Ranking My Favorite Diary Articles

What is your number 1?

Author

Danny Healey
May 14, 2025

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It’s been one year since I sent out my first ever Diary.

Since writing my Farewell piece to the Morning Blitz (the sports newsletter I used to write) and transitioning to a personal blog with all of you, I’ve learned I actually like writing.

I used to hate it, used to feel scary.

But writing about topics I actually care about in my own voice is a fun time!

Whether it’s a preachy life lesson, debating the Shedeur Sanders slide, stories from working at Shadow Lion or whatever the topic that week may be, I highly enjoy this little therapy Diary I’ve been building and thank you all for reading it despite the double-digit grammar errors in each edition, I’m dyslexic.

There isn’t some solo teacher reading my work ready to give it a grade after she maybe had a bad day at home and is going to toss down a C- because her husband is playing too much golf and isn’t around to take care of the kids (I side with him in this argument).

No, instead I get judged by subscriber numbers, open rate and your email replies.

This is a nice creative outlet for me that I hope provides some real value to you all as well. I mean, if you only read for the Betting Corner at the bottom you’d be in the green.

So, this week we’re going to take a look back at the last 52 weeks of newsletters and rank my top 10 in order based off pretty much how I liked them and if they were received well by all you considering the above engagement metrics.

Is this a cop-out for not writing a full article this week even though I said I really enjoy writing just two seconds ago?

Maybe. It’s a busy week… but let’s relive it.

Ten Big Things

This one was a simple message, that is explained in the title and I don’t need really add any more color here. But a fun one with some personal connections that I think if you missed, you could benefit from.

Throwback to our 2021 interview

The UFC President called the next generation “soft” in our interview and the clip exploded and went viral. I tend to agree with Mr. Dana here.

This post was inspired by the incredible journey of a Navy SEAL. It will make you want to cry.

This one wasn’t very inspirational but just a fun little story time around the foundation of my sports fandom, how it came to be and the time I ruined Gerrit Cole at a Sox playoff game.

I asked ChatGPT to write this entire post in "my voice” and it gave a scary real response. I don’t think I’ve ever received such a response from readers, and they were scared. I think I opened their eyes to the power of AI.

The message here was simple, read the title. But honestly a message that has served me well in my professional career.

This was one of my more recent posts and written about Rory McIlroy’s Masters win. EMBRACE THE MOMENT.

Fun recap on all the media projects I’ve been a part of over my first 365 days at Shadow Lion from working with the likes of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick to helping consumer brands establish a content angel / build audiences.

Again, the title here does not lie. The theme of this post was “teamwork makes the dream work”. It was one of my prouder pieces!

You guys loved this one, and probably cause I also loved writing it. Describing what a “DAWG” is to the elder folks on here was exciting. This was like the 5th ever post I wrote, so if you missed it, go check it out!

Cheers to another year of this Diary thing and picking 10 new bangers next year.

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Favorite Thing(s) I Saw on the Internet This Week

This is a video of a diehard Timberwolves fan from 2003 going nuts for Kevin Garnett and being shirtless. Gets booted from the stadium. Then it flashes to 2015 with his children next to him at a game looking way older when KG made his return to Minnesota.

Naturally he goes crazy again and the stadium erupts, including KG.

Really, really hope this is me one day.

Want my reaction from the Celtics’ Game 4 loss and being down 3-1 to the Knicks? Here ya go.

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The Polls

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💰 Betting Corner

Lock of the week: Celtics -4.5 tonight in Game 5 at home vs Knicks

C’s in 7.