vision. And if you want to be successful, that vision is always evolving, changing, expanding and adjusting.
This December 13th will mark the beginning of my 25th year of doing Baltimore sports radio.
By any measurement, I’ve clearly been doing something right. I’m proud of where I am and I’m inspired by where I’m going over the next 25 years.
I’d love to tell you that I’ve been completely happy throughout this uncharted odyssey but that would be a total lie.
Today, August 24th, sadly and coincidentally also marks the fourth anniversary of the suicide of Baltimore Orioles pitcher, general manager and Hall of Famer Mike Flanagan. His death has greatly affected my journey on this planet.
As a kid, he was a guy I cheered for but as an adult he was a trusted peer, coffee companion and an honest, intelligent, thoughtful friend. His loss and the information available to me in the aftermath profoundly affected me because I was at a low point in my professional world when he took his life. I know the feeling of darkness and despair because owning WNST over the years has never been as easy as I’ve made it look.
I don’t have to imagine feeling that low – that unhappy – that you’d want your life to be over. But I walked the edge for many years. I don’t ever want to be there again.
Perhaps one day I’ll write about the lowest points in my life – and much of it was brought on by the inherent stress of owning and managing WNST, a legacy AM radio station in the modern world and continually making it work against all odds.
But today’s “comeback blog” for me is about happiness and the new life I’m leading and the direction of WNST, my future and serving Baltimore sports fans and the many folks who have followed my journey since December 1991 or even earlier at The Sun or The News American when I was on the path to be a sportswriter at a newspaper.
On Saturday night, my son Barry got married under the Baltimore stars on a perfect night. It was the best day of his life and I’ve added a daughter-in-law to my family. My mom, who turned 96 years old on July 26th, spent 48 hours in the hospital this week with breathing issues and miraculously rallied in time to see her grandson get married over the weekend at the Inner Harbor.
This time last summer, my wife was bald and on her deathbed with a diagnosis and a miracle path to survival that is still mindboggling. This time next summer, we’ll be meeting the 21-year old man from Germany who saved her life. We’ll tell him and show him all of the things we’ve been inspired to do because he gave my wife a second chance to live.
IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN HIS NOTE, DO IT NOW HERE….
I have seen the miracle of life and I’m very grateful to have arrived right here, right now and with a growing business and a good life.
I’m blessed and very fortunate.
But I’m continually reminded about “the old WNST” when lies about me and my company are spread in a cesspool of a