The Tour, and the Journey

Sharing some personal news.

OK, I have a few personal things to share.

First, I wanted to share a landmark moment in JoeBlogs’ history. I’m given a bunch of analytics that probably would be useful to help grow this site, you know, if I understood analytics, which I don’t. But I did happen to see this one, and it’s pretty special:

Yep, JoeBlogs got one million views over the last 30 days (which, as you can see, is way up from the previous 30 days). Viva baseball!

I have a bunch of events coming up that I want to share:

On Monday, that’s Nov. 4, I’ll be at the Katz JCC in Cherry Hill, N.J., to chat about WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL. I’ll be in conversation with none other than my friend Chris Willis, who is head of research for NFL Films. I’m told that there will be a tailgate, there will be snacks, beer, wine. etc. Come on out!

On Thursday, Nov. 7, at 2 p.m.—gee, I wonder why we’re skipping Nov. 5—I’ll be in West Nyack, N.Y., at the JCC Rockland to talk a little football as they celebrate veterans a few days before Veterans Day.

On Friday, Nov. 8, I’m back in Spring Lake, N.J., at the wonderful Thunder Road Books to talk some football with Basil Iwanyk, bookstore owner and founder of Thunder Road Films, which made “We Are Marshall” and a bunch of movies about a pet-loving guy named John Wick.

On Wednesday, Nov. 13, I’m in Dallas at the Aaron Family JCC.

On Sunday, Nov. 17, I’m in Toledo, Ohio, at The Fieldhouse.

On Wednesday, Nov. 20—and these details are still being finalized—I’ll be in Kansas City at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for a showing of the movie “The Diamond King,” that I co-wrote about artist Dick Perez. Like I say, some of this is still being worked out, but Dick himself should be there, along with the movie’s director, Marq Evans, and, I’m hoping, the narrator for the movie, brilliant actor John Ortiz. I’ll get you more details as we get closer!

And on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 30, I’m at the Southpark Barnes & Noble in Charlotte, N.C.

I think there’s probably more, but I’m too exhausted to think about it. Happy. But exhausted.

Speaking of WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL, thank you to all of you who have sent in photos of the book in your local Target store. It’s so great to see, especially when you include a photo of yourself with the book. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m giving out a few prizes to people who send in photographs of the book in your local Target (or whatever Target you happen to walk into and see it). It is very cool and a very rare thing to have your book in Target, particularly your nonfiction book, and very particularly your sports nonfiction book.

OK, I’ve been waiting for the right time to share this one. I took this photo about three weeks ago:

That, obviously, is my weight… or it was my weight three weeks ago (I’m a couple pounds heavier today). It was the first time I weighed less than 200 pounds in more than 30 years. I couldn’t actually tell you the exact last time I weighed less than 200 pounds, because in those days, that wouldn’t have felt like much of a milestone. I was super-skinny in college. I didn’t hit 200 probably until my days as a columnist in Cincinnati.

Once I crossed the line, though, there was no going back. It has been decades since I even dreamed of being 200 pounds again. The DREAM was 220. Then the DREAM was 225. Then the DREAM was 240. In January of 2023, just as I was finishing writing WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL and trying to make a go of this JoeBlogs thing and just getting used to life post-pandemic and dealing with everything that comes with that life, I reluctantly stepped on the scale and saw a number that blew my mind.

That number was 269 pounds.

I cannot begin to describe how much I did not want to step on the scale that day. I had worked out a life for myself. I didn’t look into mirrors. I didn’t get into photographs. I put off doctor visits. And I most definitely didn’t step on scales. It was all good that way. The mind is a powerful hypnotist. In that mind, I saw myself as I was in my 20s, when I could run all day, when I could eat whatever I wanted and never gain a pound, when I just never thought about any of it.

Ah, but there are things that come with being heavy that you can’t ignore, some that you can talk about in public, some that you cannot. But your mind finds ways to adjust. Everything hurt all the time. Every joint. Every muscle. So I went to a chiropractor. I would get out of breath walking to my airport gate. So I got to airports early. I would have to stop in the middle of tennis matches to sit down. So I would stop in the middle of tennis matches and sit down.

But then, even I could no longer avoid the unavoidable, and so I stepped on the scale, and that big number came up—I weighed MORE THAN GRONK, for crying out loud—and suddenly I was face to face with the harsh reality. I would either change my life. Or my life would change on me.

Twenty months later, I stepped on the scale, and that sub-200 number popped up, and I think about what life is like now with me carrying four fewer bowling balls and a hardcover copy of THE POWER BROKER on my body. It’s, um, better. People do ask me all the time, “How did you do it?” and I can tell you the whole story if you want, but it’s pretty boring, and what you expect. I ate a lot less. Then, after losing more than half the weight, I started taking some GLP-1 medications, which helped me eat even less and lose weight even faster. I exercised some more, though probably never as much as I should have.

Like I say, you know the story.

It isn’t like 199.8 pounds is the ideal weight for a person of my height. It’s not. I’m sure I could still lose 25 pounds… but getting to the ideal was never the idea. In fact, getting below 200 was never the idea, either. This was never about a number. But I’m glad to get to the number anyway.