Reflections on Three Years with Gang Green Nation

Today is the three year anniversary of when I initially reached out to John Butchko about working for Gang Green Nation. Soon after, I started off as a Moderator before being quickly promoted to Staff Writer, where I covered the breaking news. About a year ago, John had to take a brief leave of absence, so I supplemented David Wyatt's always excellent work by taking on substantially more writing. After John returned, I was promoted to Managing Editor. I've seen the New York Jets at their peak and I've seen them at their lowest depths. It's been a whirlwind, it's passed in the blink of an eye, and every moment has been a blessing.

It's a cliché to say that I've learned a lot in these three years, so I'm going to boil it down to a few hard lessons I've learned.

1. You can't please everyone. Even when the Jets do something that I think should be universally applauded or condemned, there are always people that are convinced they should have done the opposite.
2. Some people are just jerks. This goes hand-in-hand with "Some Men Just Want To Watch The World Burn." No matter what, there are people that are just going to mess with you, and you have to be the bigger man and divorce yourself emotionally from the argument. It's the only way to survive.
3. The media will always make jokes about the Jets. Like death and taxes, this is just something that will always be true. It gets a lot easier once you accept that, and remember that their job is to make money by getting page views, not educating readers.

In these three years, I think I've gotten significantly better at writing. I've learned so much about the game of football and the Jets. As a result, going forward I want to place more of an emphasis on creating a deeper understanding of the game through X's and O's talk, as well as more detailed GIF Breakdowns. That's my plan for this upcoming season.

I want to thank John and David in particular. Geno Smith said he wants to be a top five quarterback, but I'm satisfied with being a top three editor. It doesn't get better than these guys. I also want to thank David Vill, who probably contributes the most to this site with the least amount of credit, and our other writers and staff for their support along the way. But more importantly, I want to thank our readers. As a writer, I can't even begin to describe how gratifying it is to see you fill up our comment sections and create lively debate as we all become better fans of the team we love. Hopefully I'll see some of you at a game this season.

J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS!

I am currently training for the Chicago Marathon and running for Bright Pink, a breast cancer charity. Please read more and donate here.