I don’t like the term “bucket list,” mainly because I don’t know why a bucket has to be involved. (Can’t it just be a list?)

But if you were to ask me why I am taking on this whole whatever-it-is thing we’ve named Designated Writers, it’s really very simple.

One thousand Saturdays.

Not sure where I heard it, but it wasn’t that long ago that someone talked about life at this age.  Too old to be considered young for anything – I’m older than half the managers in the major leagues – but too young to get a discount in the golf course pro shop.

And what was said that brought it home for me was this: When you get to this point in life, you have about 1,000 Saturdays remaining. You better make the most of them.

So here goes.

If I told you that this website was something I’ve always wanted to do, I’d be lying. I didn’t lay in bed when I was a kid thinking “One of these days, I’m going to be a part of a kick-ass website.”

Twelve years into my career as a sports writer – something I was sure I would do forever – the plug got pulled. (A story for another day.) But writing, sports or otherwise, has never left me.

And so I watched as technology changed everything and thought and thought … and wondered and wondered … maybe it will all come back, though in some form I never imagined.

Or maybe it was just timing and my ability to pick up the phone and contact my partner in crime, Teddy Allen, at just the right time.

I’m a part of Designated Writers because this is something I want to do as the Saturdays begin to count down. I’ll get to the Grand Canyon or Lambeau Field or St. Andrews eventually. But this is what makes Saturdays – and the rest of the week — even more significant.

I love my real job and I have a second job I love as well. But this? This is what I was meant to do at a time of my life when I was meant to do it.

We will give it all we have for as long as we can. Sometimes (hopefully not often) we will produce content that isn’t fit for the cat to sleep on. But you will always know that we are doing this purely because it is what gets us from this Saturday to next Saturday.

Let’s get started.