Welcome to the new TUP

Apr 26, 2020

Hello to my new best friends.

My name is Ricky O’Donnell and I’ve been working in digital sports media for about 13 years. I’ve spent the last eight years running (or helping run) NBA and college basketball coverage at SB Nation. Now I’ve been placed on furlough (along with many of my talented colleagues) for the next three months.

Here’s what’s happening at this page in the immediate future:

We’re trying to win the national championship with Western Illinois in ‘College Hoops 2K8’

I started this series as something to write about during a time with no live sports. I wasn’t sure if anyone would actually want to read about me playing a video game from 13 years ago, but the reception has been amazing so far. Hundreds of thousands of people have read the series through its first four installments at SB Nation. I’ll be continuing it here for free. I hope you stick with me over here.

Here’s a refresher:

We’ll be picking up with Year 8 at this site. I’m going to publish the next chapter Saturday or Sunday.

The emails and tweets I’ve received from fans of the series has seriously made my day/week/month during a time when I was feeling so much anxiety about my job. As I published Year 6 and Year 7, about 2,400 people have signed up for email updates on Western Illinois’ chase for greatness. All of those sign-ups should be transferred over to this site. Please check to make sure you’re getting the emails from Substack and reach out to me if you’re not at richardpodonnell@gmail.com.

We’re taking Western Illinois to the mountaintop. Please come along for the ride.

What is Tremendous Upside Potential?

TUP is what I called my first blog, way back in 2007, as an ode to an old Bill Simmons joke. I wrote about Chicago sports there every day until I got my first shot at SB Nation in 2011. When I was forced to think of a publication name for this site, I figured I might as well go back to my roots.

In the meantime, tell your friends!