Welcome all to The Rubber Match! Born as a project of mine on the heels of a career of over five years in Chicago television news, I hope this platform serves as a way for both myself to continue writing and to help draw lines between the increasingly interconnected world we live in today.
With a lifelong interest in news, sports, music, video games and politics, I hope that this blog acts as an unapologetic outlet for opinions as well as one where I can dive deep into the brighter things in life that get us through tough times – namely the ages-old cultural escapes of art and sports.
I intend for this blog to be a space equally for my opinions, lists/rankings and analysis revolving around sports, primarily baseball, as well as diving into the physical media collection that my wife and I have. The latter will involve retrospective reviews of the material we own, along with other analytical and opinion pieces that could also be connected to current events.
While media and sports will be the blog’s primary focus, I may delve into other topics as time goes on. We shall see!
After working in news media from January 2020 to July 2025, I hope to take my writing in a new, personalized direction, honing in on my individual interests while also continuing to find ways to both grow as a writer and connect with audiences of all walks of life from around the world. It is my aim that through writing and discussing cultural universals such as sports and media, more people can learn how much more they have in common with one another in an era where divisiveness is perhaps at its most prevalent.
I also want to use my experience in news journalism effectively as an independent writer, capitalizing on the changes I can make working on my own to help make the content I produce more straightforward and authentic to give a more no-frills experience for readers.
As consumed content continues to shift away from writing and towards video, I will hope to meet people where they are at on this platform – while writing remains my passion and will be my primary form of dissemination, I will also look to produce audio and video content in the future to help people engage in ways that are different, yet remain accessible.
I don’t want reading my content to feel like a chore – I hope it deeply connects with those who share my interests or those just looking to learn more about something they’ve just heard about. My time on the digital end of TV news made me rather disillusioned with the AI, SEO-dominated business it has become, where stories are written for algorithms and search engines rather than human beings.
I’m a human being writing material for other human beings. You won’t encounter bullshit clickbait headlines on this website. You’ll get the information, and you can decide how much of it you want to consume.
While I’m deeply politically inclined and am increasing my personal political involvement as I am no longer a corporate news journalist, I do not intend for this to be an overtly political platform. I want this to be a space where people can feel they have things in common with one another, and a space for people to dig deeper into an escape from the ugly real world we live in today.
With that said, I am also here to call a spade a spade whenever the story rings true – that’s part of what’s nice about writing independently. This country’s corporate media outlets do not do this.
Although my content likely won’t often intersect with the horrors of today’s world, when it does, I think it’s important to be clear about what’s happening. They aren’t “targeted immigration enforcement operations,” they’re kidnappings and forced disappearances. It isn’t the “war” in Gaza, it’s the genocide of the Palestinian people from the U.S.-backed Israeli government.
What’s sad is that those statements are simply calling out the obvious truth in front of us, but places that people trust for information are often not straightforward with the severity of these crises. While this platform will primarily serve as an escape from the awful and cruel aspects of today’s reality, it will never be a place for misinformation.
For those looking for a spot to connect about their favorite music, video game, sports team or even roller coaster, I hope over time this grows to be a place where that can be done.
Godspeed and thank you for visiting!
-Peter Marzano
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