… is now the theme song for the Day by Day’s for the time being.
For starters, it is my brother’s birthday (12/20) so I want to wish him a happy one! Yesterday was also my cousin’s birthday so I’ll wish him a belated one on Week to Week Notes. Let’s take ‘em back (0:03). The three of us spent many summers playing Wiffleball at my grandparents’ backyard. Being the oldest, I was always the only fielder on my team, but I would counter it by throwing a filthy L-Ball curve (slider/slurve), which was useful because every other batter I was facing was a lefty-right matchup.
I get that a lot of @YouTheReaders may not find this anecdote all that gripping, but we had some fun times, and sue me for wanting to document some of the good times I can still remember that I’d like to be able to look back on one day. If you can’t tell by now, the Day by Day write-ups are where I like to keep it loose, whereas in the Week to Week Notes on Friday I’m trying to keep it pure with the sports content using the Thematic Song Concept of the Week.
Thursday Night Football
Jacksonville Jaguars @ New York Jets
I usually don’t do Thursday Night Football previews but the Jets are playing and I have a Jacksonville season ticket-holder connection so can’t pass up the opportunity to talk a bit of smack.
Jacksonville Jaguars
QB Trevor “Sunshine” Lawrence is in the midst of the classic 2nd year QB jump. The Duval in Duuuval Dimes is the county of Jacksonville, where Lawrence just upset the Dallas Cowboys by throwing 4 TDs and 318 passing yards. His jump was accelerated because they fired Urban Meyer and surrounded him with solid acquisitions. One acquisition was WR Zay Jones who just scored 3 TDs against Dallas. This was the East Carolina product’s first multi-score game since Week 17 of 2018 (Source: My own research on @ProFootballReference). On the defensive side of the football, the Jaguars are led by LB Foyesade Oluokun. The do-it-all linebacker doesn’t come off the field and currently leads the NFL in tackles with 156 (111 being solo). (Source: Again stats on @ProFootballReference)
New York Jets
I don’t really want to talk about the Jets right now. @YouTheReader did you see that World Cup Final? What an all-timer. Best match I’ll probably ever watch. If that was your first soccer match, don’t bother watching another one. Okay so why as a Jets fan would I use the GIF above for my favorite team? Well as I’ve said in the past, to be a Jets fan you’ve got to have a screw or two loose, but at least Jets fans will admit that. Tough loss. Great play call by Lions. I’m scared to write about any positives that the team has going for them because I’m convinced they’ll inevitably crash and burn if I put it down pen to paper. So I’ll close out by saying Zach Wilson stinks and there is no way that the #2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft has a chance at defeating the #1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. I don’t even understand why the Jets are playing on Thursday, the Jags are on fire and Gang Green is just the Same Old Jets.
Predictions: 24-17 NYJ (-1 NYJ & Over 39)
TikTok Beef
This is something that has been weighing on my conscious for a while. I was a @Vine guy before that app created Vine stars and eventually disappeared. If I ever come across as rude toward people who use TikTok, it’s only because I know if I ever downloaded that app, I would’ve been glued to it and never would’ve created my own YouTube Rabbithole. Sorry for letting the cat out of the bag, but my own mother loves TikTok for recipes and useful Mom things. She is self-aware that she’s on the app too much so I like poking fun at her about it on here. We both get a kick out of it if it ever comes up.
Again I know a lot of @YouTheReaders have TikTok and I don’t mean across as mean-spirited about you using the #1 social media app on planet Earth. It is just that the app is the antithesis of Week to Week Notes. Huge gamble, but I’m banking that there will always be a certain segment of people who will want to read something somewhat interesting. It sounds ridiculous because I know that the @CCP government designed the app with algorithms to glue y’all into watching something that suits your exact interests and you might not be all that interested in sports content for the casual fan.
There are many people who create TikTok content that is much different than the dancing in front of the mirror videos I make fun of. For instance, @nicky.cass makes some of the funniest content out there (that I see on Instagram). In a recent sitdown he had on the @Rhoback podcast, he spits straight facts when asked why he makes the TikTok content he does he stated, “Humbly saying I do recognize that I have a talent in this and I do recognize that it has an effect on people. The saddest thing in life is wasted talent and one of my biggest whys is this is making people happy. I have the opportunity to make people laugh. When you laugh, you don’t think about the negativity going on in life, you’re just experiencing joy… The other part of it too though is I love to work. I love getting up and I love putting in the time. I love putting in the effort and I love seeing the results, but the underlying why is I have a gift and I need to use it.” Here’s the video (hopefully you don’t click the link so you read what else I have to say). I tagged him on my post and some may think I’m trying to drum up something negative to say about him but it is the complete opposite. See I can use creative clickbait for good sometimes.
Look I’m not delusional, I can’t compare Week to Week Notes with his hilarious bits, but everything he said really hits home for what I’m trying to do. I’m still a ways away from ever being as talented as a sports writer as he is a content creator, but there have been times every so often that I’ll see someone who I didn’t even know read my work and they’ll tell me “I thought what you did here was funny or I can’t believe you picked against my football team, etc.” and I’m able to tell that they’re sincere about something I wrote. That is an amazing high of a feeling that I’m not talented enough as a writer yet to even put in written words. Also just want to make it clear, none of these ramblings or clickbait is as funny as he is, but I hopefully do provide a bit of a distraction every week where readers can hopefully tune out the cold world for a few minutes, read about sports&life from the perspective of a Village Idiot, and maybe get a kick out of whatever shenanigans I’m willingly putting out there to gain more readers. While I may never reach the heights of @nicky.cass, if I could ever reach a small fraction of the amount of an audience that he gets (that is all I could ever realistically hope for), I’ll only regret it if I don’t at least try to swing for the fences. If every once in a while I have to make a fool out of myself and risk staining whatever public reputation I may still have in the process then so be it.
Also just want to end the TikTok Beef section with the following statement. As an American capitalist, screw the CCP government. Yeah, I said it @XiJinpin, what up?
Believe you me, homie, I know all about losses. (1:10) Unlike some on social media, I’ll publicly post my public Ls for the Week every Week.
Swings & Misses…Sorta
If you missed “Tom’s Review of Dave’s Pizza Review” of The Mountain House at Sparkill, NY, here’s the link. If you missed Part 2 where Portnoy went to Norcina’s in New City, NY, here’s the link. I’ll only be reviewing Portnoy’s Rockland County pizza reviews so if you get a kick out of that be on the lookout for those once he posts them. The concept for that series came from @RandomGirlFromTheBar so credit to her for the idea. If you don’t like the writing aspect, I’ll take the wrath of your disappointment for not orchestrating the proper tone. See with @DavePortnoy (aka the undefeated biggest bully on the internet) my thinking is the only possible way to ever get a reaction out of him down the road would be to fight fire with fire. I know the odds seem minuscule now but that is specifically why I stated down the road. If I get any sort of reaction out of El Pres, there are millions of Stoolies who love sports and I’d be fully content with receiving a ton of hate from them if it means a small fraction of them start reading Week to Week Notes.
Say I wrote something like, “Gee Mr. Portnoy, thanks for visiting Rockland!!”, do you really think on the off chance that he ever sees that he would respond? To double down on that, is a @NewReader going to be more or less intrigued if I come in a bombastic or timid manner? Maybe I’m wrong, but I think that’s just a cruel reality of how the internet works, I have my own analytics to show for it (please see below). As for @BryceHall, I may be TikTok famous without ever having a TikTok, but we don’t hang out in the same circles. Nothing against kids dancing in front of mirrors, but he originally made his millions twirling in front of a selfie stick and is older than some of the athletes I’m expected to be critical of.
@YouTheReader who has an Instagram account and doesn’t follow @You_The_Reader I created the account just for you. The idea behind the account was @RandomGirlFromTheBar’s as well. Hmm… is she the Mastermind (release date Friday 1/13/23) behind this? Sometimes I can’t tell either. Her suggestion behind creating a separate account was people are much more likely to engage and follow a company professional account than they would be to follow my own personal one. See I’ve said it before, she’s very smart, but I’m selfishly remaining her anonymous (for a multitude of reasons obviously). One is so Week to Week Notes can monopolize her insights from a different perspective. She has no idea I’m writing this so @RandomGirlFromTheBar sorry for finally crediting your input, hopefully, this is fineee. **Insert half-face salute emoji**
As a reliable narrator, I’d rather be an open book and not lie to you. Week 11, ‘22 - Oklahoma Smokeshow (PR Parents at Play bit) is still my highest weekend viewership. I’m not surprised in the slightest. I had a feeling that would be the case because it is human nature to take a peek at a car crash on the side of the highway. The price I paid for more readers that stuck around was a ton of people read my work for the first time and assumed I was aiming to be some gossip site of the Town of Friendly People. Or they may have taken my bombastic tones out of context and not realized that I’m fully aware I’m a no-name writer trying to make it in an industry where I have no friends. Now that-that whole mini commotion is over a month in our rearview, while I could technically take a bit of a victory lap, none of my broader goals were accomplished by it, but a lesson was learned. Go with my gut.
@StillSkepticalReader what is still too soon? See my thought process behind that was how would I ever stand a chance trying to get new readers to be interested in Week to Week Notes in the Tri-State area (& beyond) if I couldn’t get people from my own hometown to be interested in reading what I write. I’d obviously prefer everybody to love Week to Week Notes, but if you don’t, I’d prefer you to hate what I have to say. Love or hate gets people to click on a link and spend a few minutes a week reading this. If you’re indifferent to it, then I’m boring. If I’m boring, then I’m just another irrelevant link. You can find stuff on sports in a million different places. Some will have better gambling picks, more insight, and actual inside sources, but not my style. Love it or hate it, the Week to Week Notes is 1 of 1 in that way.
If I ever come across as whiny or needy, asking you on here to follow @You_The_Reader it’s because I’m still at only ~40 followers despite the fact that Substack says my individual views per post are averaging around 5 x that on a given week. I have to assume most people still get to this page from when I post on my personal account, which will be going ghost after the New Year.
@StillSkepticalReader **Thinking** “Dude, I’m not following your Finsta. Get over yourself.”
Well, the more people that follow the account, the more likely I can get the verified check mark I requested from Instagram. The more people that click on the page and see a verified account, the more likely when I DM an athelete like Joe McCarthy asking to set up a Zoom interview they don’t just leave me on read. Why would he waste his time with a weird-looking sports page with 40 followers? The same goes for @TheHobokenGirl when I kindly try to explain that my latest column featured Hoboken’s very own, Frank Sinatra’s Sinatra Swooners jacket. I would think that would be something that Hoboken residents may find interesting, no? Sorry for putting you on blast @TheHobokenGirl, but this is the second time in the past 4 months that I’ve received a “like” and been left on read. She could possibly expand my viewership on a given week ten-fold with two clicks of her fingers by reposting something I tag her on. Guess she just doesn’t like what I have to say - which is alright, not everybody is always going to love what I have to say but I have to be authentic.
The more followers @You_The_Reader has, the more likely that strangers from the NYC area (to which I’m paying a couple of dollars per post to advertise) would give the account a follow instead of just viewing it like above. Lastly and most importantly, the more people that follow the account, the more likely that one of these corporations actually cuts a check to a charity. @YouTheReader if there is a way that doing something I love can help people, I’m sorry for spamming you with an irrelevant link, but I’m not sorry for trying.
Do you see where my head is at with this or am I just being naive? Don’t answer that. Either way, I’ll keep banging my head on the wall over this.
I understand if it were easy, everybody would do it. I don’t expect to wake up one morning to an avalanche of followers but @YouTheReader reading this who got here from @t.davis94, if you’re worried about your follower/following ratio please feel free to give me the unfollow and follow @You_The_Reader. The only reason I only follow 4 accounts on @You_The_Reader is that my gut tells me strangers who don’t know who the hell Tom Davis from Pearl River is would be much more likely to follow a verified account with a high follower to low following ratio. If all this talk sounds extremely egotistical I already promised when I originally mentioned the account that I would follow back all your personal, finstas, and business accounts once this publication really gets moving. I rarely ask for you to share my work on here because I know you probably skip over those parts, but even your 1 follow then moves the algorithm to a larger number of possible spectators.
I’m really sorry to subscribers who don’t have Instagram. I hate doing these sorts of spelled-out step-by-step thought processes that I do from time to time and talking about followers&following sounds ridiculous but there is a method to my madness. If all this talk turns you off, look I’m not using social media for likes, I’m trying to use it as a tool. Before I started posting my writing about sports, I hadn’t posted on social media for like 2 years. Maybe I sound like a jerk but hiring a social media manager to handle Week to Week Notes when I grew up with Facebook in the 7th grade sounds like such a waste of money. All any of it is, is a public perception game anyway. Again, do you see where my head is at with this or am I just being naive? Don’t answer that. Either way, I’ll keep banging my head on the wall over this.
#BoobyTrapChallenge
I am pairing two rivals in their respective industries against one another for donations to charities. I understand many will think it is a waste of time and overly ambitious to think the corporations would ever check out the @You_The_Reader account’s stories but if I hound the rivals every day in their DMs you never know. It only takes me a few clicks, maybe 15 mins a day to do this, I don’t mention a monetary figure amount (whatever the corporation deems necessary which I’m sure they would just claim to be a tax write-off), and I want nothing to do with how money is exchanged.
This Week’s #BoobyTrapChallenge: Pedialyte vs. Body Armor
@YouTheReaders do you have any local charities of choice that may appreciate some corporate cash for good use? If you have a charity or organization in mind, send them my way via text, DM @You_The_Reader, or email at WeekToWeekNotes@gmail.com.
Just want to say special thanks to those who submit these, it helps make this feel legitimate. While at first, I thought I would stop doing this at the end of the holiday season, this challenge will be extended well past my initial deadline.
Reddit Exchanges
@Haters on r/NFLNoobs
Put last Week’s Notes on a Reddit page for people trying to learn about the NFL and here were the comments…
Well if these Reddit nerds don’t want to learn about football, at least I can say I tried. Very cool that @GrizzFan would compare me to the NY Times, that is a new one. @PrTeam can I run with that as a bit or nah? The deleted comment I made was that I’m trying to do a combination of Barstool Sports and The Ringer with my own flair. That is genuine (which I’ve stated multiple times previously) but when most people read that I know they roll their eyes, without having the balls to say you sound ridiculous to my face. Even if they did, I would just fake laugh with them, say “yeah you’re right”, and then just use it for more motivation anyway. Honestly, most people if this writing bit ever comes up in real life in person are very supportive but I’m on the internet writing my thoughts so I can’t be naive. A lot of people see what I’m doing here and think they could do this better. Or think to themselves the same way these losers on Reddit do.
Trends Change, Rumors Fly (0:08)
@League10965 looks like the Tyreek Hill fumble TD isn’t going to count towards fantasy. On the bright side though, I love the fact that an employee of my competition (The World Wide Leader in Sports) was distracted for a few minutes to type out this well-crafted response to a question that I already knew the answer to.
His or Her Words, Not Mine
I made the His or Her Words, Not Mine section specifically for readers who have their own opinions on sports. If you’re a big fan of sports and think I have an awful take on your team, well this section is for you to lambast me into oblivion. The only edits I’ll make to your submission are if you curse because I have a PG-13 audience. Again though, I know a lot of you ladies and gentlemen have interests scoping far beyond sports so whatever it is you’re passionate about, don’t be a stranger you’ll always have an opening to send your opinions my way via text, DM @You_The_Reader, or email at WeekToWeekNotes@gmail.com. You can put your birth name down or if you’d prefer to stay anonymous come up with your own @Nickname… If you “really do it,That’s the true meaning of a ghostwriter”(1:07). It not only will help Week to Week Notes look more legitimate but I’m interested in hearing other people’s opinions on sports or other interests; and hey you never you, you might be a bit of writer yourself - you may just never tried. **Cough, cough**@TSwiftieReaders I’m still waiting on someone to submit their own top 12 list of your favorite songs or an album review of Midnights. **Cough, cough**
@YouTheReader’s Weekly Debate: Is SantaCon a fun festive gathering or an absolute liability?
These Weekly Debates were inspired by friends of mine that used to run an Instagram account called Thee Daily Debate where they would cook up interesting topics and let their followers sound off. It was their idea which is why I am proud to say that moving forward the Weekly Debates will be handled by the professionals of Thee Daily Debate themselves. These people are creative geniuses that will lessen some of my weekly workloads. It’s still the holiday season so they kept it Christmas theme, but if moving forward they ever come up with a controversial debate for the Week, these were His Or Her Words, Not Mine.
Tune into this Sunday’s Weekly Debate poll on @You_The_Reader with a question involving Christmas lights on Christmas trees…
Do you prefer multi-colored or white lights on your tree?
This Week’s “Thematic Concept Song”
Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl
For the small faction of @YouTheReaders who might be into a sneak peek at the song for Friday… I’ve made a change to the Day by Day theme song so if you have an Instagram you’ll now be spammed with the ending interlude to Hate it Or Love It by the Game and 50 Cent. I’m from Pearl River, NY so I obviously can’t relate to how those two grew up. I know I’m not an underdog, but Week to Week Notes is one compared to other much more legitimate sports publications. This publication is also nowhere near the top, but that is the goal. Every Friday, Hate it or Love it, I ain’t going nowhere so you can get to know me (2:50), or just stop reading. Just wanted to give some of the reasons for the change for the people who read all the way to the bottom. Some people on Instragam will now hear the song and roll their eyes but then again I don’t put in all this time and effort to write for people who mindlessly scroll and are judgemental based on a 15-second reel.
(I know most of you don’t care, but thanks for scrolling to the bottom anyway)…
Phew! Got some stuff off my chest. Back to listening to my favorite Christmas song while working on NBA Christmas, Week 16, CFB, and MLB’s Scorching Furnace.