Bakemas, Pizza Reviews, Kraft, Pats Win 📈

In partnership with

Oh, hey how are ya!!!!! Been a minute, BUT…

With not posting a Diary newsletter since Christmas Eve, which was about deciding whether or not Santa Claus was real, you probably thought I was dead (or being super lazy!).

BUT to everyone’s surprise, ‘tis not the case! I am alive and very well, and been very, very busy!!

Today we’re not going to talk about boring goal setting stuff for 2026.

But my thoughts last month heading into the new year were pretty simple. Just “be better” in 2026.

I feel like a lot of work was put in at Shadow Lion in 2025 to build a strong foundation of relationships. Those relationships are now starting to transform into bigger and better moves.

Hence my 2026 goal. Be better.

So, the real reason I haven’t been on this newsletter preaching at y’all is cause I have been so damn busy! But with no Thursday Night Football for the first time in a long time (my GF is so pumped about this), I had a little moment to debrief, and I got the itch to write.

I’ll say it, my last few weeks have been quite exciting and fun. Here’s the TLDR of my last two weeks:

• Ann Michael Maye’s new baking show “Beyond Bakemas” - the show was an idea about 20 days ago and is now live and CRUSHING

• A Dave Portnoy pizza review that went viral and exploded (in a good way) business for the local shop

• Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft in-person interview on “The Quick Snap” - pinch me moment, RKK is a true 🐐

• A Patriots playoff victory for the first time since 2019 - this is probably the one I care most about

Clearly, all roads in the above lead back to Foxborough. This Patriots team is just different. It truly feels like the golden days. Instead of me being in college for those days, I am a grown adult and somehow even more emotional about it.

Thank you, Patriots.

There’s a ton of individual lessons I’ve learned from the last several weeks that will be standalone Diaries soon, but for now let’s dive into story time to add some context.

BUT first PLEASE click this ad so I can buy my wonderful GF dinner tonight:

One Habit You’ll Keep

By this time of the year, most New Year goals are already slipping. That’s why the habits that last are the simple ones.

AG1 Next Gen is a clinically studied daily health drink that supports gut health, helps fill common nutrient gaps, and supports steady energy.

With just one scoop mixed into cold water, AG1 replaces a multivitamin, probiotics, and more, making it one of the easiest upgrades you can make this year.

Start your mornings with AG1 and get 3 FREE AG1 Travel Packs, 3 FREE AGZ Travel Packs, and FREE Vitamin D3+K2 in your Welcome Kit with your first subscription.

Make It Your Habit

Let’s start with “Beyond Bakemas”. “Beyond Bakemas”??? What the heck is that?

Well, if you live under a rock, Ann Michael Maye, the wife of Pats QB Drake Maye, went viral for her 25 days of “Bakemas” on social media. She was making a new dessert recipe everyday and it was going absolutely viral.

So, we decided to try to jump into the Bakemas madness. When I say “we”, I am referring to Shadow Lion and NBC Sports Boston.

NBC Sports Boston has been the home of the Patriots podcast I produce with Brian Hoyer and David Andrews called, “The Quick Snap”. Subscribe or else.

We’ve had an incredible season of the podcast (also thanks to the Pats on the field success) and I’ve grown a great relationship with the NBC Sports Boston team over there. Shout out Kevin Miller, Aaron Thomas, Zach Brill and Adam Hart. Buncha STUDS!

Their team came to Shadow Lion and asks to see if we could test any new fun content formats right at the beginning of December.

Well, Bakemas was on the top of our minds as it kept going viral each day.

I quickly huddled with the Shadow Lion team, and we came up with the concept of Ann Michael Maye continuing her baking videos but in a larger format. That format being in a kitchen with a celebrity guest while she walks them through the steps of baking while also having a fun, organic conversation.

Fun for the viewer to listen along, while engaging for the guest Great concept if I do say so myself.

Well to turn a show “concept” into a reality, you need buy in from the talent to want to do it (obviously) and typically a brand partner (remember, America runs on Dunkin).

I did my little networking thing I’ve preached about 9,000 times on this newsletter and got in touch with Ann Michael. She loved the idea and was in!

This confirmation came about a week prior to Christmas. Then it was a full sprint through the holidays to get ready for this show.

It was important to get this show live in the New Year for a few reasons but mainly build on the momentum of Bakemas quickly without much dead time + get content live while the Patriots are still in the playoffs.

We needed a more developed show concept, guest booking, production alignment and a million other things.

Most importantly was probably guest booking. We wanted to kick off the series with a bang.

SOOOOOOOOOO… I did that little networking thing and took my shot.

I remembered Dave Portnoy tried to bake a few of Ann Michael’s recipes. Those videos also went viral. It was a no-brainer that he would be a perfect guest.

So yes, I shot my shot in his DMs on Instagram and he responded. He was in to come to Boston and shoot an episode of “Beyond Bakemas”.

He would once again cook those M&M Cookies, but this time with the “Queen of the North”. A hilarious nickname Ann Michael picked up along the way of Bakemas.

Flash forward to last week, we filmed with Dave Portnoy for our first episode of the new series. It was a blast. He was very sweet, had fun with it and was excited to be there. He even showed up 30 minutes early. For that, you get a signed Drake Maye jersey with Ann Michael’s first ever signature on it.

Episode 1 of Beyond Bakemas with Dave is a much watch if it hasn’t graced your timeline yet:

One of my most proud pieces of content I ever produced!!!

Though Dave didn’t just leave the kitchen immediately, we had to go do one of his famous pizza reviews.

Somehow, the pizza review went more viral than the Bakemas show…

Ann Michael and Dave went into a very small place down the street from NBC Boston called Gianni’s Deli.

Well, the owner was a very sweet woman who had no clue who Dave was.

And the rest is history, give it a watch:

Dave gave it a great score because it was really good. 7.7, high.

Then the story of the owner kept getting cuter. Place had been open 25 years. Learned the recipe from her family and her husband.

Plus, when I asked for the second-best thing on the menu and she said the chicken parm, we stayed another 15 minutes in the shop just chatting with the owner and made for great content.

She’s a must-watch.

I’ve done a lot of cool things in this media space the last 6 years, BUT I have never gotten more texts in my entire life in a single day than the night Portnoy dropped this pizza video. His reach and influence is wild.

Another example of his “influence” being seen is the fact that Gianni’s had a line to the street the next few days, had several features on the local news, needed to hire more help and can’t take on any call in orders because there is so much traffic.

This article is crazy. They literally doubled their staff to keep up with the business.

So cool to see and be there for all the behind the scenes of it.

She had me write down where the video was going. Writing “Dave Portnoy” on a napkin so that the owner could then go look it up online to learn about him was an all-time moment.

I got a DM from the owner’s son thanking me (I didn’t do anything) for changing their lives. Props to Dave and Ann Michael though!

Then IDK why this picture of me, Dave, Ann Michael, Kennedy and Julz (both from Shadow Lion) got picked up in the IG algorithm, but it did!

This is why I wrote over a year ago about Dave Portnoy and his special power for driving pageviews.

Cool to meet and hang out with him in a professional setting. Learned a lot!

Now Bakemas continues, new great guests coming out. Episode 2 is on Sunday.

I am FIRED UP for Ann Michael and her content journey. Truly think she’s just getting started.

So please follow along with Beyond Bakemas on social media. Proud of this content!

Hard to top that series of events to start the new year, right?!

Well, Hoyer and Andrews said hold my beer.

After a massive Patriots playoff win last Sunday night at Gillette, which I had the honor of attending and screaming my face off in the light of a Pats win.

Love selfies, especially at Gillette.

Late Monday night David tells us he got Robert Kraft to do an interview for The Quick Snap at Noon the next day.

We didn’t want to do a Zoom call interview cause those typically stink, so NBC hustled for us and got an all-star crew down to Gillette Stadium on Tuesday.

Meeting RKK was incredible.

He’s a sweetheart. He shook my hand, asked me a bunch of personal questions before the interview started. Then the guys absolutely crushed it:

LIVE from Mr. Kraft’s personal suite at Gillette.

PINCH ME MOMENT!

Watch the full episode here. I was smiling ear to ear listening to the guys chat live in the room:

Three handsome devils!!

I’ll wrap this up. It was a pretty surreal start to the New Year.

But all I care about now is building on the momentum.

NO DAYS OFF (Belichick). NO NAPS (Vrabel).

I will be at Gillette again on Sunday afternoon to kick the Texans ass with a trip to the AFC Championship on the line.

Let’s keep it rolling. See you sooner than the last little break I just took.