Cameo in The Falcon Report

Being interviewed by "The Falcon Report" (Awkward photo for the blog)

The Falcon Report, Ludlowe's student news show, asked to interview me about "The Nest," Ludlowe's student section.

As both a member of the Athletic Department currently and an FLHS alum who was very involved in the sports as a student (and since graduating), it made a lot of sense.

I know I am not good on air. As I say, I have a voice for print. And if I'm not writing, lets be honest, I don't belong in front of the camera, I belong behind it. The fact that it was on video makes it worse, but whatever, it was fun. It combines two things that mean a lot to me, Ludlowe and broadcasting/media. Thanks to club advisor, Regina Krieger, for asking if I would be interested in being interview. Also, thank you to the students who are members of the club, for conducting the interviewing.  Hopefully I was helpful for the club.

I appear at 2:16 and 2:36 but give the entire broadcast a listen. Todd Parness, the Ludlowe Athletic Director, also appears in the video, as do Ludlowe students.

I appreciate the respect but it's odd that the call me "Mr. Sailer" on the lower third. It's probably what I should be called but 99.9% of the students, especially at Ludlowe, call me Shawn. I've even said that when I'm an assistant baseball, I won't be "Coach." It's just something I'm not comfortable with. A lot of that is because I know a lot of the students from previously being around the sports and knowing some of the older siblings.

Ludlowe has some great journalism outlets. In addition to The Falcon Report, they also produce "The Prospect," the student newspaper, which can be read online at flhsprospect.com.

I'll always support student journalism and will assist in any way I can to help. I may not be doing in everyday for a job, but journalism still matters a lot to me.

2019 MLB Hall of Fame Class

Moose and Mo (Photo: NorthJersey.com)

The 2019 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame Class was announced earlier this week.

The class consists of Mariano Rivera, Edgar Martinez, Mike Mussina and Roy Halladay.

I think it's a great class. The voters did a really good job (yes, I might be bias as a Yankees fan).

No surprise to me the Mariano got 100% of the votes. He is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) as a closer and relief pitcher overall. He was very good as a setup man and a phenomenal closer with only minor hiccups.

People are going to question Martinez being in for a couple of reasons. One being the fact that he was a DH and didn't play the field. He still had really good numbers. He had a career .312 batting average with 309 home runs and 1261 runs batted in. David Ortiz will likely get in when he's eligible and he was a DH for 95% of his career.

People are also going to question whether he did steroids/PEDS. It's not proven, plus, there could already be a steroid user in and there might be more in the future.

Mussina is an interesting case. I love Moose. His numbers are good, but not great. He had a career record of 270-153.  He only won 20 games once, in 2008, his final season. He felt like a bulldog/big game pitcher though. When I think of Moose, I don't think of him as a HOF pitcher based on the majority of the guys who are in the HOF. He wasn't an overpowering pitcher who hitters feared (i.e.Pedro Martinez), and didn't have anything that special about him. He was a consistent pitcher who could be counted on to take the ball every fifth day. He made at least 24 appearances every year from 1992-2008. Selfishly, I want him to have a Yankees logo on his HOF cap, but he played more years with the Orioles. It will be interesting to see which one he picks.

Roy Halliday had a great career with the Blue Jays and then went to the Phillies, where he had much postseason success, including a playoff no-hitter. He also has a regular season perfect game to his credit as well as being a eight-time all-star and two-time Cy Young Award winner. I think he is deserving, but wonder if he got in sooner than he would have if he hadn't died in a plane crash. The same can be said for Thurman Munson having his number retired by the Yankees. It's not a knock on the player, I just wondering if it's an emotionally driven recognition (at least this soon) rather than a number decision. I think it's great that his family has made the decision to have him go in with a blank cap, as he did a lot for both franchises he played with.

Also, Lee Smith and Harold Baines will be entering the Hall with these four, as part of the Veterans Committee's choices. Smith is a Hall of Famer. Baines should not be in, in my opinion. He had average numbers at best.

Project 365.............Well, not really

Fellow bloggers (and journalists) and my friends, John Nash and Rob Adams are doing something called "Project 365" (Or 365 Project...I've seen it called both).

Basically, they are posting at least one blog post per day for an entire year. It can be about anything of their choosing. From things that happened that day in their life, to something in the news, to promoting their other work, to pretty much anything they come up with.

No, I'm not going to do this (especially since we are 13 days into the year). I don't have enough interesting things to write about. Yes, this probably is one of those boring posts. You don't care about the fact that I was at Ludlowe this morning and then watched football the rest of the day. I also feel like if I got to writing about certain topics, I might say too much that I shouldn't just randomly be writing about.

With all this being said, I do want to write more than I have. I just need to find good topics to write about. Maybe they don't always need to be posts with lots of writing. Maybe some writing and some pictures, or other content. I would like to find topics to write about on a regular basis.

When I created the blog in November of 2016, I thought I had a lot to write about. However, I've written just 37 times (counting this one) since. I really have not written much at all in any facet recently, as I'm not freelancing at the moment, and not writing about the games I attend.

Thanks to those who read the blog. Hopefully I have more for you soon.