Vol.3, Iss.18: That's All Fellas

Thanks for all your support!

The Bitter End…..

This is not the way I wanted it to end. Thanks to everyone who jumped on board this season & subscribed. To anyone who donated - just like last season, I have taken a large portion of the proceeds & made a contribution to charity. This season the #ChuggingWithTheFellas choice was UMOM. So instead of subscribing & possibly donating to the Newsletter below, I have instead included a link that will take you straight to UMOM - if you are interested.

Roll The Credits…..

Saying goodbye isn’t something I wanted to do.

To be clear, I am very comfortable with the choice. What sits uncomfortably, is making a big deal out of it. However, I am very grateful to those of you who’ve supported the Newsletter & my other work. So for you, I wanted to offer up the below.

TL;DR - The Newsletter is wrapping up & I can’t thank everyone who supported it/me enough.

This wasn’t the original plan. Having said that, I never began with an end game in mind.

In May of 2018, almost exactly 4 years ago to the day, I started a podcast with my dear friend Max. Although on opposite sides of the world, we were linked by what we had in common. The Phoenix Suns were our team. Not only that, we were alike in age & grew up idolizing the same players adorned with the sunburst logo.

There was also a shared love of certain aspects of NBA basketball, both on & off the court. And a belief that those somewhat niche topics were missing from the overall discourse surrounding the team. Not only that, coverage of the Suns felt virtually non-existent in the national media.

The Seven Seconds Or Less Podcast was born.

Again, no plan. The aim was to continue to talk about the Suns but now, we would just make sure to hit record. If people cared enough to tune in & listen to us ramble on for far too long, then that would be a bonus.

We went in depth on the NBA Draft, I got to interview Jack McCallum, the Suns won 19 games yet we still discussed Xs & Os, Phoenix fired a coach, Phoenix hired a coach, we produced Nerd-Cast episodes for Free Agency, Max interviewed De’Anthony Melton, we had live reactions to Trade Deadlines & were joined by so many awesome guests along the way.

All in all, the podcast was an absolute joy over the course of two seasons.

Then in February of 2020, Max & I chose to shut it down. Although you could easily point to the state of the team as the root cause, the real blame laid squarely at the feet of our forever changing lives.

But we all know what happened next, right?!?

As the NBA developed a plan to combat the global pandemic with a return via the Bubble, I was scheming a comeback of my own. On the other side of the globe, I was living in the world’s most locked down city & desperately seeking ways to brighten up my day. Even more than ever before, ball was life.

And from July of 2020, this Newsletter became the new outlet.

I leant even further into sharing what I enjoyed about the game with anyone who was willing to look & listen. We learnt play calls, studied salary cap machinations, answered CBA FAQs, broke down film, discussed trade ideas & obsessed over stats. The Suns got so good, it even dragged the 7SOL Podcast back for special appearances.

But there was still no end game in sight. It was all about getting through.

I wouldn’t recommend spending hours upon hours of your time on a Newsletter, virtually for free & as a solo entity, all while having a full time job. Not without an end game you are working towards anyway. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

As the world slowly began to open up, that’s where things became more difficult. You see, I really only know how to put everything into something I commit to & I wasn’t ready to let it go just yet. Not while the Suns were rolling.

Because despite my initial ignorance, the end game began to crystalize. What if the Podcast & Newsletter could serve as the perfect time capsule of a franchise that went from possibly their lowest ever point to their first ever NBA title?

That is what kept me going & where I was planning for it all to end.

It could have been exactly 12 months after the Newsletter’s inception & less than one year ago. July of 2021. Phoenix just had to win two more games. But instead, we ventured on in the hope that the following season would finally provide the ultimate dream. I continued to do what I love but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t become harder.

On my good days, I would wake to folks gassing up the latest Issue online after having just a few hours sleep to finish it off the night before. I became giddy when NBA writers I admire would notice my work. It was all worth it.

On my bad days, I would be tired & disappointed upon noticing something I’d spent hours working on had already become old news overnight. I’d lament what I might actually be able to achieve if I did it full time & was paid to do so. It was a waste.

Which brings us to the now. May of 2022.

There is a lot more attention around the team that I love & the coverage is in a really good spot, both locally & beyond. I’m happy to have been a very tiny part of that for a very short period of time. I’m also mindful that more people probably read my work borrowed elsewhere, than have directly in this Newsletter.

But I love the small TFPP community that I built on here & I wouldn’t change that for the world. I’d take every single step in exactly the same sequence. I am extremely proud of the work I put on display. I even proved a few things to myself.

As life changes again though, it’s time for me to put all that time & energy into some new challenges.

So all I have left to say is - thank you! Thank you for listening. Thank you for reading. Thank you for watching. Thank you for subscribing. Of course, I’ll still be around on Twitter & always watching the Suns. It was just important to me to tie a bow on this fun little project, in order to move on. Thank you for allowing me to indulge.

Here’s hoping that elusive first title is still just around the corner. Go Suns!

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Overtime!

My final note is reserved for Cage. The man behind all the artwork, who I am eternally grateful to for making every Newsletter more enticing with his graphics. Thank you!

And one final shout out to the good folks who started #ChuggingWithTheFellas during the Playoffs & have done an amazing job raising money for charity over the last two seasons. If you haven’t already, please consider donating to UMOM below.