This is the most difficult post of the year. This is my favorite post of the year. That dichotomy exists because of the people with whom I’m fortunate to create StrongSide: people who are smart, incisive, original, and passionate about what we do.

How to whittle 52 weeks of their words down to one post?

My best effort begins with this brutal Cowboys season, whose games have been made so much more palatable by Jake Kemp’s Monday morning column, even when the topic concerns the ways the franchise brought this on itself. Joining him this season was Rivers McCown, who has long been one of the smartest national minds writing about the NFL and now blesses StrongSide with two Cowboys pieces a month.

Here’s why he’s different. On October 10, for reasons that annoy me to this day, a news cycle emerged regarding Ezekiel Elliott’s lack of carries. It didn’t matter that Elliott was more thoroughly washed than a Ferrari on the showroom floor; Zeke is a name, the Cowboys are a brand, and that’s all a dumb idea needed to get traction. But it just so happened that, earlier that morning, Rivers dropped a stellar piece dissecting why Rico Dowdle was the only Dallas running back who merited touches. You could have gotten caught up in the noise, or you could have read Rivers and gotten smarter. (Take a wild guess at which Cowboys running back wound up with a 1,000-yard season?) And I’d be remiss not to shout out Dan Morse, an original StrongSider who did such great work from 2021 through this spring. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better postmortem of Dallas’ playoff disaster against Green Bay than his.

Shifting to the diamond, I love Jamey Newberg’s writing for so many reasons, but never more than when he makes me feel something. This piece, in which he documented his trips to the All-Star Game and Adrian Beltre’s Hall of Fame induction with his son, Max, fits the bill. Elsewhere, Sean Bass brought his keen eye to Frisco to take in Kumar Rocker’s renaissance—and offer a pretty shrewd theory on why the hard-throwing righty may have turned his career around.

Prior to his joining the Phoenix New Times in April, we had the luxury of running some killer spring training stories from Zach Buchanan. I ruffled some feathers by declaring this one, on Ron Washington’s second act, as the best Rangers story anyone wrote this spring. I stand by it. A new StrongSide policy mandates we must always employ the services of one of the country’s best baseball writers who also happens to be named Zach, and so Zach Crizer came aboard shortly after Buchanan left us. I love the way he thinks, and the way he writes, and this piece on Jacob deGrom’s return to the pitching world he shaped is a wonderful example of both.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it: there are no three people I’d rather read on the Dallas Stars than the three we publish at StrongSide. Sean Shapiro had the story on Esa Lindell working to save Jokerit, his hometown hockey club, a cool 10 months before it became a national talking point once the team made a trip to Finland. Speaking of said trip to Finland, Robert Tiffin went along for the ride, and I felt like I was right there with him reading this story. I enjoyed his jaunt through Finnish culture so much I almost got jealous of him plunging into the Baltic Sea. Almost. Here’s something a lot of writers ought to be jealous of: David Castillo’s refusal to let the discourse stand in the way of calling it like he sees it. Should you not believe me, check him out on Thomas Harley’s quietly successful season.

For hoops, Brian Dameris foresaw the Mavs’ return to prominence long before it was popular. Who better, then, to write about Nico Harrison telegraphing every step of his plan to rebuild the Mavericks’ roster? Also ahead of the curve: my old podcast co-host, Austin Ngaruiya, when he told everyone a year ago that Dereck Lively was more ready than we realize. So I can’t say I’m surprised to see he was right again when he warned people not to expect superstardom from Lively in just his second NBA season. Iztok Franko is a big deal on Substack these days, but he’ll always be part of the family here, too. There was no one I wanted to read more in the aftermath of the trade-deadline swoop for P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford than him. Josh Bowe just came aboard this month, but read his debut piece and tell me he’s not heading for a monster 2025. On the Wings side, nobody connects with players like Dororthy J. Gentry; I loved reading her on Jacy Sheldon’s journey to Dallas. And the biggest story between now and May will be whether UConn star Paige Bueckers winds up a Wing. Justin Carter laid out the stakes better than anyone in town.

The list goes on. Jeff Miller boasts range few others in town can match, and my favorite use of it was this obscure Ed Belfour origin story even Shapiro hadn’t heard before. As soon as Dallas Trinity FC became a thing, I knew I wanted to read a Jon Arnold story on where the club is heading. He did not disappoint. For that matter, as soon as Klay Thompson signed with Dallas, I knew I wanted to read Alex Siquig write about him from the perspective of a Warriors fan. It’s one of the best-written pieces we ran all year. Zac Cadwalader emailed me out of the blue asking me to write about the enduring power of Dez Caught It, and I’m so glad he did. I had the chance to work with Jarrett Van Meter way back in StrongSide’s first year, and quickly learned about his capacity to discover a great hoops story in places others don’t think to look. He did so again this summer, on Fabian Romo, a UTA alum who happens to be one of the best wheelchair basketball players in the world.

All this before getting into our in-house crew. Bethany Erickson could have just given you the backstory of every North Texas Olympian. Instead, she did that and built an interactive map showing each of their hometowns. Will Maddox continues to grow into his own as a soccer writer, as evidenced by this piece on now-former interim coach Peter Luccin. Who manages to interview a mascot? Tim Rogers, that’s who—and he got Peruna to spill the oats. Brian Reinhart is one of the best food critics in America, and as he likes to remind us from time to time, he could be one of the country’s best baseball writers, too, if he wanted to be. And then there’s Zac Crain. We’ve all said and will continue to say how much his absence affects us at D. In this space, I’ll just say that, for as many big things as he did, I always enjoyed the little gems he’d sprinkle deliver on the Mavs, like the beauty of watching Kyrie Irving, or his enduring fondness for Dennis Smith Jr. I know he’d have a blast watching this team.

Lastly, while StrongSide is far bigger than my words, it’s on me to set the tone. I did my best to do so through my profile of Tim Martin, whose job molding the NBA’s greatest prodigy may be the least interesting thing about him. Dr. Keith Meister is one of the most talented people I’ve ever met. Even more impressive is his desire to save baseball instead of taking the path of least resistance and racking up the profits that come with being the sport’s most renowned elbow surgeon. I had a blast talking photography with now-former Ranger Nathaniel Lowe, and learning about Dallas’ best-kept basketball secret, the SwinCity League. And I loved being able to write about the greatest moment in Dallas sports history, which includes SMU’s football revival but definitely did not include that Paul-Tyson fight.

It’s been a fun year. I can’t wait to see what 2025 brings.