By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal

For the past four months, I’ve found myself surrounded by memories.

At first, I thought I was home.

Then, I realized I wasn’t.

Instead, I was standing inside a museum of memories of people and places I hadn’t thought about in years.

It was almost as if I was standing in a time machine looking back on a life I once knew. I quickly recognized that the person who left this small area of Appalachia 23 years ago wasn’t the same person who came back in April after being knocked down.

Everyone gets knocked down. The important part is getting back up.

I know it’s been a while since you’ve seen the Austin Sports Journal show up in your social media feed, and I feel it’s time to offer those of you who supported me and the ASJ an explanation of where I’ve been and what’s been going on.

Authenticity and transparency are the backbone of successful journalism, and this is no different.

In short, things hit a snag for me, both personally and professionally. The longer version is a little more complicated.

When I created the Austin Sports Journal in 2023, originally as On the Sidelines Sports, I was working a full-time job. That job gave me the schedule flexibility, financial stability and enough left over to build the ASJ into what it became without having to immediately sell an unproven audience to advertisers or investors.

From an editorial standpoint, it worked. The audience grew. The coverage grew.

At its peak, the Austin Sports Journal was generating 1.4 million monthly content views across the website and social media combined. Content ranked in the top 10 on Google Search and began appearing in Google News feeds.

In three years, the Austin Sports Journal became a recognized brand within the Austin sports community and a credible news source.

And by the third year, the advertising revenue was slowly starting to catch up, and I truly believed the ASJ was about to turn the corner into a sustainable business.

Then life threw me a curveball.

Before the fall of 2025, the full-time job that had provided my financial safety net was eliminated. Suddenly, I found myself trying to turn a growing business into a sustainable source of income.

In hindsight, it was about a year away from becoming the sustainable source of income I needed.

Before losing my full-time job, I could focus on what I knew well – content and content strategy. Afterward, I had to figure out how to maintain the editorial pace that had made the ASJ what it became while trying to generate enough revenue through advertising and subscriptions to cover my expenses and keep the ASJ afloat on a razor-thin budget.

After a year of unemployment, being unable to find a job that could replace even part of that income or generate enough advertising revenue, my savings were depleted.

Everything came to a head.

I lost my home, my car and most of the stability I had built. I was left with no other option but to leave Austin and move back to my hometown.

The goal was to start over in the place where I grew up.

What I didn’t anticipate was how much I had changed and grown during the two decades I was away. At times, I felt like I had traveled back in time, and I quickly realized I was no longer a local. I was looked at as an outsider.

That’s humbling.

Yet, something interesting has happened in the past few weeks.

Friends and supporters have reached out, asking what happened and offered words of encouragement. Several conversations ended with words like these:

“You were born to be in sports media. Get back.”

“The Austin sports community needs you.”

“It’s not the same without you on the sidelines. We miss your content.”

Those words struck a nerve and caused me to reassess my situation. They also made me recognize that Texas is home.

So, after a great deal of reflection, I set a goal: Return to Austin and relaunch the Austin Sports Journal in 2027.

In short, the Austin Sports Journal isn’t gone. It’s just restructuring.

There is a lot of work needed to be done between now and then, both personally and professionally. I don’t have every detail figured out yet, but the wheels are already in motion.

This is what I was born to do, and I don’t want to stop doing it. It’s hard to give up on something I put my heart, sweat and tears into. Especially when it was so close to turning that corner.

Also, I don’t give up that easy.

To everyone who read an ASJ story, shared something on social media, bought an advertisement, subscribed, invited me into your program or simply told someone else about the Austin Sports Journal – thank you.

The Austin Sports Journal may be quiet right now. But it isn’t gone.

I’ll see you back on the sidelines in 2027.