Thoughts After Four Years on Medium
One final goodbye after (nearly) 100 articles
This article is overdue. Two years overdue, to be specific.
Since 2021, I planned to step away after my 100th article on the site, and for a multitude of reasons, I will probably never reach that goal. For the better part of two years, writing on Medium was an all-encompassing passion that remains one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
I started Basketball University with no experience in journalism or sportswriting, just a strong interest in professional sports and experience playing the sport.
At its peak, the team grew to 16 people, all people who individually reached out to me asking to join the team over the years, either as staff writers or marketers. Considering I had no connections or network in this space, I remain extremely grateful to the people who saw the note on my publication asking for new writers and reached out.
The site will remain up, along with my previous work, though barring unforeseen changes, it will remain dormant.
Here are some numbers:
106,000
The number of times someone has opened one of my articles on Medium, and for that, I am truly humbled and grateful to every one of you.
1,640
This is how many days have passed since a rising sophomore in high school decided to try writing on the site during his summer break, not knowing the journey he was about to start.
86
The number of days I had been writing on the site when one of my articles was republished by Bleacher Report, which was the moment that I knew sports-writing could be something more serious than just a hobby.
The most brilliant aspect about Medium in my opinion, is that if you’re a writer with a strong voice and stories to tell, you can gain traction on the site, regardless of your initial audience or status. I genuinely believe the quality of your work can strongly influence your outcomes here, and the same cannot be said in many other domains.
Writing on Medium opened many doors and connections to people who otherwise would have been extremely distant. It’s extremely surreal to think about now, but I had the chance to work with Zensah, a sportswear company sponsoring NBA player Justin Holiday, as they worked to publicize their partnership. I also had the chance to interview John Willkom, an Amazon best-selling author and former D-1 walk-on, as he publicized his book.
Like many others, being involved in the NBA on some level was a dream of mine growing up, and through Medium and the people and companies I connected with, I achieved that dream.
It’s funny looking back on the articles you’ve written. Some opinions age well, and others… age poorly, to say the least.
In just my first year of writing, some of my opinions included:
- LeBron James would be considered the best player in the NBA after the 2020 season
- Emoni Bates was a future top draft prospect
- Zion Williamson could be the NBA’s next “What If?”
- The Warriors dynasty was unraveling after Kevin Durant left
As you can see, I had quite a mixed bag of predictions. LeBron James won the title and Finals MVP a year after my article, while Emoni Bates was just drafted in the second round. Zion Williamson could hypothetically have his contract voided due to weight and injury issues, and the Warriors won the title just three years after Durant left. My predictions had quite a range of outcomes in terms of accuracy.
Looking back, if I had advice for myself, it would be to avoid making these generalized, slightly hyperbolic claims in the first place.
Basketball trajectories, especially with younger, less established players, are incredibly variant in their outcomes. It’s easy to get caught up in trying to have the newest and hottest take on sports. The nature of sports debate culture and the lack of nuance in sports discussions in general lead many down this path. The polarization of sports content and the trickle-down effect of social media further influence the way most approach writing in sports.
In my opinion, however, this is a race to the bottom for anyone trying to find their voice in sports, including myself five years ago. At worst, your prediction will be wrong beyond any doubt, and at best, it will become obsolete with time.
If I had any advice for anyone starting on the site, for sports or otherwise, it would be this: think hard about what you want to accomplish and how you could separate yourself.
The world, especially in sports, doesn’t lack people who can recap an event or give a personal opinion. But the people who stand out and push the envelope forward in any field are those who do things differently and have unique perspectives. My favorite articles I’ve written over the years are the ones that tell important or sentimental stories and have meaning beyond just stats and scores.
To me, the best creators produce such insightful and compelling content that, even if they haven’t published in a month, you’ll be just as excited for their latest work. Growing up, I felt this way about the feature articles on the now-discontinued ESPN The Magazine, a style of writing I tried to emulate. It’s why even as I could see the clear trend of condensed, short-form content in sports, I was compelled to write thousands of words about topics like Asian-American prejudice in the NBA or sleep deprivation in professional sports through articles that take 10+ minutes to read.
My favorite voice in sports right now is Thinking Basketball. Ben Taylor doesn’t follow a typical sports-writing narrative — in fact, his podcasts turn very theoretical — but his ability to craft data science and classic observation creates what I think is the highest level of media content in basketball.
There is no blueprint for finding success on a site like Medium, but I do know that to find your own voice, you can’t solely repeat what others have already said.
Once again, I’ll be forever thankful to everyone who’s supported my work since 2019. I wish I could’ve written this two years ago when I was publishing more consistently so I could reach more of my audience, but again, none of this would be possible without you, the readers.
Additionally, two people I wanted to personally say thanks to are Henry Jo, for his dedication, perseverance, and effort while we worked together, and LakerTom for his immense support and kind words over the years.
Maybe I’ll find my way back onto the site in a few years. But until then, it’s been one amazing journey.
— Spencer
