Ryan Restivo

I’m not going to lie: 2009 was a great year. However, it’s almost over so I’d like to recap it. What better way than through blog posts and photos?

Unfortunately, I can’t remember much from the beginning of the year so I’m going to start to try to tell stories that my awesome girlfriend Jenna is probably way better at telling than I am.

March: I got to run around and cover the MAAC Basketball Championships for SienaSaintsBlog.com. Which was fun because we got to go stay with our great family friends up in Niskayuna and got to watch a lot of MAAC Basketball. I got to write lots of articles, including this one as the game ended. Got to do many previews for the NCAA Tournament game, then after watching the game, fire a quick recap out on the game.

At the end of the month I participated in our (Matt & I invested money) fantasy baseball league which took another 8 hours after work, leaving an office at close to 3am is interesting. (The Fantasy Baseball adventure is recapped here)

April: There was an April where we went to Spring Alumni Weekend at Marist to experience all the fun of running around, trying to meet people and going out to places. I already feel old being out of Marist but then I realize people are all moving on. One of the people who I worked with a lot for Marist, Steve Gritti, moved on to Kents Hill School in Maine to be a high school coach/teacher and start a family. But now that I know that, it was a quick Google search and an e-mail to see how things are going.

May: In May we made our first trip to Citi Field. Apparently I refused a haircut for a short time. We both did get one baseball though. That’s good news! So I set a modest goal of trying to get ten for the year, I needed September to get my next one and then get to a good number. Then I got a haircut, one word: oops.

June: Vacation and transition. I took a break from working to go cruising across the Atlantic. We went to Half Moon Cay, home of painful heat. And on the last night I did well at the Casino, making up all the money I lost over the week. Then I do something stupid like go buy flowers to surprise Jenna on the last night even though she can’t bring them off the ship. Oops.

Also, the photographers always made us make weird poses. So many weird poses for one photograph, I’m okay with it now because we got what we wanted, but we had to narrow it down from what appeared to be around 50 pictures.

Speaking of pictures, here’s a compilation I did of the trip:

Then it was back to reality. Reality then, quickly, suddenly (I’ll take another adjective if you want) included a new job opportunity in New York. Before I knew it I was leaving Connecticut and a shared apartment for what I knew best: home.

But this seems like the best time for an aside, I haven’t really said it yet but I really did enjoy the time that I did have in Connecticut. I got to meet a lot of new people and work alongside a bunch of people I would have never knew existed if it were not for the position I was put in.

I had a lot of great experiences up in Connecticut too. I met a bunch of nice people and if I felt like name dropping I could. The only thing I feel bad about is that I haven’t kept up with a lot of the people I worked with at ESPN since I left. I’ve been in a whirlwind of activity since I got home.

I was able to run around and play a bunch of basketball to try (the key word) to improve my skills and I was able to play some softball for a team whose team name belonged to an inside joke. The team name was the Fighting Geese because of the geese that populate ESPN’s parking spots (which was surreptitiously covered on Deadspin). True story, I’ve been told that geese have been known to poke at people’s tires and fight people so the foxes are for “protection.” We won a few games and were mercy ruled but I liked it and had fun. Plus I got to watch Matthew Berry slow pitch and then accidentally cut him off in trying to play a short fly ball on the infield playing first base.

And how could I forget, true story. Our softball team decided to practice in Bristol after everyone got out from work. Needing a pitcher, of course, and we all took a few practice swings. Well it didn’t take long but it’s hard to forget seeing someone who got hit in the face by a softball.

Part Two: On to July… What adventure would I embark on next? Find out next time.