10 years ago I left an awesome job as an investigator for Ford Motor Company. My good friend RJ Bell told me about his vision and wanted me to be part of it. I made good money, traveled the country and due to my "street smarts" coupled with "book smarts" was bad ass at what I did and racked up the $$$ for the Brand Protection Division (including at the time the largest cash settlement by a supplier to Ford and saving the Ford Cobra logo). At the time my wife was pregnant and I made the decision to leave and gamble on my passion for gambling and put all my faith in RJ's plans for our future. It was scary and a tough decision, but in the end you should set a goal on what will make you happy and do everything in your power to make it happen. I knew this choice would make me happy and when I walked out of that building I remember smiling and realizing this was now real.
We started a company that was ran out of his kitchen in Vegas (no shit) and worked 60-100 hours a week turning ideas from conversations and notebooks into something real. Fast forward to 2014 and our ESPN Radio Show in Vegas is only trumped by Rush Limbaugh in the ratings for talk-shows in the Vegas market. Our weekly segment during the NFL season on Colin Cowherd is the highest rated part of his show. We have been featured by every big and small media outlet from the cover of the New York Times (still question the horrible photos they took) to Grantland. Right now we are at the top of the world and no one in the history of our industry has even come within the same universe as us in media exposure and the connections we have (not a fan, even Glenn Beck sent my dad an autographed book because I sent him odds his producer asked me for on Health Care reform being passed). With RJ leading the way Pregame has evolved the industry and slowly started to take away the "taboo" that has always marked our passion in sports gambling. In the past people paid to be in the media, where now we can't keep up with all the requests for our team to be on the radio or features for articles.
It was a touch decision, but when I left Ford on a dream I had over 80 credit hours at U of M and part of me always wanted to finish my degree. The hard-work from the whole Pregame family has turned our dream into a reality and Pregame is in a spot now that the future looks amazing. The team we have in place. The community that supports us. Not only that, the upcoming new web site and features will be a total game changer and blow away anything in the history of this business. I put my life into Pregame and am 100% confident that my personal stake in this company is more than okay as I continue into the next chapter of my life. Despite how big we are now, you are only seeing the tip of the iceberg of the ideas and plans RJ has left to complete in this vision we call Pregame.com.
It will be impossible not to stay on top of the forums as many of you have become more to me than just a username and avatar. There is an exciting future ahead for Pregame and even though I will not be directly involved, it will always be part of my life and soul. Expect to still have me along for the ride and I hope the time we all spent together since 2006 has been an amazing ride not just for me, but all of you.
Thanks to RJ for making me part of the Pregame vision and living my dreams for close to the past 10 years. Thanks to everyone in the industry that I have grown to be not just business partners with, but also friends. Thanks to the Pregame community that has become my extended family.
As always, from the "Peoples Champ", BEST OF LUCK!