a chain of events that continue to ripple today.

A few years of spending college playing video games, eating pizza, and not moving had left me so out-of-shape for that open tryout that I decided to step into the gym for the first time in my life. Fitness brought some newfound confidence and I submitted the article on the open tryout to the application for KSR College. Getting the call that I had been accepted was one of the most exciting moments I had experienced. I had been reading KSR daily since the rumors of Billy G’s departure began to float on the site. Now I was going to be a small part of that. Too cool. Then came the moment when my first post got moved up to the main site. I was in the Johnson Center and an old friend text me that he saw it. I ran to my backpack and fired up the laptop to see for myself. Surreal.

I wrote for one semester before finishing college and launching my career. Without question it was the writing for KSR that stood out on my resume and got me my first interviews. As a writer I got to cover the same state tournament that my grandfather and brother had made their mark on over the years. I was able to watch players grow and develop as UK captured their 8th national title. It’s been an awesome ride and I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts on Kentucky sports in the most ridiculous manner possible.

So thank you, the fans, for reading and refreshing this website every single day like I still do. Without you I wouldn’t have had this opportunity. Thanks for the comments and interactions on twitter. Thanks for calling me out when I make some obvious grammatical error. (I’m an accountant, not an english major)

Thanks to the original KSR College crew. #LaFamilia. Thanks to the awesome editors Ally Tucker, Kristen Giel, and Maria Taustine who have done and do a ton of organizing behind the scenes to make these weekends flow. Thank you to all of the writers past and present that served as game elevators and inspirations. Thank you Professor Weinberg for suggesting I tryout and helping with the article. Thank you to my wife for sacrificing time spent on weekends and during games live tweeting jokes. Thank you to my family for reading everything and for the constant support. Thank you to Drew, Tyler, and Matt who gave me this opportunity. You revolutionized the way Kentucky fans get their news. Keep on killing it.

Nearly six years ago I walked into that open tryout as a 22 year old kid searching for an identity. Like most college juniors, I was unsure of what direction to take and uncertain of what the future would hold. I took a chance and it changed my life. It’s funny how life is so random but looking back you can connect the dots to where you are today. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is take risks, see what sticks, and do it all in the most ridiculous manner possible. It worked out for me.