One year of The Front Porch

A small moment of self-indulgence before March really gets going

I’m going to try to do with this post what I aim, and often fail, to do with any other post I have written for this newsletter – keep it short.

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my first story for The Front Porch and the newsletter’s unofficial launch.

At the time I started this, I didn’t really know what this venture would become. Frankly, I’m still kind of figuring it out.

After leaving the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the only job in professional journalism I had ever known, in June 2022 to move halfway across the country, I admittedly felt lost at times. I was getting fairly consistent work as a freelancer, but I seldom had a moment in which a story idea wasn’t percolating in my head, whether it was in reaction to a recent development in the world of college sports or something more evergreen. I’d act on some of those and pitch them to national outlets only not to get a response. There are plenty of news sources, whether in the mainstream media or outside of it, that cover college sports exceptionally well, but I felt like I had something to add to that larger conversation so that when Jim Boeheim retires, you can learn about how and why his successful predecessor went to Tulane or when Nikola Jokic is lifting the NBA Finals trophy, you can find out more about his older brother’s college basketball career.

A lot has changed since I published my first post on here, even if the subject of that piece, the diminished state of ACC men’s basketball, remains an ongoing concern. Eleven days after The Front Porch went live, so did my son, born three-and-a-half weeks early and just in time for the Sweet 16. Last August, I started a full-time job with USA Today, which has only strengthened my passion for what I do here (even if my sleep schedule doesn’t exactly agree).

In the weeks, months and hopefully years ahead, I can’t say for certain what this newsletter will look like. There are topics and features I’ve experimented with that I liked and others that, for one reason or another, didn’t quite work out. Once the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments wrap up in early April, we’ll be entering a bit of a dead period, but I view that as an opportunity to try new formats, test new story subjects and even get a little weird sometimes.

I want this newsletter to remain an open dialogue, not a lecture. If there’s something I do on here that you really like or if there’s a story you’d like to see told, please don’t hesitate to reach out, whether it’s in the comment section, via email (bycraigmeyer@gmail.com) or sliding into my DMs on Twitter. This newsletter would be nothing without y’all and I want the content on here to reflect that.

Before I wrap things up, I really just want to thank everyone. 

For anyone who has lent their hard-earned money for a paid subscription, I cherish you more than you’ll ever know. I didn’t pursue a Substack newsletter thinking, expecting or even wanting to get rich, but the extra money for diapers certainly doesn’t hurt. For anyone who has a free subscription, thank you for joining me on this ride and I apologize for spamming your inbox with stories that cut off at a certain point. I will always try to keep a certain percentage of the pieces I write free and available to all, but if you’re ever curious about what’s past that paywall break, I’ll be waiting with arms wide open (perhaps literally; I’m thinking of adding a complimentary hug as part of the subscription perks). Even if you’ve just read a story out of morbid curiosity, it doesn’t go unnoticed – including those handful of UMass football fans who I angered the other week. I genuinely want the best for y’all, but I, too, would be mad if my favorite football program had a lower Division I win percentage than Kenny Payne.

This has always been my favorite time of year on the sports calendar and I can assure you that in the weeks to come, I’ve got a ton of great stories planned, along with whatever else pops up during a gloriously unpredictable month.

But before the madness of March really kicks into high gear, I wanted to take the opportunity to step back for a bit and show just a small glimpse of the endless appreciation that has built up over these past 12 months and 92 stories.

It’s been a lot of fun and I hope it will never be anything other than that

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