Getting to know Pounding the Rock’s writers: Jeje Gomez
From Manu Ginobili fan to Spurs fan.
Welcome to “Getting to know Pounding the Rock’s writers”! During the All-Star break, we thought it we be fun to get to know a little bit more about our writers here at PtR.
A bit about myself
My name is Jesus Gomez, but most of my friends call me Jeje. I was born in Argentina and I still live there. I’ve never been to any English-speaking country but learned the language when I was young and eventually became a translator, even though I set out to be a poli-sci graduate when I left home to go to university, 20 or so years ago. Then I started writing for American basketball sites. I still really don’t know how that happened.
I’ve loved sports all my life and I was decent at soccer as a kid, but I found out quickly that I didn’t have the discipline to play organized ball. Young me couldn’t understand why we were doing passing drills instead of just playing the game! I remained a huge soccer fan and played it every day for years with friends while also dabbling in basketball, handball and volleyball in high school, being perfectly mediocre at everything. As I got older and suffered a few injuries, I went from playing to watching, like most of us do.
Outside of sports, I love music (punk was my first love, but I’ve broadened my horizons), politics (don’t worry, we won’t talk about it here), stand-up comedy (I’m going to watch Taylor Tomlinson’s new special after I finish this), and some good barbeque and beer.
How I became a Spurs fan
Yes, it was Manu. No surprise there. After being a Bulls fan as a kid I went from following teams to following players once Michael Jordan retired. My favorites were Allen Iverson and, at a distant second, Kevin Garnett. Then Ginobili came along. He was electric with the national team, leading it to success while still playing with flair. The fact that he was so unique drew me in. After the Indianapolis FIBA World Cup in which Argentina took down Team USA and was a bad call away from winning it all, I couldn’t wait to see what Manu would do in the NBA.
It took some adjustment to go from idolizing AI and Garnett to rooting for Tim Duncan, but at some point, it all clicked. Now I’d say Timmy is right there with Manu among my favorite players ever. Despite never visiting San Antonio, the Spurs as a whole became important to me in a way that only San Lorenzo, the club that I’ve followed all my life in Argentina, has ever been. Ginobili has been gone for ages now and it has not been fun going from contention to mediocrity to eventually rebuilding, but I’m here forever now. Sorry, but you are all stuck with me.
How I ended up at Pounding the Rock
The problem with being a Spurs fan in a soccer-crazed country is that it can be hard to find information about the NBA. At least it was when Manu was in his first years in the league and regularly battling injuries. So I started to try to find updates on how close he was to returning in American news sites and since blogs were huge back then, I also looked for some Spurs-oriented ones. I found several, including Pounding the Rock. The sense of community, the quality writing and the love for Manu that was prevalent on PtR made me a regular.
After only reading for months, I started to comment. I was the guy writing essays under articles and getting into debates that probably killed the vibes, but sometimes I made some good points. I wrote a couple of fanposts that drew the attention of J.R. Wilco and a former contributor (silverandblack_davis, for the old heads) reached out to me to offer to join the recap team back in 2011. I accepted. I was nervous at first, since I had no background in writing, but slowly started to feel more comfortable thanks to the invaluable help and support of other editors and contributors. Since then, I’ve worked for other outlets but always tried to be around PtR, the special, welcoming place where it all started for me.
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