Once a rookie commenter, now a grizzled veteran! š
[Jim: This is the last of the Get to Know… articles by the writers. But if any readers would like to appear in future weeks, speak up in the comments, and Iāll email you a link to the survey form. Would love to learn more about you all!]
SnakePit username: Imstillhungry95
Place of birth: Phoenix, Arizona
Other hobbies
Other than baseball, my hobbies primarily include video games. Current an unhealthy amount of Fortnite thanks to another writer on this site, but usually single-player story based games. the Horizon: Zero Dawn franchise probably being my favorite right now. I have also been known to frequent karaoke bars, reading fantasy and sci-fi, and trying to figure out what my dogs are chewing on at the moment.
Favorite food
There is so much amazing food in this world that its just unfair to pick one thing. There is nothing quite like a correctly cooked steak, maybe just basted with a little garlic butter. But then again, have you ever had mac ān cheese? That stuff is incredible. Or the lobster bisque from Different Pointe of View in Central Phoenix. Absolutely heavenly. Or maybe itās just a plate of French fries paired with a double Makerās Mark shared by old friends in a dive bar.
Favorite film/TV show
All time favorite TV Show is Doctor Who. Started with the early 2000ās relaunch and stuck with it through the ups and downs since then. Honorable mentions to Stargate SG-1, Scrubs, and Avatar the Last Air Bender.
Movie is harder. My kneejerk reaction is always The Dark Knight. Just a fantastic example of what that genre could be. Everything, Everywhere, All At Once was one of the most surprising movies of the past few years for me and quickly also joined the ranks of my favorites. The Lord of the Rings trilogy also comes to mind.ā
What else should we know about you? āHey! ISH95 here. Sometimes known as Blake in the āāreal world.āā Iām 28, married to my high school sweetheart, and a general manager for a burger chain youāve probably heard of. Joined the Snakepit as a reader in 2011 and have gotten to witness several different iterations of this site, its membership, and itās staff, while going through some of the highest highs and lowest lows the Diamondbacks franchise has ever had to offer.
Why are you a Diamondbacks fan?
Being born in the end of 1995, I was just around kindergarten age when the Diamondbacks won the World Series, and some of those images were burned into my psyche very early on. Craig Counselās batting stance, which I proceeded to emulate in the backyard for years to come, the B-2 bomber flying overhead prior to Game 7, and of course, that ending.
But even with those core memories, it wouldnāt be until later that I truly considered myself a fan, and that came about via a few different paths. One, my grandpa grew up a huge Yankees fan and even though, for reasons I still canāt figure out, he hated the Diamondbacks, he still watched them as the only way he could get baseball fix. And so, thatās why every Sunday after church, Iād find myself in my grandparentsā living room with my brother, watching the Diamondbacks to the soundtrack of Thom Brennaman (Pre-Castellanos) and Joe Garagiola Sr. It became an important part of my Sundays during the summer and eventually, I figured out, hey! these games are on during the week too! and I was hooked.
About the same time, the Dbacks partnered with Phoenix area libraries for Read Your Way to the Ballpark, where if you hit certain reading goals you were rewarded with a ticket to one of a selection of Diamondbacks games. A voracious reader, I always ended the summer with a ticket, and it became a family outing.
Dbacks went off OTA TV, so I ended up switching to radio only for many years, but it didnāt stop me. In fact, radio is still honestly my preferred way to consume baseball, but that doesnāt stop me from having a DBacks TV subscription either. It became mine and my brotherās nightly ritual, listening to Schulte and Candiotti over my alarm clock radio, he doing his thing, me excessively commenting on the āPit, and just enjoying that time listening to baseball together, and to this day, baseball is still our strongest connection.
Life happened, and now I definitely donāt get all 162 games in, but theyāre still my favorite sports team, and even now youāll find me frequently doing homework, now at a much higher grade level, and listening to… oddly enough Garagiola and Candiotti.
Whoās your all-time favorite Diamondback?
This is almost as tough as the movies and food question. I think if I had to pick just one, and I wanted to be contrarian and avoid the obvious answers, I would say Ryan Roberts. Tatman. The Dread Pirate Roberts. That guy was just an absolute blast. Great personality, a career year to help support one of the best Diamondbacks teams ever, and just a really cool story of straight up willing himself to success…
Outside of post-seasons, whatās your best D-backs memory?
…and also the provider of my favorite moment in regular season history. It was towards the end of that 2011 season. The Diamondbacks had already clinched the division, but had a slight chance at getting home-field advantage in the NLDS if they won out and the Brewers lost out. Game went into extras, tied at one. Micah Owings came in and just blew up. Gave up a five spot to the Dodgers and it looked like the game was over. Then with two outs, Cole Gillespie hit a soft ground ball up the first baseline and beat it out for a base hit. One thing lead to another, and Ryan Roberts came to the plate, bases loaded, two outs, down by three. My brother and I started yelling so loud my mom thought someone was dead, but god that was an incredible moment.
How did you end up on the SnakePit?
Found it through Yahoo! Sports as I was trying to find any and all information about the Diamondbacks that I could. Stuck to reading articles for a year, back with that OG crew, but in 2011, as the season was starting to look something special, I started commenting and made connections with the other members of the community.
I got more and more comfortable, and by the end of the 2012 season, the stats Jim pulled said I had submitted over 13,000 comments, at which point he basically told me if I was going to be around this much, hereās a broom, make yourself useful! At that point, I took over the Tuesday night recaps, then I added Fang Food and Pit Your Wits. Itās become a huge part of my life. Iāve made great friends here, Iāve learned so much about the sport, and itās kept me connected to the team, when maybe I would have drifted away during those lean years without it. This is the best Diamondbacks site on the internet, and Iām proud to say Iām part of that.
What other MLB teams do you care about – good or bad!
It ebbs and flows. There are seasons where I wonāt watch a single inning of baseball that doesnāt involve the Diamondbacks. There are others where my usually supportive wife asks if we really need to watch another game today. This season, not so much, but I did of course follow the other Wild Card contenders and kept tabs on the Dodgers. Next year, who knows!
Why do you love baseball?
Simple answer is that baseball is the greatest sport in the world.
Longer answer is, I feel that it is steeped in tradition, and I love that. Iām conversant in the stats of baseball players who died 100 years before I was born. The sport has such a rich, well documented history and itās always present. But thereās also new. Something can happen on any given day that has never happened before. Just this season we saw Ohtani go 50/50, pitchers are reaching velocities that the greats of yesteryear couldnāt even imagine, history is everywhere in baseball and you feel a constant connection to a time gone by, but its also being made before our very eyes.
It can also be whatever you want it to be. If you want to turn it into a thesis-level math problem, you can do that! If you want to judge the teams and players simply off vibes, great! You can do that too! If you want to do one one day, the other the next, and the third day just chill at the ballpark and experience the game without thought? You can do that too! You can put whatever you want into baseball, and still find a way to enjoy it.
It has a deceptive simplicity to it that masks a complexity that you can touch and engage with if you want, but if you chose not to, you lose absolutely nothing and will still be able to enjoy the game on your terms.