With the summer months now trickling in upon us, we’re officially in the sports doldrums. There will be no football for another two months (and if you’re an NFL fan, maybe none even then), with basketball and hockey soon on their way out too. It doesn’t help that there won’t be a World up, Olympics or any “Decisions,” to occupy our time and the airwaves this summer either. So what the heck is a sports fan to do? Actually watch baseball? Say it ain’t so!

This is especially true at the Worldwide Leader in Sports, ESPN, where to be quite frank I don’t know what they’re going to broadcast in the coming months. Sure there’s that dreaded old man's game, baseball, and then what? Billiards? Poker? Canadian skeet shooting? No, no, and please…NO!

Either way it’s clear that it’s time for ESPN to look into some original programing, and thankfully, I’m here to help.

Here are 10 TV show ideas from me to ESPN, to get them through the summer months…

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Alright, so I’ve got a quick announcement to make (And to those of you who listen to my podcasts, it will likely be a bit repetitive, so bear with me).

Here at Aaron Torres Sports, I do my absolute best to bring you the highest quality content. I work hard on my writing, and work hard to find interesting people to bring onto the podcast. Hopefully that hard work has paid off, and you enjoy what you find here.

Obviously, I do this site for a number of reasons. I do it because I really enjoy writing, and talking about sports. I also love the interaction that I have with everyone who is nice enough to comment here, e-mail in, or even those who just read the site and don’t correspond with me. I really do appreciate each and every one of you for taking the time to check out this site. 

However, despite working on this site because of my love of sports, discussion and communication, there is one downside to the whole thing, and that’s this: I don’t make a whole ton of money off this site. Understand, I’m not saying that to get anyone’s sympathy. That’s just the reality of how this all works.

So with that said, I’m happy and lucky to announce that within the last few weeks, Aaron Torres Sports has gone ahead and partnered with Amazon.com. If you look to your right, you can see the Amazon ad on the right-hand side of this site.

What does that all mean for you? Well that’s where this announcement gets important.

Here’s the deal: If you’re going to make a purchase through Amazon.com, I ask that you please go ahead click through the link on the right-hand side of my site at www.aarontorres-sports.com. If you do click through, and you do make a purchase, a small percentage of that does go to me. Understand, you won’t be charged anything extra, or hit with any additional fees for me to get paid. All you’ve got to do is click the link and make your purchase, and Amazon takes care of the rest. And I get a little cash in my pocket, and can continue busting my butt on this site for everyone who does enjoy it.

It really is that simple. There are no catches beyond that. No gimmicks. And I’m not asking you to do anything you normally wouldn’t. Don’t shop at Amazon.com if that wasn’t the plan. But if you’re going to anyway, whether it’s for books, CD’s or Father’s Day or Bastille Day, then go ahead and click the link on the site. It really does help.

Either way, I appreciate the time, and I appreciate you thinking of me the next time you make your purchase. And as always, if you’ve got any questions on how this all works, don’t hesitate to e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or hit me on Twitter @Aaron_Torres.

Remember, for just cents a day, you can feed a starving, occasionally funny sportswriter. Kidding.

Thanks everybody,

Aaron

(*** Aaron’s Note: This article was originally posted at Aaron Torres Sports on May 28, 2010.

However, in honor of my grandmother turning 95 on Tuesday, and still going strong, I decided to repost it. Forgive me for the dated “Celtics-Magic reference.

Enjoy the holiday weekend)

To some of you regular readers, I know you think of me as some crazed, bizarre, sports lunatic. A guy who falls asleep with West Coast baseball games on, and wakes up to replays of Sportscenter in the morning. A guy who watches classic college football games for "fun," reads passages from old Sports Illustrated's when he's bored, and even flips on the India-Pakistan cricket match when there's nothing else on TV. Well, with the exception of the cricket, you'd be right (Ok, ok, I watched cricket, but it was just ONE time. I swear!).

However, beyond that though, I'm a relatively normal guy, that does the same stuff everybody does. I go to the mall and hang out with my buddies. I play pick-up basketball and hit the driving range every once in awhile. And despite what internet rumors might be out there, yes I even put my pants on one leg at a time. Even if it took me until I was eight to totally figure out how.

Anyway, being a sportswriter, I'm sure many of you assume that I spent this past Monday watching either Game 4 of the Magic-Celtics series, or the opener of a three game Red Sox sweep of the first place Rays. Actually though, I was doing my normal guy routine at a birthday party.

Now before we go any further, I know what you're thinking, and no this wasn't one of those "Brody Jenner on The Hills," type birthday parties, I promise. There were no crazy antics or binge drinking, and truthfully, there weren't even presents exchanged.

Why no presents?

Well, I was at my grandma's 94th birthday party, and honestly, what do you get a 94-year-old that has it all? A Nintendo Wii?

The news that a million teenage girls have been waiting to hear for years finally broke yesterday: Kim Kardashian is engaged! Yayyyyy! You go girl! Strike up the band, and alert US Weekly, there’s a wedding to plan!

And the news that Kardashian is getting set to marry Kris Humphries made it all the more interesting. After all, it’s not often a lousy NBA journeyman has the opportunity to marry into the closest thing to American royalty that we have.

But as I started talking to friends about things yesterday, started discussing it Twitter, I realized something: This is a literal case of two worlds colliding. Kim’s fans know next to nothing about Kris. And sports fans who know Kris (which is hardly all of them, by the way), don’t know much about Kim.

Thankfully, I’m here.

As you can tell my looking at this fancy site, I know my sports. At least I claim to. After all, I wasn’t named the 3,275th Most Influential Sports Blogger by People en Español for nothing folks!

However, what you might not also know about me is that I’m a bit of a Kardashian connoisseur. I started watching their reality TV show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” when Kim was dating Reggie Bush, and have stuck with it since. Through the highs and lows, tears and heartaches, not to mention about 36,000 Kris Jenner hissy fits too.

Why I have I stayed around for so long? I don’t know. But there really is something about this family that keeps you coming back every single week. Sure you might dabble on a Sunday night with friends and think it’s no big deal. You can stop watching any time you want, right? Next thing you know, you look up and it’s six months later, you own four DVD box sets, and just bought Kim's latest perfume. And you’re a dude, you don’t even wear perfume! That’s the effect these people have.

So with that said, I don’t think there’s a better person to break down America’s new power couple than me. I know sports (at least well enough to know Humphries, which is saying something). And I know reality TV. If only because I have no life.

Here it is, “The Idiot’s Guide To The Kardashian-Humphries Engagement.”

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There’s nothing quite as unique as a college graduation. It's totally weird in the sense that nobody wants to be there, yet no one questions ever actually going.

Think about it. The kids show up because their parents want them to, but in reality would much rather go back to their crappy, dilapidated houses, drink warm beer and play whiffle ball. Meanwhile the parents think attending graduation is a great idea…at least until they actually show up, spend an hour looking for parking, can’t find a seat, end up standing in the sun and fanning themselves with that crappy, flimsy program that you want to throw out at the end of the day, but can’t, because it’s a “memento.” Whatever. At least in their defense, graduation gives the parents one last day to enjoy some freedom before the kids move home and drive them nuts for a year, at which point they’ll have saved enough money to move into their next crappy, dilapidated house. It’s a vicious cycle, you see.

And in case you were wondering, yes I attended a college graduation this weekend, and yes I’m still bitter. Mine was for my sister, who got her Master’s degree on Sunday (As I joked on Twitter, “Everyone in our family always knew she was the smarter one, and now we’ve finally got proof”). And as much as I love her and am proud of her, yes, I was bored out of my mind during the process.

Luckily, it gave me plenty of free time to think.

Here are 50, somewhat disturbing thoughts I had throughout the day.

In no particular order…

With a couple slow sports months ahead of us here at Aaron Torres Sports, I plan on taking the website in a few different directions. Sure I’ll still be writing about the NBA playoffs, baseball, the WNBA and anything else that is relevant (Ok, that's a lie, I'll never, ever be writing about the WNBA). But simply put, there just isn’t enough to fill the time with the on the field stuff only. Quite frankly, that’s a big part of why I’ve been doing my college football preview podcasts all spring and summer. Because really, there isn’t all that much else to talk about. 

Well it’s the same with my writing, and it’s the reason I've decided to something fun and different today, and give you a summer reading list of a few different books to check out. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a big reader, and always enjoyed a good book. Part of it is the relaxing nature of reading, the ability to kick up your feet, and get lost for a few hours (Even if I’m not lucky enough to own a hammock). The other reason is much simpler: I just like learning interesting things about interesting people and stories. They say knowledge is power, and while it’s a little lame, it’s true. The more knowledge you have, the better off you are.

And with the sports season slowed to a grinding halt, and the fact that I was traveling last weekend, I’ve had plenty of time to read lately. Here are four books I’ve finished within the last few weeks, and as always, I encourage anyone who may be reading this list to go ahead to comment below or e-mail in to share any books they’ve enjoyed themselves.

This probably won’t be the last book review I do this summer, but it is the first.

Hope you enjoy.The Extra 2 %: How Wall Street Strategies Took A Major League Baseball Team From Worst To First (2011)
Jonah Keri

“Far too much snarky, smart ass cynicism on blogs/social media posing as genuine wit. Obvious. Not constructive. Now cue smart ass replies.”

That quote came Sunday afternoon, from the Twitter account of ESPN TV personality Chris Fowler. And to quote Peter Griffin in an old episode of Family Guy, “Oww…my pride.”

It’s no secret that yes; I am in fact a blogger. I write about sports on this website, because I love to write, love sports, and quite frankly, this was the best avenue to combine both those passions. I might not be good at it, and my opinion might not be any more valid than the Starbucks barista down the street with a tattoo running across his face. But much like Fowler, you, a million other people on this Earth, I work hard, and take great deal of pride in everything that goes up on this site.

Which is why that one, innocuous Tweet hurt so much. Who knew 140 characters could do so much psychological damage?

Now before I go any further, let me be clear and say this isn’t a personal attack on Fowler. I like him. Actually, I really, really like him. He’s smart, insightful and professional, and like a great point guard, always seems to know when to take over on set, and when to defer to everyone else. Understand that College Gameday is popular because America loves college football. But it’s more popular because of Chris, Kirk, Lee, Dez and Erin.

And for the record, I do understand where Fowler is coming from. Whether it’s through social media, message boards, blogs or whatever, there are a lot of cruel people out there. A lot of people with nothing better to do than spit out negative, ignorant and insensitive comments. What their motive is, I will honestly never know.

Seasonal depression is a real thing. Unfortunately for me, it isn’t after the 23rd snowstorm of the winter in February, but instead after the Final Four in the middle of April.

As I’ve mentioned many times, I tend to love all sports, and can find an excuse to watch just about anything involving a bat, ball or racquet. Well, as long as Joe Buck and Tim McCarver aren’t announcing it anyway.

But really, college football and college basketball are where I’ll always make my hay. They’re the sports I grew up around, the sports I delve the deepest into, the sports that I truly love. Don’t get me wrong, I like the NBA and MLB. But I love college football and college basketball. More than my own family, actually.

And it’s for those reasons, why I always end up with seasonal depression this time of year. Starting in August I immerse myself in those two sports, read every relevant article, pick the brains of friends, follow the teams and players, and then… mid-April hits, and in the snap of a finger, it’s all over. I even wrote an article on this exact subject last year. It really is a bummer.

Now before I go any further, understand that just because college basketball and college hoops are done, doesn’t mean this website will shut down. Quite the opposite actually. I hope to dig a little deeper into the spring football scene, and honestly, as long as there are interesting things going on in the NBA and baseball (which there always will be), I’ll be writing about them too. If you guys should’ve learned anything by now, it’s that I’m one opinionated S.O.B. And as long as there are opinions to be had, I will be sharing them. Whether you like it or not.

Still, it doesn’t mean my seasonal depression will be easy to deal with. Luckily, I’m much better prepared to deal with it this year than I was last, and have even decided to make a list of things I hope to accomplish between now and the start of the college football season in August.

Some of the things on this list are realistic, and some probably aren’t. But remember, you can’t start accomplishing your goals until you figure out what they are!

Here are 50 things I hope to accomplish this spring…

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As I sat around Monday and racked my brain, I just couldn’t think of anything clever to write about.

So instead, I just decided to jot down 50 Random Thoughts I had while sitting around, watching TV and wasting my afternoon. Honestly, I think George Washington would’ve wanted it that way.

In no particular order, here are those 50 thoughts...

First things first: I’m happy to report that the long national nightmare is over. Carmelo Anthony is officially a New York Knick. Thankfully, we can now all get back to the important issues, like figuring out what planet Snooki is from.

Speaking of which, I know a lot of you make fun of me for being such a big Jersey Shore fan, and honestly, I can’t blame you. But at the same time, doesn’t it speak volumes about the show, that Aaron Rodgers was hanging out with D.J. Pauly D right after the Super Bowl?

Back to the Melo trade for a second, because you know who was the big loser in all this? Wilson Chandler’s tattoo artist. That guy’s kids might not be going to college based on this one trade alone.  

Let’s talk All-Star weekend, where the highlight was undoubtedly when JaVale McGee’s mom accidently kissed Doctor J during the dunk contest. Good God. And I thought my mom showing baby pictures to my ex-girlfriend was embarrassing.
 

I know what you’re thinking: What’s that weird box staring back at you? Actually, it’s a new feature here at AaronTorres-Sports.com.

You see, over the course of days and weeks, a lot of stuff happens that I can’t fit into my columns or podcasts. Some of it is stuff on sports, yes, but I’ve also got thoughts on movies, TV shows, books, that need a home on this site. Those things now have a home, with the “Thought of the Day,” which is that strange looking box you see above.

I hope to update that box at least once a day, every weekday, with all the little stuff that falls through the cracks on this site. Understand, these thoughts will not be like one of my regular articles, because as you all know, those are long and free-flowing, and I’m sure, quite time consuming. The Thought of the Day will hopefully just be a quick hit, like taking a shot of espresso in the morning, rather than drinking that extra tall, skinny, double-blended latte thingy that I know you’d prefer to order. The Thought of the Day might range from once sentence to a paragraph or two, but hopefully no more than 200 words. Again, it’s going to be a quick in and out thing. If I’m feeling frisky, I might even toss a relevant link or two in there if I think it’s worth your time.

Ultimately, the Thought of the Day is just my attempt to bring you more content, in a more efficient manner. Again, I know you don’t have time to read every article I post from start to finish, considering that some end up being longer than the Torah from start to finish. Instead, this will hopefully be one of your quick stops online when you get to the office, and give you something to think about that you might not have otherwise. If it gives you an excuse to talk to the new 23-year-old intern at the water cooler, even better, right?

Otherwise, everything around here will be pretty much the same. I’ll keep bringing two or three articles to the table every week, and hopefully a podcast or two, assuming I can keep tricking people into coming on. Beyond that, nothing else will change.

And as always, I encourage you to get involved, by sending along any relevant links, or any thoughts that you have on any of the day’s pressing subjects.

Thanks, and enjoy.

AT