The Jersey Benchwarmer's Guide to Sports

The United States of America is a country full of unique backgrounds, cultures, traditions, and personalities. Each region, town, city, and state has something that they're known for. In sports, athletes will experience a culture shock one way or another. Whether it’s an international player coming to a place like Utah, or an athlete from a small town in Maine going to a city like Dallas, it happens. The beauty of sports also allows small market organizations to face those star-studded big market teams. Enjoy having a team in the New York metropolitan area? How about a team in… Green Bay, Wisconsin? No matter where a team is, the fanbase of that organization will bring passion and enthusiasm to every game. Kind of like what will transpire in this season’s NBA Finals.  This season's Finals are officially set with the New York Knicks taking on the San Antonio Spurs in a rematch of the 1999 Finals. It’s also a rematch of this season’s NBA Cup, where New York captured the Cup.  Th...

If you asked me what I remember from seventh grade, I was apparently blackout at the time. I struggle to remember anything noteworthy from school, whether it was good or bad.  If you asked me anything college sports related, however, I’m writing down multiple pages full of memories.  The 2015-2016 NCAA season was truly a special year for me as a young fan growing up in Sussex County, New Jersey. The Saturdays in the fall were brilliant, and the winter brought me a lifetime of memories. Let’s get this out of the way first and foremost. My allegiance in college football belongs to Michigan State and in college basketball, Seton Hall.  I always love to tell the story of how I became an MSU fan, despite never visiting “The Great Lakes State” once.  The season prior (2014), MSU was playing Oregon at Autzen Stadium in front of a nationally televised audience on FOX. Gus Johnson and Charles Davis were on the call and it was a major top-10 showdown. Unfortunately, quarterbac...

My fellow Americans, I need that 48-ounce coffee bucket from Dunkin to keep me awake.  Anyway, this past year has been very exciting, but also a little exhausting for myself. Right after I graduated from Seton Hall last May, I got right into the thick of things. I want to talk about what it’s been like working in sports media over the last 12 months .  Writing: First off, I’m really proud of the articles that were published over the course of the past year. As you have seen, I have written many articles about soccer, college football, lacrosse and other sports as well.  A majority of the articles I had published were about Red Bull New York, who I was fortunate enough to cover these past few months. It was incredible to cover my favorite MLS team and my favorite soccer league as well. Outside of Red Bull, I continue to cover Seton Hall. Focusing on basketball, I saw awesome performances and nail biting finishes. I'm still shocked that I covered the St. John’s game where t...

KANSAS CITY, KS - Have you ever been to America’s Heartland? In the span of two years in the early 2010s, I traveled to Kansas and Nebraska to see my uncle. As someone who was born and raised in New Jersey, it was a literal culture shock.  Now of course if I were to ever live in that area, I would fit right in given that I am a massive college football fan. I’ve seen Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium on a busy Saturday afternoon, but never Kansas’ home field, David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.  Speaking of the Jayhawks, do you recall the time in 2024 when they played some non-conference home contests at Children’s Mercy Park? Known as Sporting Park today, Kansas Football played two games there while their stadium was getting renovated. I’m sure their friends Sporting Kansas City didn’t mind.  Hey, speaking of Sporting KC (3-9-2, 11 pts), they faced Red Bull New York (6-5-4, 22 pts) in a clash of two original 96 teams on Saturday night. For New York, they finished the first po...

Throughout the history of sports, the concept of a “generational talent” is a special one.  Every sport has that one person who not only transcends their game, but other realms of life. Think about Lebron James for a second. The guy is a global icon in not only basketball, but meme culture, social issues, business, whatever you can think about.  Solely on the court, he’s won multiple MVPs, NBA Finals, he’s been included on so many All-NBA and All-Star teams. He is literally the all-time leading scorer of the NBA. It’s safe to say that he lived up to the billing of being the first pick of the 2003 NBA Draft and then some.  In the 2020s, sports are at an all-time high, which means more exposure for athletes who have earned that prestigious title of being generational. Literally back in 2023, the coverage around the NBA and NHL Drafts were incredible because of two players. Victor Wembanyama and Connor Bedard.  For someone who loves both leagues, seeing them meet up tha...

Red Bull New York, or the New York Red Bulls to some still, have had quite the start to 2026. Currently sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference with a 5-5-4 record, good for 19 points, the general opinion on the club has been mixed.  One minute, everyone is praising the stellar play of the youngsters like Julian Zakrzewski Hall and Adri Mehmeti. The next minute, the supporters think that the sky is falling.  As someone who was covering Red Bull up until earlier this month, my opinions kept swaying and I felt convinced by the fans to align with them. But, after a few weeks where I was watching as a fan and not as a reporter, I still believe that the team can be great.  Since their loss to FC Dallas, Red Bull have rattled off three fine results in league play. This includes two victories against Chicago Fire FC and the Columbus Crew, but also a frustrating draw to rivals New York City FC last Saturday. Again, for the doomsday fans on Twitter/X, this team is not bad. Obvious...

Being a fan of the Brooklyn Nets is truly an experience of agony and confusion and it will have you questioning whether you should be a basketball fan or not.  The Nets have been and will forever be my number one sports team. The Devils, the Ravens, Red Bull, Michigan State, and Seton Hall could all theoretically win championships, but the Nets winning the NBA Finals would top all of them.  Unfortunately, this team’s luck is disgustingly horrible and I just wonder, what did I do to deserve this? They moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn, they had that horrendous trade with the Celtics in 2013, Kevin Durant’s foot was on the line. Surely, after years of tanking, The Basketball Gods would bless this organization with the first overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, right?  Looking back at 2025, I was really hoping that the Nets would land Cooper Flagg with the first pick. Of course, the Nets got the eighth pick and selected Egor Dëmin out of BYU. I believe Dëmin will do great thi...

Hi, hello. The Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) is back this weekend. The growth of the PLL and lacrosse in general has been spectacular to see over the past few years. For sports fans like myself, it’s great to know that there’s another league that I can digest during the summer months. Yes, I will be watching the World Cup, MLS and the WNBA as well. Back to Paul Rabil’s league, a new season brings new storylines that will surely get fans excited. With that being said, I’m grabbing my keys to my Lexus and heading to the first location in whatever Nike product I own. Gotta love brand endorsement. Swoosh!: This past Christmas, my Mom gifted me a California Redwoods jersey and hoodie. The hoodie has been a fantastic addition to my collection and I pretty much wore it to work every week in the winter. It warmed me up a ton when I was freezing in the stockroom at work rearranging everything.  The clothing brand, Champion, were responsible for making the jerseys the players had been wearin...