Welcome to “Comments From Coach Mike”. I am it’s author, Mike Wittmann.

I am a Certified Personal Trainer, running my own business and doing contracted work for a few entities. I have been playing baseball since I was six years old and thanks to a 60+ Wood Bat Baseball League, I’m still enjoying the sport on the field. I played basketball and coached the sport until September 2020, when I finally retired, after having coached for 48 years at various levels. I golf and take part in other sporting activities.

I’m married to a lovely woman, Debbie and have three grown children, Michael, Colleen and Kathleen. I am a life-long Chicago White Sox and Green Bay Packer fan. I play guitar (some banjo and mandolin as well). I enjoy a cold beer, single malt scotch and Irish whiskey. I’m outgoing, opinionated and love to express myself through the written word.

Let me give you a brief history of “Comments”. Back in 1999, an old friend and co-worker started an internet sports website call, Worldwide Internet Sports Network, or WISN for short. Brian asked me to write a sports article once a month for this site and “Comments” was born. Brian gave me a free hand in choosing what I wrote and even though he had editorial approval, he never changed a word. Unfortunately, the website went under in 2000.

In 2009, after 22+ years with the former MCI, I was let go. My last day was Christmas morning. After a few months of being unemployed, I started my Blog up again and wrote for approximately two years, before running out of free time to write.

Again in 2020 I found myself with a lot of time on my hands due to the global pandemic and started writing the blog again using a “blog option” on my business website, CoachMikesPersonalTraining.com. I’ve enjoyed putting my thoughts and feelings to media but found the platform which I was using cumbersome and not really reader friendly. I went in search of a better option and a couple months later, thanks to running across a post on Instagram by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I found substack.com.

What can you expect from this site and why should you subscribe?

Well, I’m asking you to give this a chance. I predominantly write “about” baseball. But you’re not going to get game recaps and the usual canned stuff that’s out there. My first love is baseball. It is the greatest sport ever created. I write about people that play, manage, announce and write about the sport. I write about occurrences, feelings, long forgotten people and events. I try to keep the history alive, while dealing with current events. You will get a glimpse into my life and those around me through my articles. Realize, I am not “old school”, I’m “the dirt upon which the old school was built”. From time to time, you will see some interviews and perhaps I will promote a friend’s blog or function. You may not agree with all of my writing, but I will welcome your comments and ideas; and will engage in friendly banter with you if you so desire. I will also ask for your opinions and even topics from time to time. Hopefully, this sounds interesting to you.

I will post a new article / blog / newsletter (call it what you will) a minimum of once a week, with the hopes of doing it more frequently as I grow accustomed to this platform. As the history of sports is important to me, I feel it is important that you see the history of my writing. Each Thursday I will post an old “archived” article. (My own ‘Throwback Thursday’ if you will). Realized, some of these may be “dated” but they will give you a taste of the past and see what interested me at the time. You will be treated to women’s golf, player spotlights and the occasional interview from the past. Basically, anything I’ve written under the byline “Comments from Coach Mike” that I own the rights of and that still exist (many may be lost in time or paper copies to a flooded basement tool room).

What you will NOT see, nor will I engage in: religion, politics or other people’s personal agendas. We all see WAY too much of that out there as it is.

The way I understand this platform you will be able to come to my “site” and see the articles, but by subscribing (it’s FREE) you will have full access to the “newsletter” and website. You’ll never have to worry about missing anything as every edition will go directly to your Inbox.

Well, thanks for sticking with me this long. I hope you’ll subscribe, enjoy the articles, comment, and share with 50 of your closest friends and relatives. :-)

Again, my thanks! ~ Coach Mike

To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.