2 years of being regular
Wish us happy birthday & maybe... cop a t-shirt!?
*they grow up so fast* 🤧
Sorry, I got emotion for a second… but for good reason.
Regular Hoops turned 2 years old today!
This might sound weird, but the brand really feels like my baby.
You feed babies food, I feed Regular Hoops content.
And like a baby with no parent/guardian, Regular Hoops would not survive without me.
I basically put a lot of time and effort and love into making my kid Regular Hoops the best it can be.
And you know the saying “parenthood is the most rewarding job in the world?”
(Can any parents validate this in the comments below?)
Regular Hoops is the most rewarding job to me.
So I wanted to take some time to reflect on this milestone.
Still a regular guy
As much as the brand has done great things in two years like…
And amass 110K+ total followers
I still feel like that same regular guy who started Regular Hoops in 2022.
In fact, my passion for the brand & its mission is actually stronger now.
It’s hard to explain this exact feeling, but Ren Hsieh (from Episode 10 of Do You Still Hoop?) had a quote that relates and has been top of mind.
When I asked for his favorite memory, he said,
“One day you’re a baby and the next day you’re an adult. You don’t know how it happened but you just know there’s this whole life. There’s too many memories to just say one favorite memory” - Ren Hsieh, DYSH Episode 10
So rather than sharing my favorite memories…
I’m going to list the entire Regular Hoops timeline lol.
This will be a giant brain dump with no story, but I think it’s important for me to just lay everything out there.
The Regular Hoops lore runs deep.
Somebody make this an anime haha.
The Regular Hoops Timeline
June 2022 - I move from Michigan to NYC for a 9-week internship and decided to start filming regular people under the name @overtimedanny
August 2022 - I return to the University of Michigan to complete my senior year
October 2022 - I officially launch Regular Hoops
December 2022 - I start creating “mic’d up” content after realizing that people don’t really like just watching regular people play. They wanted to see more of a person’s personality on the court
January 2023 - I commit to posting a new, original video every single day for one year
May 2023 - I graduate from the University of Michigan
June 2023 - I book a one-way flight to LA with zero connection and no plan
July 2023 - I end up in an LA content creator house thanks to Veniceball
August 2023 - Zendaya and Tom Holland happened
September 2023 - I move to NYC full-time to start my corporate job
October 2023 - I sneak into Battle of Jollof and film Victor Oladipo—my first NBA Player
December 2023 - I create “Streetball Santa” with George Messiah. It was my first truly viral moment
December 2023 - I work with Julius Randle & HOOPBUS on a holiday giveback
January 2024 - I stop posting every single day after reaching Day 365
February 2024 - I go to my first NBA All-Star Weekend
March 2024 - I continue doing a viral content series with George Messiah
April 2024 - I partner with the NBA
May 2024 - Regular Hoops® becomes a registered trademark
April-June 2024 - I work with the NY Knicks & Boston Celtics during the playoffs to activate the HOOPBUS
July 2024 - I launch “Do You Still Hoop?”
August 2024 - I host my first in-person basketball event
September 2024 - I start seeing traction with Do You Still Hoop?
But it’s not all highlights
While that timeline gives a great overview of my achievements, it does not paint the full picture of my experience.
Because for Every… Single… High… there were twice as many lows.
I can’t tell you the amount of times I questioned what I was doing.
The amount of times I wanted to quit.
The amount of times things just felt too hard.
The amount of times I would literally breakdown.
(so many crash outs)
By no means am I romanticizing this struggle. I really needed help… and still do kinda.
But despite all of that, I always knew deep inside I’d never actually stop.
I believe in the mission too much to just give up.
Every tough time forced me innovate and find ways to produce creative work that excited me.
For example, “Do You Still Hoop?” is essentially a culmination of two years of failure and frustration.
It was a series I created because I was not happy with where I was at.
But now, it’s the most exciting thing in the world to me. And I would not have gotten there without all those low points.
So what’s next?
I’m really focused on “Do You Still Hoop?”
I love that entire series and believe it has a lot of potential for growth.
So that’s what I’ll be dedicating my time towards.
But as far as HOW I’m going to get to where I want to be…
I’m just going to keep doing things the right way.
That means (1) continuing to network thoughtfully, (2) showing up to places as my same, passionate self, and (3) never stopping.
Say cheese
I’m so grateful for every struggle and blessing along the way.
It’s made me into the person I am today… and I actually like that person now.
But that’s just because I won pizza for life this year haha 🍕
(yes, that actually happened because I hit a half-court shot at an event)
Anyways, I’m so excited for Year 3.
Thank you for the continued support on my journey.
If you’d like to support further, you can FINALLY cop a Regular Hoops t-shirt here.
But be careful, *side effects* to wearing the tee might include:
(1) Getting buckets on-and-off the court
(2) Having so much drip the court needs to get mopped
(3) Teammates staring at your shirt (forcing a turnover)
If that’s okay with you, then head over to regularhoops.com to pick up a shirt 👕
Talk soon!
Please note: these new blogs (started Sept’24) contain a lot of satire and should not always be taken at face value.
Expect typos, wordy/repetitive sentences, passive voice, and anything else you’d see from a “D-” graded high school assignment.
Because that’s my writing ability according to my first ever hate comment back in 2018.
Happy birthday Regular Hoops! Proud of your journey 🥳