Welcome to TheOffseason

When I decided to write a blog, I could feel my 22 year old self rolling his eyes at me. "Seriously, Ross? You were an English Major and now you're writing a blog? Remember when we used to make fun of those guys and how you were going to write the next great American novel?" Yes, 22 year old Ross was that pretentious and haughty, but 28 year old Ross is excited to start writing.

After teaching and coaching for the last six years and doing what I can to empower the next generation to follow their dreams, take life by balls, shoot for the stars, and all the other cliché stuff that teachers do, I decided to practice what I preach and dive back into writing to see what I can do.

So what, then, should I be writing about? I had gone back and forth on things that I could include in this blog, but for the majority of it I wanted to be lighthearted and funny (or attempt to be). 

I thought talking about my experiences inside the classroom and outside with my students. When I am at a party and somebody wants to make small talk about what I do (most likely a guy named Brian) and I tell them that I am a teacher and coach, the first question they will ask is "Do you have any good stories about students?" Yeah, Brian, I do. Grab another chardonnay and let me knock your socks off by talking about my little monsters.*

I thought maybe I should talk about sports. Sports are a big part of my life. I played sports growing up, I played college football on scholarship**, and have coached high school football and track since I started teaching. I know that I could offer some insight about sports. Both the lighter side and things I can guess some coaches might be thinking (or not and I'm just another guy who has a crappy opinion...you be the judge.)

And finally, I thought about maybe just writing about TV and movies. When I am out of school, whether it be the summer or just a break in the school year, I'd like to act like I am drinking in a good book or working hard to develop my class curriculum for the next school year, but I'm not. I'm usually watching TV seasons at a time. Did you ever watch "Last Chance U" on Netflix? I did...the whole season on a Sunday. I'm pathetic.

When thinking about all of these things, I decided that I was going to write about all of it. Which is the origin of it being called 'TheOffseason." It is me, writing about the things that I know in an off-beat way. I'm not trying to take myself too seriously and I ask, if you read this, to do the same.

So this starts my endeavor and we will see how it goes. Let me know what you think. I will post these on my social media pages and ask you to let me know what I can fix and give me things you want me to write about. My effort is simple: to entertain those who stop to read this. So if you are, thanks and welcome to TheOffseason.

*I actually love my students...most of the time.
**I played my freshman year at a NAIA school that, when I was there, a three-win season was a success. This is not a point of bragging...just to be clear.