My how the time flies when you are having fun.
Not necessarily the Denver Nuggets, but me. The season for Denver has been a bridging the gap of sorts, and with so many young players, Emmanuel Mudiay and Nikola Jokic chief among them, many get impatient with the young team, even though the opposite. As they bridge their gap from age 20 and age 21 respectively to try and create a championship caliber team, I'm beginning to focus on life goals at age 19.
2016 has been the most interesting and busy year of my life so far. There are many reasons for this; I'm in college, so the studying/partying lifestyle has been enjoyable, I now have a lady friend, and I've started thinking heavily about my future in the sport industry. I've always expressed my aspirations to become a part of the team and game operations of an NBA or NFL franchise, most notably the Nuggets, but it's hard to take some of those aspirations seriously given that I am 19.
Some of you may have noticed that I didn't post my last two articles over the weekend. Well, you are right. I missed the boat there, but with good reason. I had the post lined up the first time (a look at the difference between the 6th, 7th, and 8th overall picks in the draft) before I was interrupted by the college phenomenon known as spring break. I lost all capability to focus on my work for about 7 days, and having already made plans to enjoy the break with my friends, I decided to take a mini-hiatus.
During the break though, I was contacted by an executive at FanSided. He had read through my articles and was impressed by my content, and he asked me to apply to a posting on HoopsHabit for the writer for the Denver Nuggets. Naturally, I thought of Denver Stiffs and the relationships I had built up on this site. There are so many people that drove me to make my writing the best I could:
Andrew Feinstein - The Big Stiff. The reason that so many of us are here and why this SB Nation blog even exists. Thank you for allowing each and every one of us an opportunity to talk about the team we love. This blog has changed several lives, including mine.
Jeffrey Morton - One of the best writers I get to read every week. Thank you for humanizing the blog experience, doing constant media work around the team, and being as strong of a person as you are. Your experiences and analysis of said happenings has made me rethink so much of my perspective, and your podcasts with Nate and Ross (sometimes :p) are gold for me and the rest of your viewers.
Nate Timmons - Thank you for welcoming me into the Denver Stiffs family. I vividly remember back in the 2012-13 season how I started posting my first comments and Nate replied, welcoming me to the blog. Nate would ALWAYS do this, and while he has moved toward BSN Denver, he's still a Stiff at heart, and we all love hearing his analysis.
Mike Olson - Your posts are magic! I'm so glad that you came on to the Denver Stiffs team. Your insight and fresh take, along with one of the most engaging writing styles in the business, has driven me to add some creativity and flair to my posts. As one the kindest members to me and every member of Denver Stiffs, I thank you for making it a true family.
To the New Writers at Stiffs - Gordon, Kayla, Zach, Daniel, thank you for doing everything you can to bring new life blood into the group. Your contributions are always fun to read, and doing the previews and recaps every game can certainly get tedious for a losing team, but there's no doubt how passionate you guys are. I love reading everything you write, and DS is definitely in good hands.
Russell - The model of consistency on Denver Stiffs, in my opinion, goes out to you. Every game thread, almost every thread, you are hear to provide reasonable analysis and a steady hand on the site. Getting into thoughtful debates with you has caused me to upgrade my analysis ten fold to the level you provide every single day. Thank you for teaching me what it means to move consistently forward.
The other major contributors - Nurk, DomP, Hank, TIDDY, Mancar, Cat, That's the Jokic, Jordandan, TakeFive, Larry Plea, ILP, and especially Mtnmagic and dynamo.joe, thank you for keeping the site flowing with information and contribution. The writers do a wonderful job, but what makes the site so entertaining is the camaraderie in the comments section. I have formed a connection with each one of you guys in my opinion, and I'm better because of it. The constant debate and fun times as Nuggets fans have driven me to where I am. I'm sorry if I forgot someone
To the newer commentors - Keep working. The list above of these commentors have paved the way for the site to grow through the daily contribution and constant grind that they put in to make this atmosphere great. I thank you in advance because I know that the people that really want to be here will continue to talk Nuggets, rain OR shine.
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I have decided to take the job. This isn't goodbye, as I love to be around here, but with the semester now on the downswing and new obligations, I may not be around as much as I like to be. I hope you guys have valued my contributions, and I will never forget what got me to this point.
Go Stiffs, and Go Nuggets.
