One Year Anniversary

First things first, I want to apologize to everyone for the lack of posts on the blog. If you don't know, I am student in college, which means that much of my time is devoted to school and studying so that I may one day be able to do this blog and become a legitimate sports writer. And with the second half of my semester starting to roll forward, things have become a bit more hectic than I thought they would. I'm sure that there are many of you who understand how this feels from past experiences or currently know the feeling like myself. But worry not S.O.S. Nation because I have been finishing up some articles with what free time I have been able to make and I will be back to posting new material sometime this week.

But most importantly, this is not just an apology to you guys. It is also a way for me to express my gratitude to everyone who has taken the time to look at, read, comment, like, follow, and support me through this amazing experience. The reason is because this entry on March 23rd will mark the one year anniversary of A.J. Valentin's Spitt'n Out Sports coming into existence.

I think back to one year ago and I remember feeling so nervous and worried that all my handwork in school was about to fall apart and I would be left to simply drag through the mud yet again. After class, I decided to take some time to get my homework done at the library. Once I was done and left to just dwell and worry about what was happening, I suddenly had one of those "lightening striking my brain" type of moments that lead to me looking online as to where I could possibly start my own website in order to talk about sports from my point of view. But, I had no clue websites were monthly costs, and as a college student, finances are always somewhat limited. Then I saw the Blogger website that was connected with Google+ and saw that it was free as well. Now I know that not many care or use Google+ and may think Blogger is not the "best" blog site, but for me, it was somewhere to start off writing about sports and begin my journey toward a career in life instead of twirling my thumbs and worrying about my future.

When I first started this thing, my first write up (which you can read) was just named "My Hello" and was supposed to be a way for me to just say "Hello" to the blogging world. The next thing I knew, I was going off the rails about the NCAA Tournament and what was possibly going to happen. I tend to get off track quite a bit when I talk or write about sports. If anything, think of it as going from point A to point ; However, before we get to point B, we have to take a trip down to point Z which can go who knows where, but eventually we'll make it back on track to getting to point B. Trust me, even I get exhausted from the ride from time to time. But when I started this blog, I thought simple with what my reviews would be like; My thoughts were that I would have 400-500 total views, 0-1 follower(s), and maybe a couple comments here and there with no real feedback from people.

So I have to be completely honest that I have never been so happy to find that my prediction was so far off. In on year's time, I have: over 1500 total views on the blog, over 18,000 views on the Google+ profile, 3 followers on Google+ (one being a verified account), created a Twitter for the blog which has a little over 50 followers (five being verified accounts), created a Tumblr for the blog, created a logo and T-shirt designs that I hope to have figured out very soon, done a couple podcasts, have plans in the works to shoot an actual video, and a ton of support coming from family, friends, teachers, other students, people that enjoy reading it, and others that feel like I have been doing good with it so far.

It's been a long road to get here, but I'm cannot thank all of you enough for what you have been able to give me, and that is that this was what I was meant to do with my life. It's not teaching, construction, doctor, lawyer, or engineer; I was meant to write about what happens on the baseball diamonds, football fields, basketball courts, and so on. I want to use this as a chance to say to my parents, Diane and Juan Valentin, that if it wasn't for all they have done for me in helping me come up with ideas and pushing me to make this happen and work hard at everything no matter what it may be, I don't know what I would be doing or where I would be, but it's because of them that I always had the drive take on this challenge to tell it like I see it and how I've heard it. Of course, I also got to thank my friends for being behind me on this 100+% all the way, and while they may joke about some of the things I write or write about, I know that they support me and have my back the whole way down the field. And then, there are all you guys who are willing to come onto the site and read this blog when you want some news on things in sports or a weird story in sports or something of that type of nature. Your guys have helped to give me the confidence in order to make this blog possible. Even if it was just like 50 people reading it or looking at it, I just means so much that those that read it are actually willing to take the time to read what some 21 year old college student with a blog has to say about what is going on with the Bulls, Bears, Blackhawks, NCAA football and basketball, and so on.

In the end, I want to say thank you to everyone whose read or reads this blog and enjoys it because just knowing that has been such a great feeling for me and has really helped me get my life back on track. Again too, I want to say I'm sorry to those that have been waiting on a post but have not yet received one by me. I promise that I will have one out for you guys to read, poke at, leave comments on, or whatever you want to do very soon. I also encouraged everyone and all to leave any ideas of stories or things that you want to here me talk about because I am interested in getting more feedback and having your voices heard on what you think is going down in the wide world of sports. So again, I want thank everybody for this experience because I has been such an amazing year in writing on this blog and I cannot wait to see what else happens or comes from it next March 23rd. And with that, keep on reading what I'm spitt'n S.O.S. Nation!