This is the 10,000 story ever posted on CSZ. Crazy. Since the beginning we have strived to be the best. A site for the fans, by the fans. I like to think we have done that.
Chapter 1: The Start
We started CSZ in October of 2011. We had talked about it for awhile. My sweet Grandmother had just passed & I needed something to turn myself around. It was at that moment that myself, Steve Rummage, & Justin Renck decided to get it. On Christmas day that year, we went live & the rest is history.
The next year we added Louisville great Tomy Williams & he brought on interns Brad & Paige. It gave us a deeper roster & allowed the big 3 to look at other avenues. We did CSZ watch parties & meet some of the best people ever.
The next avenue we pursued was radio. We started the CSZ Podcast. Then off to 93.9. Then returned back to podcasting because of a convo that I had with my guy Jacob Lane. The rest is history. Haven’t looked back since. Now we have two very successful shows & the site has still prospered. It hasn’t got the full attention it deserved since we went into radio & streaming, but it’s been our backbone.
Chapter 2: The People
Can’t talk about our accomplishments without talking about the people.
To Justin & Steve…Thank you. To Justin, I thank you for not only doing all of the grunt work, but for putting up with certain egos that were hard to tame. That took a lot. To Steve. meh. No, I am very proud of you for taking advantage of the opportunities that this platform afforded you. I was the best man at your wedding (LET ME HAVE THIS) & over the last 18 years you have become family. See you in Tampa, hopefully.
Tony, Paige, & Brad. You all were our first recruiting class. Amazing people and the depth allowed us to expand and dominate. I will never forget that.
Along the way we adde some freelance writers. Daryl AKA the princess of the podcast, Dallas, LJ, & TA. All great additions and were great writers & people. Thank you.
Our second recruiting class & final under the Big 3’s watch included, Jeff Nunn, JK, Mitch, & TJ just to name a few. I have yet to have anyone join CSZ that I didn’t appreciate.
Our content coordinators throughout the years. It’s a position I created after Steve & Justin left, to help out with the content since my dad was sick & I need the help. Matt was the first one. Helped me out more than he will ever know. Katie came in & took his place & then Shawn has been there ever since. Amazing. That job is the backbone of our site. Always.
I am not going to try to leave anybody out. So to Sam, Dalton, Ben, Blake, Cody, Higgy, Brendan (Who joined us twice), Adam, Tim, Joey, Wes B & Wes K (the young goat), Daniel, Blake, Marques, Perrin, Jake, Dallas, Jacob P & everyone else, Thank you. It has not only been a thing we do for fun & a place to show our fanaticism, Its been a launching pad for success too.
Special shout outs to Kenny Klein, Rocco Gasparro, & Zach Greenwell for all they have done for us in a SID capacity & for me in a personal capacity. I will never forget it.
Thanks to Mike Rutherford, Mike Lindsay, Howie Lindsey, Blank, & John Hancock who all had their own part in getting us off the ground for the site & other avenues.
Biggest shout outs go to the day 1’s. Beast, Emily, Sam, Shawn, Turtle, TBG, Doug Budd, JSpa, Shannon, Marissa, KG, Uncle Larry, Robbie, Gary THE Redbird, Yoda, Rito all of the others that attended the live shows from the start. LOVE.
Thank you to Joey Wagner, Jason Brown & Frankie Hilbert for helping us at the start too. They would show us how to promote things and showcase us as well.
Chapter 3: The Rocket
CSZ has been a great place to start your career off. I have hard evidence to support that and don’t know of any site that can rival it. I will just name the ppl and where they went or what they have accomplished while still here.
Steve- 993.9 C0-host/Host, OVW champion, self proclaimed future sex symbol
JR-Editor at Card Chronicle, husband of a Veterinarian All-Star
Daryl- Louisville Bats/ACCDN correspondent
Jeff- Sr photography Supervisor CSZ & JN Photography, Lead Football photog
Mitch- HS Basketball all-star Coach
Justin- writer at CC AND STILL lead Baseball Photog at CSZ
Tim- Louisville Football Graphic designer
Adam- Red bolt designs
TJ- TJ Barr photography, Lead Bball Photog
LJ- podcast host & writer at the crunch zone
Marques- co host of CSZ & then exploded on the scene with his own show and never looked back
Perrin-Lots of hosting & co-hosting deals on TV & radio. Very proud.
Matt- podcast co -host at TCZ and writer extraordinaire a lot of places.
Higgy- Owns stock in Hostess probably
Dalton- Biggest and brightest young star in the galaxy. Locked on Louisville host. Will shine the brightest if he has patience.
Daniel-Host of the Ringside Podcast & Senior referee at OVW & TNA referee. (After all I have done the past month I am taking credit lol)
Myself- I host the CSZ Podcast, Live With 55, I am the moderator for the 502 Circle-Rave On Sports app Louisville Livestream & co-host the Ringside Podcast.
Last but not least, Shawn.
Shawn started out a fan of the site. He went from fan to big supporter to teammate to friend to being THE heartbeat of this site. Whenever the team gets burned out, he motivates them. Whenever they are down he lifts them up. Whenever we joke with him, he laughs and encourages us to joke more. Whenever they need help he is there no matter what. One of the best humans on earth on we are blessed to have him be a part of the website. No, we are forever indebted to him for his contributions. I may joke with him a lot but he has proven his friendship tenfold. That’s why I always hook him up whenever I can. Not with females though, just with tickets and stuff.
So many great people.
Closing
I wanted post 10k to not just be a press release. but have meaning. I feel like I accomplished that. I know I thanked a lot of people. I know I left some out by mistake. My memory isn’t that great since the hospital stay. But know if I omitted you then I am sorry & it wasn’t intentional. One last round of thank you’s. Mom, Dad, Theresa, Joey, Mama, Pop, & all of my family on both sides. Thank you. You saw something special in me always & encouraged me to be great. I only hope that I have. Congrats to CSZ on 12 years of the site, 10 years on the airwaves & 10k posts. This is something that no matter what, was my escape and happy place. I won’t do this forever but I will tell you this. We have a great young crop of CSZ superstars ready take over. Salute.
