Like many other sports fans growing up in the 2000s, I was and continue to be a loyal reader of the writings of Bill Simmons. From his early long-form columns on ESPN.com to his current podcasts with Hall of Fame athletes and Hollywood celebrities as well as college buddies and his dad, I have enjoyed every twist and turn of his historic journalism career. Bill Simmons stands alone as not only a sports commentator but more so as a keen observer of the human experience. While his seminal accomplishment will remain the 4-year run of the peerless Grantland.com, my personal favorite work of his may be The Ramblings. These bulleted thoughts, published intermittently throughout the first decade of the 21st century, essentially served as Simmons’ precursor to Twitter.

In that vein, I have decided that the best use of my Challenge Detroit blog would be to spew my half-baked thoughts on Detroit and otherwise in the hopes that publishing them forces me to explore and develop them further. Throughout my year as a Challenge Detroit fellow, I will share select insights I’ve been able to gain from this experience in order to create new ideas going forward. I hope that you enjoy my ramblings at least half as much as I enjoyed his.