Sign up here for Kevin Scarbinksy’s newsletter.

Athletes and coaches do it all the time. They retire, and some time after leaving the game they love, they realize how hard it is to replace what they’ve lost, and they decide to come back.

Hey. Why should they have all the fun?

Five years ago, I “retired” from daily journalism to see if an old dog could learn some new tricks, first in sports event marketing, then in youth sports injury prevention. Made some new friends. Added some new skills. Tried to give something back to the games people play in this state in a fun, fresh and meaningful way.

Wouldn’t trade those experiences for a first-round draft pick and cash — well, depending on how much cash — but along that new path, I learned something about myself. I write, therefore I am. Or I am, therefore I write. Either way, if you know, you know, and whether you know me as an alleged Bammer, Barner, Blazer or Damn Yankee, I know I’ve still got some things to say.

Which is to say, as Auburn Jesus is my witness, I’m back. Not daily, but regularly. Not full time, but full speed. Of course, if you’ve been paying attention — and judging by my Twitter feed, you have — that’s not news. You know I’ve returned to doing the thing I love, writing about sports in the state that loves them most, in a cool, new publication called the Lede.

But wait. That’s just the beginning. There’s this thing called a newsletter, which is hotter than Nick Saban on an August rant. The folks at AL.com asked me to take a swing at it, and if you know me, you know I love having a bat in my hands with a fastball barreling toward the plate. Hey, I did win the inaugural Samford Media Home Run Derby back in ‘14. You can look it up.

So let’s do this thing. Sign up for my Scarbo Knows newsletter, and get in the game. You let me know what’s on your mind — like we did on AL.com’s Live at 9 or 9:15 or whenever I showed up that day — and I’ll return the favor every Thursday in your email inbox. I’ll take you inside the lines and back in time. We’ll yell at the refs and the clouds, laugh at ourselves and each other and, on special occasions like the Kick 6 and 2nd and 26, we might even get something in our eyes.

Because … sports. Ain’t nothin’ like ‘em nowhere like here.

Sign up here for Kevin Scarbinksy’s newsletter, free for the first month and $5/month going forward or $50/year.