This announcement is a long time coming.
Ty Schalter is a huge reason I’m where I am today. Back in the late aughts, I was a typical kid in my early 20s: wandering, anxious, with little plan for my future. I had always wanted to be involved in sports–ideally the Detroit Lions–but I found my confidence to be too low when it came to chasing my childhood dream of being an announcer, and I didn’t really have a Plan B in the sports world.
At the time, my career path was on autopilot. I was just chugging along the career track to be a child psychologist simply because when I was nearing the deadline of an undeclared student in his junior year, I chose the default option of psychology as a major. I was never much of a risk taker, and I figured I could learn to love it. That never really happened.
Flash forward four years after graduation. The Lions’ 2008 season–proof that beauty rises from ashes. As the Lions completed history for all the wrong reasons, Schalter launched his personal blog “The Lions in Winter,” which would quickly become a daily staple in my life.
Unlike most people who get into the sports writing business, I wasn’t the kind of person who would read the sports section of the newspaper front to back. With all due respect to the people who chase those beats, that kind of writing was never for me. A regurgitation of the box score and cookie-cutter quotes from players and coaches never properly captured the excitement of the action or the high I was feeling on game days. While columnists came a little closer to what I was seeking, I often found their analysis more emotional and exaggerated than analytical.
Finding Schalter was like finding a support group. He spoke the same language as me: a downtrodden Lions fan who desperately wanted to cling to optimism. His prose was (and is) much better than mine, which fueled a creative spark in me I didn’t know existed. His analysis was spot on, and his arguments were well-reasoned. He wrote with the passion of the biggest Lions fan, but never veered into “RAH RAH, WE’RE THE BEST” territory. When times were tough–and they mostly were–Schalter spoke bluntly, but he always kept–as he put it–the little blue flame afire. He was one of those rare writers in which you felt validated if they had the same opinion as you on a topic.
For me, this was all a revelation. At the time, I wasn’t thinking about creating a new career; I just wanted in. I wanted to write from a fan point of view, while also meticulously walking the line of objectivity. I wanted to try my hand at creative writing and attempt to convey this obsession with Lions football. I wanted to find a community of others afflicted with this disease. It felt like there was a blogging revolution happening, and I just desperately wanted to be a part of it.
My journey into sports blogging was just beginning, but Schalter was seeing his career (rightfully) explode. Bleacher Report saw his immediate potential and he became their lead NFL analyst in just over a year. SiriusXM was the next to see his brilliance, tabbing him to co-host a weekly show with long-time Dolphins beat writer–and current Hall of Fame voter–Jason Cole. Schalter got to spread his analytical wings when FiveThirtyEight called. And he ventured back to Lions writing when USA TODAY plucked him to launch Lions Wire. There was a stop at MLive along the way, too.
In the 16 years since my spiritual awakening, I strove to find ways to pick Schalter’s brain, or–if he would somehow agree–collaborate with him on a project. Back in 2011, when we were all just independent bloggers (RIP DetroitOnLion.blogspot.com), I sent out an email to Schalter and a couple other creators in the hopes to launch a video podcast over Google Hangouts (!!). Logistically, I was way over my head, and it never happened. A few years later, I sent a long-winded email to Schalter just asking for overall career advice. He responded with an extremely thoughtful response that began with “I like to say writing is like electron shells.” It’s like I got my own personal blogpost from him.
The stars never aligned. He was too busy, then I was too busy. It just never seemed to be the right place and the right time.
Until, of course, now.
Schalter will be joining us all for a weekly solo piece here on Pride of Detroit Direct throughout the entire 2024 season. I cannot be more thrilled to finally work alongside Ty. If you remember him from the Lions in Winter days, I’m sure you’re just as excited as I am. If you aren’t familiar with his work, I promise he will quickly become one of your favorite reads of the week.
To help introduce you to Ty Schalter, Ryan and I spoke with him in a new First Byte episode. In it, we break down who he is, what to expect in 2024, and share some Lions predictions in there, too.
Enjoy, and stay tuned for Ty’s first piece, which is coming very soon.
