2023.
What a year.
I saw tons of growth professionally and personally. I had many obstacles to overcome (as did everyone at this company), but they all made the year THAT much sweeter.
Throughout the year, many curve balls were thrown at us. But one thing is always true about the people who are on this team: Top quality content is always being produced.
So let’s start 2024 by looking back and some of my favorite stories and coverage produced by our team and by myself.
Spurge’s Top 5
5. Bleacher Talk Friday Night Live stream Shows
This was fun to try this season with my Bleacher Talk co-host Claudia Collins near the end of the football season. We both enjoy taking Bleacher Talk to new levels and adding live streams during games that roll into post game was super fun!
We will be doing them for the full season next year and I honestly can’t wait!
Bleacher Talk: LIVE breakdown of 1st round 4A-6A playoff games
4. Starting the Conversation: Grayson Allen
Starting the Conversation is my favorite segment here at Sports360AZ. Talking mental health and off-the court stuff with athletes of all levels is fascinating to me and I feel it’s very important.
Grayson Allen has quite a rep in the NBA. Now he’s a member of the Phoenix Suns. During one of his training camp media sessions he talked about how difficult it is to move teams so suddenly, when you have a wife and family to think about. So I wanted to dive deeper on that topic with him.
3. Starting the Conversation: Charlie Duffy
Sticking with this segment. Back in May, Brandy Aguilar and I went to UCP of Central Arizona to meet Charlie Duffy and her therapist as they did therapy on some rare technology for people battling Cerebral Palsy. During the two hours we were there, I was blown away by the mindset of a 16-year-old girl who was battling a second major surgery to repair her entire leg as she has battled cerebral palsy her whole life.
When Brandy and I left we wanted to do a full documentary on Charlie as she was trying to get back onto the softball field again. As the summer progressed we learned she wasn’t going to do that as she was exploring more to life than being a softball player. So I sat down with her for 30 minutes again to talk about all the struggles, finding identity beyond sports, faith, and so much more.
Seriously though, if you watch you’ll be blown away by how poised and smart and brave Charlie is for only being 16.
2. Eats with Eliav: Venezzia’s Pizza
During our Spring Training show, Eliav Gabay created a really cool food segment highlighting restaurants near Spring Training ballparks. He did an amazing job with all of those.
He did draw me in to do an eating challenge at Venezia’s Pizza. We had one hour to eat the equivalent of three large pizzas. May seem easy, it wasn’t. I didn’t even think about pizza again until five months later…
1. The Diamondbacks Playoff Run
I mean this was so unexpected and was cool to cover. I have no rooting interest in the team, but being around an underdog franchise during a run to the World Series is magical.
Going to Los Angeles and seeing them score a bazillion runs was awesome. Traveling to Texas for the World Series was a dream. All the stories in between on that run were fun to put together during the daily grind of October when football is usually on the frontburner.
But my favorite part truly was when they clinhced a playoff spot. Brad called me a day before the final homestand and said “Have you ever been in a champagne show?” Of course not. So he said drop high school football this Friday and get to the ballpark. You’ll remember that forever.
When the snakes clinched on Saturday, it was unlike anything I had ever experienced. The interviews were great, but the few times I soaked in the moment (literally because Geraldo Perdomo dumped a bottle of champagne on me randomly), were the times I’ll never forget.
Sports360AZ Top 5
5. 2023 National Football Foundation Valley of the Sun Chapter Awards Show
This is one of my favorite shows to be apart of at the end of every single season. It was an honor to host it this year and recognize all the amazing athletes in tackle and flag football. Shoutout to Devon Henry for all the work he did to get this show put together.
4. Sizzle: How Arizona Shaped Terrell Suggs
I mean who doesn’t like watching Terrell Suggs highlights and learning more about his Arizona high school and ASU career. Jordan Hamm did amazing putting this into a two part documentary without driving himself too insane. The editing, storytelling, chasing down of guests, all of it done at the highest level. In my opinion he was absolutely snubbed of a Rocky Mountain Emmy nomination…
3. Family, Faith & Football
We love putting together documentaries here at Sports360AZ. This one took over tow years for Claudia Collins to put together. She got to know so much about the LDS community and how players can serve a mission while preparing to return and play college football after two years. Oh, and she finished the bulk of the documentary while pregnant, so bonus points there!
2. NASCAR Championship Weekend TV Special
Devon Henry is THE BEST at covering NASCAR in all of State 48. He is so well versed in the sport and everyone involved there loves having him out at the tracks. He’s traveled all over to do NASCAR stories at the biggest races.
The Championship Series takes place here in Arizona. So fo course Devon delivers on a special show to get everyone aped for that event.
1. Charlie Johnson stays on target at age 102 through archery
I say give Eliav Gabay an Emmy nomination right now. He spent awhile working on this story, in collaboration with Jeff Metcalfe who did the written portion. The video is sequenced so well, the story is told so well, and everything about it is so nice to watch.
Give yourself four minutes and 30 seconds to watch this story today.
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Jordan Spurgeon
Jordan Spurgeon enjoys covering sports all across the state and telling feature stories that impact people.