It was sometime during my transition from middle school to high school I realized I wasn't going to play college basketball or be in the NBA.
I loved the game of basketball and had played my entire life to that point, but I was a 5-foot-nothing shooting guard who wasn't all that athletic. I couldn't jump. I couldn't beat anybody off the dribble. I wasn't a great defender. There was really only one thing I could do really well, and that was shoot.
I was at the age where I had to let go of my childhood dreams and start worrying about what I was going to do with the rest of my life.
In high school, you get asked a lot by teachers, administrators and guidance counselors what you plan to do after you graduate. And, to be honest, I really didn't know exactly what that was.
But I knew even though I wasn't going to play sports beyond high school, I still wanted them to be part of my life. I started trying to figure out ways to make this possible because the thought of sitting behind a desk for eight hours a day sounded awful.
My first thought was to go into coaching, but I wasn't sure I'd be any good at that. I'm a little too reserved and laid back to coach. So, I started looking into getting involved in sports media shortly after that and thought that might be the best way to go.
The rest, as they say, is history.
I went on to college and graduated from Ohio State in June of 2011 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and now I'm proud to announce I'm joining the Eleven Warriors staff as its second beat writer.
I'm not really all that big into talking about myself, at least publicly, but I'll do my best.
Here is some additional information about me: After graduating college I spent a little over a year on the sports desk at the Columbus Dispatch and for the past year and a half I was a sports writer for the Ashland Times-Gazette in Ashland, Ohio.
I covered mostly high school sports at the Times-Gazette, but also covered some Ashland University athletics. I know the transition to the OSU beat will be different, but I'm excited and ready for the challenge.
While at OSU, I wrote for The Lantern and also interned at ThisWeekSports in Columbus where I helped with their high school football coverage.
I'm 26 years old and have lived in Ohio my whole life. I was born in Cleveland and moved to the Youngstown area in middle school. I lived in Columbus for roughly five years after that, so I've been around a good part of the state.
As far as things outside of work experience: I'm a huge sports fan. I love pretty much everything, especially if it's a good story. The stories that come from sports are why I love doing what I do.
People ask me what I do in my spare time and I can honestly say it's not that much. I love watching sports and hanging out with my friends. Even then, however, sports are usually the main topic of conversation. Oh, and I have a slight obsession with HBO's The Wire. I've seen the entire series roughly 10 times.
Anyway, I'll be covering just about everything for Eleven Warriors, but my main focus will be on the hoops beat. I'll be assisting Patrick with football coverage starting Monday.
Eleven Warriors is an awesome site for Ohio State fans to gather and read about the Buckeyes. It's an amazing platform and I couldn't be happier to be joining the staff. If you'd like, follow me on Twitter (@TimShoemaker) or feel free to email me anytime at tim@elevenwarriors.com.
I'm truly excited for the opportunity. I hope everyone enjoys my writing and I'll do my best not to screw this whole thing up.
