A New Horizon

All of a sudden, I found myself having to make a rather quick decision as to what my fate would be only two weeks later. It didn’t make sense to procrastinate a decision or a move. 

Sam Maxwell on Instagram
"Da City": Canvas by D.E. Cayard, aka The Professor
Pennant and Bobblehead brought to you by the NY Mets

I had originally, about a year ago, honed in on November ‘17 as a deadline to leave New York for a bit, with the plan to go study screenwriting in London starting then. I postponed that till January, but all of a sudden, in a place called Denver, Colorado, doctors discovered pancreatic cancer, stage 2, in my Dad. We found out stage 2 is good, grading on a curve, of course, as usually that type of cancer is not discovered till stage 4. Early October, I visited for a couple days, but there was a feeling that the right thing to do, for my dad, my family, and myself at this particular junction of my life, was to leave New York for the first time since I was 10, 22 years ago, and move to Denver, putting the London adventure off till April.

My Dad's doing great. He has been getting chemo to try to get the small tumor to operation-size, so we can snip it out of there. We're almost to the latter part of that sentence.

A brief overview for you, also, of my dad (don't ask me about the mustache headshot on the link :| 

So you can understand my rather optimistic take on the entire thing:

My dad didn't survive Vietnam, drunk driving, bar fights (he's sober 38 years now), three divorces, getting bumped from a jet that went down in the Everglades in the 90's, and getting fired from Goldman Sachs downtown on Friday, September 7, 2001, to let cancer get the best of him.

I type this as I fly across the country on a trip to the City for a quick fix before the end of the year (I have since flown to and fro our town and Denver.) It almost felt sacrilegious to put this chapter of my life in the past without a taste of New York during the holidays. How could I miss that? About two weeks ago, I was having a pretty homesick day out in Denver, and I was reminded of when I first got to New York from Florida. My dad saw I was missing my friends heavily and flew me down for a quick weekend. I never looked back. That’s what this felt like, and I pulled the trigger on a trip. Sunday night till tues morning.

I was becoming stagnant in New York. I needed to take the city with me to spread my wings. I’ll hone my craft and hone my skills elsewhere, and then take the benefits that come with all that and spend it in New York. I love this fucking town too much to say goodbye for too long.

Unfortunately, that brings me to another goodbye that I must make, and that is to Rising Apple, the Mets blog site I have been a part of since 2012. I have not been able to consistently write or podcast for them for a long time now, so it is about time I make it official.

I had just started blogging only 2 months before Rising Apple came a-knockin’. At the time, they only had about 400 followers on twitter...that number is now over 7,000. The growth started with Matt Musico, then Danny Abriano took the Rising Apple Mets presence to a whole 'nother level. He then had help from Michelle Ioannou, with JT Teran taking over co-editing duties once Metsblog scooped up Danny. Michelle wasn't too far behind Danny's footsteps, leading to Christina Cola currently sharing co-editing duties with JT. 

We started the podcast in 2013 and along with Matt Musico, fellow writers Will Deboer, Dan Haefeli, Kevin Baez, Rich Sparago, Mike Lecolant, and most recently Nick Ceraso, had a blast talking the good, the bad and the ugly of Mets past and present almost every week, with each other and plenty of guests over the years. 

The one thing that I think all of us at Rising Apple keep as the main thread of the site, whether we’re talking about how thrilled we are for a move, or a win, or a milestone, or we’re pissed off that Sandy is double-talking or the Wilpons will not spend like a New York team, we never forgot that our passion for the Mets is driven by just pure, unadulterated fun. We have fun. And that, as far as I’m concerned, always shone through our writings and audible words.

I’ll miss being a part of that team, but it is time to move on. Thank you, each and every one of you that I have worked with on the site over the years. The Apple Rising represents the pinnacle of Mets success, and the optimism Mets fans have in their team even when things are pointing to utter disaster. Keep that spirit going, Rising Apple. It has been a blast.

The next chapter for me starts immediately, and with a sneak peek for all of you as to what I am currently working on. When I still had my DSLR, a Canon t3i, I captured about 10 hours of Mets footage as well as interviews with The Chapman’s, a family of die-hards, and author/blogger Greg Prince, whom I have referred to as “The Mets Fan Incarnate” on these digital pages. It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally been able to start editing the footage together. Below is a sneak peek of “The Newest Breed,” which I will release on February 9, 2018. For now, enjoy! And as always...

KEEP. ON. PUSHIN’.

LET’S. GO. METS.

With 2 Years on the Table, I Arrive in Colorado

Yesterday, after finding out as many Met fans did that a 2-year offer to R.A. has been extended, my dad and I trekked through Missouri and Kansas on our way to Denver to settle him out here with my big sis and his grandkids for the winter. He has called it "The Great Western Trek." First, however, with the night getting late and the family in the Mile-High City a little sick and ready for bed, we crashed for the evening around 10 miles west of the Kansas/Colorado border in Burlington, CO.

I don't know why it takes a map to remind me that Colorado is not as west as I thought, but I'm trying to finally archive in my memory its just-left-of-the-Mid-West location.

I wasn't able to get many photos of Missouri since I was driving, though my dad was able to snap a photo of Wright City, MO, for me. We passed towns like Sweet Springs, Concordia and Bates City in Missouri, and Abilene, Wakeeney...and Manhattan...in Kansas. In the passenger's seat, I was able to get many photos of the state. It's devoid of color, but I find the landscape very interesting. Anyway, I'd like to share a bunch of them with you today. The night before, as I set my eyes on St. Louis for the very first time, I was so concerned with taking a photo for uploading that I failed to multi-task with my actual camera. I did a much better job of juggling both as I went across Kansas. We didn't have the time on this trip to dawdle that much, but I look forward to visiting this part of the country much more thoroughly in the future.

What does any of this have to do with the Mets?

Nothing, other than the fact I am wearing my Mets hat and I generally have the Mets on my mind.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Sunday, and that whatever football team you're rooting for wins (unless they're playing the Jets (oh, nice, we're 4-6 now. I could go on a Jets rant but I'll save that for another time)...or it's Dallas...or generally any other Eastern Division team, AFC or NFC.)

(I'll probably be in Denver by the time this post is up, as I am working on it while traveling through Broncos territory.)

While scanning the radio in these states, there were a serious amount of modern country stations, understandably. I was in a country mindset because of the surroundings, but I am not all that into the modern country sound. I'm reeaal into Outlaw Country (Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr. Merle Haggard, etc.) and Classic Country (Hank Williams, The Wilburn Brothers, Roy Acuff, etc.) It can be a polarizing genre of music, for sure, but now that I can post on my computer again, I only feel it fitting that I get back to embedding a song per post (relatively) and post some country I wish I heard while traveling through the landscape seen below. I mean, we have classic rock stations. Why not more classic country stations?

LET'S. GO. METS.

Kaufman Stadium

Kansas City

One of the coolest Silo's I've ever seen

A wind farm is a good use of the Kansas plains, and an absolute visual spectacle

Next Year's Steak

Thanks for reading! Follow me on Twitter @convertedmetfan. And for Rising Apple twitter updates, click here.

Hearing 'bout the Fish as We Travel Through the Land

My dad and I finally hit the road to 'Bama and Denver yesterday. First, we had to come back into the city for a doctor's appointment of his, and from there we ventured down to Northern Virginia, to see my aunt and my uncle, who is recovering from a stroke. He is making great progress, but it is still hard to see him in that condition. The visit certainly got him excited, and his energy level was fantastic. We crashed there for a couple hours, then got up in the middle of the night and kept driving the long journey down to the South. We are passing through Tennessee now, and should arrive in Birmingham sometime in the afternoon.

Just in time for a nap, because my sleep schedule is really out of whack. (Didn't mean for that to rhyme, BUT I am a poet...and I do know it.)

Anyway, sometime last night, this is how I found out about the newest Marlin fiasco, via a few Ted's Quotes (he's regularly the one to break news to me, as he did when Reyes Grew Fins):

Ted: Yo, the Marlins.

Me: What

Ted: They just traded...everyone
Everyone but Stanton
To the Jays
Reyes, Johnson, burrhle, bonofacio, buck

Me: Holy. For what?

Ted: That's so crazy. I'd be super pissed if I was Reyes. And no free agent will ever sign there again
Yunnel Escobar and two big prospects

Me: I knew Reyes would get traded. Didn't think it would be so quick.

Ted: Now he's stuck in Toronto

Sam: Which might not be bad
Not weather wise, though

Ted: I mean your an FA you get to pick where you want to play / live and then they turn around and screw you and lock you down in Toronto for what 4 or 5 more years
What a total shit organization
Apparently mike Stanton is angry tweeting right now


Yeah, they really suck. As all that spending was occurring last offseason, we all knew it wouldn't work, but I don't think any of us could have predicted the fire sale would happen so quickly. I figured Reyes would be a Yankee in 2 or 3 years when Jeter moved to the outfield or something. Yeah, don't think that's gonna happen now.

And I'm kinda sad to have him gone out of the division. I had grown attached to his role as a divisional rival and villain, but that's something I'll get more into over at Rising Apple later.

Anyway, I've got to take over driving for a little. Looking forward to the Cy Young Award announcements later, regardless of who wins (though I do have a feeling R.A. will take it.) It will be nice to have the 2012 season that much more in the rearview mirror.

And one last note, though I do believe we should all have perspective and not complain about #FirstWorldProblems...

This Blogger App sucks.

But at least I ate this morning.

It still sucks, though.


LET'S. GO. METS.

(Random Road Trip Photo)