My Love Letter to Summer Smash

This is the final week of Summer Smash, Episode 8, the wrap up of everything that has been built. I've heard that you don't really feel like there is closure with each character after they lose their matchup, of course you don't get closure, you need to give them their 3-5 minuets to truly get their closure, to really discuss this year and discuss their upcoming goals for this season.

I would consider this post my "love letter" to Summer Smash. I get the question of "why", what's the purpose of doing all this? Maybe it's my uber-competitive nature, maybe it's I need to feel a purpose but just playing things just for the joy of playing them for one day doesn't get me going, trust me, when I get on a basketball court for a pick-up game, I will treat that like Game 7 of the damn NBA Finals but what's after that, what was before that, what are the stakes? With what we do here, we can build an entire league of not the best of the best but the best of the average. After you leave high school or college, you don't really have much more truly competitive moments where if feels like that moment is the biggest sporting moment in your life at that point, the top percentage of athletes obviously have that and I hope that someday soon I will have bigger moments in my professional golf career but there's something about that thrill of competition coursing through your veins that nothing can match. That feeling isn't only for me but for all the players, I hope they feel that too, the feeling of wanting so badly to beat the player on the other side of the table that in that moment you would throw your body on the line to win, pain doesn't exist, all the other problems that we inevitably face in life don't matter, it's you, a paddle, a cloth net, a green table and the motherfucker across from you who is trying to get the ball past you, will you let that happen? Will you rise above everything to win? Maybe to the viewer it just looks like a bunch of guys having fun but beneath the surface is the fire being lit again, maybe it takes time for some guys but that fire always comes back. That fire can turn regular men into a hero or a villain in their everyday life, even if it's for 15 minuets on YouTube. As commissioner and the editor of Summer Smash, part of me is excited to finally finish my vision for this year, it's a grind to finish this thing, late nights, fast working fingers on the 1's and 2's to get these episodes right and part of me is solemn, it's the end of the second season and we have made so many big leaps in our production but I think back to our inaugural season, those damn Go Pro's on our chest, the 6 guys and the clear domination from my dad. This year was filmed in 4K compared to 1080P, this year had more regular season weeks and more players, a scorching tournament day and some real competition, I already miss the simplicity of what we had yet I am excited for the complications that will grow from this year, more players, better production, more professionalism, hell, we have a unique trophy this year with t-shirts and hats for the champ, next year I see an indoor venue for at least the tournament day but hopefully the regular season too, we may even have multiple days per regular season week if we have enough players, this thing will grow and grow, but the simplicity of tournament day will stay, no matter how many we have, 8 players in the playoffs, we may just have more production assistants. I'm not sure why I'm writing this, maybe because I equate what we are doing to playing sports at recess, some of the greatest football games of all time may have taken place on random fields in random towns with no refs and no scoreboards, just guys being dudes, playing ball until the bell rings, maybe I just want to document that, because the greatest game ever played doesn't have to be between the greatest of all time, the right matchup can be the right recipe for greatness. I want to thank everyone who has been involved in what we are doing and what we are trying to build. The first thanks I want to give is to Tyler Cook, my behind the scenes guy, the guy who you really don't see, the one who is just helping me out because he is a great friend, I owe him more than just one beer, but we'll start with 1. I want to thank every single player for 1 putting up with some dumb rules I made up and 2 showing up on time ALMOST every time, we lost some guys and some really pushed their times but they showed up and performed. I want to thank the viewer, without you, this isn't possible, even if there is only 10 of you some weeks, it's still 10 people who care, so thanks.