About
We’ll be filling in this space with what SOMM means to each of us. For me, the message hasn’t changed, so my “About” looks the same. Check back for what everyone else has to say… DWil.
Oh yeah, and for people wanting to peruse archived posts, they’re coming soon. The Wordpress platform is having a tough time importing all my writings but our webmaster is on the case.
DWil:
Sports On My Mind is just me writing what I do. Nothing is off limits - not even me. I only hope to provide clear analysis of sports and sports-related events that rule the day; and some events that might be off the beaten path, too.
I grew up in the culture that is sports, so there’s plenty that rankles the hell out of me about the sporting universe and I have no qualms about expressing what I love about it and what rankles me. I hope to spit it all out here.
What are my “bona fides?” Let’s see, when I was a 20-year old pup working at a weekly newspaper in Northern Virginia I was voted the George Mason basketball writer of the year by the hoops portion of the GMU athletic department staff. That means my work was awarded over the writing from the Washington Post and Washington Times beat writers.
That same year, when Steffi Graf granted no private interviews due to the on-going tax evasion problems her father was having, she allowed only two people to conduct one-on-one interviews with her: Dan Jenkins, then a senior writer a Sports Illustrated and me. My piece, a part two of a series on life on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, was one of the articles they used for their national press packet, and was one of the highlighted article displayed as the tour traveled from city to city that season.
As a spoken word poet, in 2001, I was the only featured solo spoken poet chosen to perform during the annually-held International Music and Film Festival, in Austin Texas. That same year I was picked as the featured spoken word poet from Texas to participate in the Austin International Poetry Festival (generally one Texas film maker, one featured Texas musical group, and one, either solo spoken word poet or spoken word group is invited to participate in the festival).
Everyone who knows me from The Starting Five: this is where I began in October, 2006 and I’m happy to be back.
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This is MODI, more formally as Charles Modiano, and originally from sports media watch site COSELLOUT. So why did I come over to SOMM? Strength in numbers for a common cause. Each member brings a little something different to the table. StopMikeLupica is basically MODI with my hair let down, MCBias is that rare sports blogger that brings religion to the mix; and D-Wil is The Willie Mays of Sports Writing. And best of all, we all detest media hypocrisy. Surely, we won’t agree with all of each other’s work, but any disagreements will be settled when they all come to their senses and realize that I am right and they are wrong! 
Naaaah, agreement is beside the point. The sincere quest for F.A.C.T.s (fairness, accuracy, consistency, & truth) in sports journalism will be the common ground. Personally, if I get an article wrong, constructive criticism is always welcomed to help avoid becoming what I so often criticize. I can be personally reached at modi@cosellout.com
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MCBias:
Here’s why I write here on SOMM. I believe that play is an essential component of living a normal life. I believe that the our bodies are uniquely designed so that physical motion itself gives us pleasure and joy. I believe that each individual’s attempts to enjoy themselves via sport should be encouraged regardless of the person’s skill level. I believe that there is nothing inferior about games outside the “Big Three” of men’s basketball, football, and baseball, whether that’s a female athlete playing volleyball overseas for a couple thousand a year or you and your friends playing pickup anything at the local park. And if I could, I would gladly and cheerfully write only to describe the joy I feel when watching my neighbors run down the street, or peacefully playing pick-up basketball with some strangers I’ve never met before and having a great time, or oo-ing and aa-ing as the basketball players on TV run and jump faster than I ever could. It’s the play that counts, the joy of the game itself. Or I would not write at all to give me more time to enjoy such activities.
But I write here on SOMM because there are too many forces out there that want to destroy play and turn the game into work. They want to monetize the game. They want the game to be about their politics and biases, just like way too much of today’s life and culture is. They want the game to be a gigantic morality play to reinforce their opinions. They want to sexualize the game and talk more about the looks of the players than the game of the players. They want to make each win and loss bigger than just the results of playing the game. They want to make champions into gods and chumps into demons, when time and chance instead rule the outcome of many games. Or, they want to deify the game itself, to turn us all into Nike-wearing, ticket-buying worshippers who think that a bouncing ball is the meaning of life.
I write because I don’t want any of that to happen. I am not the world’s best writer, nor am I well-known. But I joined SOMM because I believe that despite the different opinions of MODI, D-Wil, SML, and me, we all at heart want to defend the integrity of the game. I never was that good at any sport. But I feel a joy when I play or watch that supersedes ability, and that’s what makes the game matter. So that’s why I write; to lift up the game up, let you appreciate the game in ways that others might overlook, and show my appreciation for what it’s done for me. And that’s half of what you can expect from me on SOMM.
But there’s another half that unfortunately must follow from the first half. I also have to take time to oppose the aforementioned attempts of others to alter the game. I oppose them quietly. I tend to plead, or use their own words against them to show them the error of their ways, unless I am truly angry or I think that hypocrisy has occurred. Quite honestly, it goes against my own policies even to admit that I do this. I have kept quiet about this so that it would not be obvious to others who might change due to my words if they did not realize this about me. But oppose them I do, and will, and that’s the other half of what you can expect from me on SOMM. You can reach me at talktomc[atsymbol]gmail[dot]com.
