Working Week 1 for ELeague!

So some of the talent for ELeague was just announced a few moments ago. I am extremely excited to be a part of if! I don't think I can really find the words that truly express just how happy and thankful I am to be here. I can't wait to work with the folks at Turner Sports, WME-IMG, ELeague, as well as the other talent: Richard Lewis, Thorin, Moses, Moe, Anders, Semmler, DDK, James, as well as maybe a few more yet to be named or that I have forgotten.



To start this off I first have to give a huge thank you to Turner Sports, WME-IMG, and all others associated with ELeague for taking a chance on me. I want to give a special shoutout to Simon Abitbol and Brett Lautenbach of WME-IMG who took time out to speak with me back in January about working in some capacity on this project. When I first heard of EL I reached out to anyone I could find to see if there was some way I could be involved. I wasn't naive, at the time I didn't think I would be in front of a camera but I did hope that maybe I could be a part of it all as a writer or doing something behind the scenes. They were kind enough to keep an open mind and keep in touch over the past few months and helped me get here in a big way. I also have to give a huge thanks to Ben Spitalnick of Turner Sports who was the one ho contacted me about being an analyst directly. It was a pleasant surprise to get a call from him to say the least, and all of these men were very kind and took great care of me.





I also want to think folks like Thorin, Richard, and Puckett who publicly endorsed me not too long ago. Their support was vital to my growth in recent times. I can't thank them enough for their kind words as well as their advice and criticisms which allowed me to learn a lot about this line of work. I also have to give a huge thanks to the folks over at Gfinity and CEVO. This includes folks like Michael Brown, Chris Pipher, Dima Arenkov, Charlie Plitt, and many more who all were responsible for getting me to London a few weeks ago to work at the CEVO Gfinity Season 9 Finals. Without that gig, EL would not have had much to reference in assessing my capabilities. Thanks to those folks, I got the chance to do a couple of desk segments and some color commentary at a bigger LAN event for the first time in almost a year. It was a long a hard journey up until that point for me, there were moments where I thought I was stuck and might have to give up due to financial responsibilities I have to keep any eye on, but they gave me a platform to do what I love on a bigger stage and it was extremely helpful in getting me here. Without that event I might still be sitting at my apartment rather than being here in Atlanta. Crazy how rapidly things change.





A special thank you goes out again to Richard Lewis and Thorin. These guys were aware of my dream to do a desk and they supported the plan to give me that chance at the Gfinity CEVO Season 9 Finals. They also provided a lot of guidance which as invaluable to me. I guess I should also thank Puckett again here for having to leave a day early at the CEVO Gfinity event. Without that random happening I may also not have been here lol.





Also, Richard Lewis was one of the main people who really put my name in the hat and spoke up for me for EL along with Simon. I can't think him enough for allowing me to practice my passion on such a huge stage. Seriously Richard, thank you so much for everything.





There are so many others to thank. I want to say thanks to ESEA for giving me my first paid gigs in 2012 and to folks like CEVO, Gfinity, MLG, and others who gave me other work over the years. Also have to say thanks to a lot of casters and members of the community who helped me along the way such as Sirscoots, Vansilli, Moses, Sadokist, Anders, dunN, Whisenhunt, Semmler, HenryG, Pat Flannigan, heliumbrella, Launders, Jacky, Metuz, and so many others for their support over the years. I know I probably forgot a lot of names in there so please forgive me, but you folks know who you are and I am sure I will find a way to thank you personally at some point!





To all of you members of the community out there, thanks for your support. It is your support as well as hopefully your continued support that helped me get here as well and that will hopefully lead me to work even more here in the future. As of now I am doing some writing for EL as well as serving as an analyst for week 1 of the league. My hope is to do well during week 1 and serve as an analyst for more weeks this season as well as continue writing and maybe some other things here.





To those who are hesitant or worried about me being a part of this, I only ask that you come in with an open mind. Trust me, I am aware I am not nearly as established as many of the other names on the talent list. All I can say is that I have worked very hard over the last year or so to better myself in case a chance like this came around. I have spent countless hours over the last year doing research such as watching tons of demos, studying stats, reviewing results, consuming content like interviews, articles, and vlogs, etc. to build up my knowledge of this game and its teams and players. I have also worked hard on my delivery lately to make sure I present the information I have to the best of my abilities. I obviously still need to put in a lot of work to improve even more, but I am willing to grind out the hours required to get to where I need to be. I am never complacent, I always strive to be better every day, so know that I will do my absolute best. I will not take this opportunity for granted.





It's honestly surreal to be here. I feel like it is only just now hitting me that this is all real and that I am not simply dreaming. I can't believe it. I've been through so much, and I am not looking to tell you all a sob story and get into great detail or seek your sympathy, but just know it hasn't been easy. This is my dream. This is the work I love, something I can truly say I am passionate about. I am beyond happy to be here and again I will do my best. There are so many other things I want to say, but I can't find the words right now. I am sure that I will probably think of them as soon as I hit post and curse myself for leaving it out. I am sure this is also full of typos so forgive me haha. But for now this will do haha. Thanks again! Now time to get back to work!

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