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YEAR IN REVIEW: 2021 Was One Hell Of An Incredible Ride And 2022 Should Be Even Better

OPINION
David Hookstead (Credit: David Hookstead)

David Hookstead (Credit: David Hookstead)

David Hookstead Sports And Entertainment Editor
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Ladies and gentlemen, 2021 was a banner year, and it’s now time to put the final stamp on the past 12 months.

I started working at the Daily Caller in 2015, and it’s hard to believe that I left Wisconsin for the unknown nearly six and a half years ago. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)

With every year I’ve spent in D.C., there always seems to be professional and personal growth, but nothing has come close to matching 2021.

Despite having to work around the coronavirus pandemic since March 2020, we took things to a new level in 2021 that, frankly, would have been impossible to imagine back in 2015.

We launched The David Hookstead Show for countless viewers around the country, and it’s been a gigantic success. Why? That has very little to do with me. It has to do with all of you watching, chiming in, chirping me and taking time out of your busy schedule to hang out with me Mondays through Thursdays and Saturdays during the football season.

Without all of you, “TDHS” would never have gotten off the ground. Instead, it’s taken off like a rocket. We even have Senator Ted Cruz watching at this point!

Furthermore, we conducted some awesome interviews since the show launched, including Donald Trump Jr. and former Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill. He shot a guy you might have heard of back in the day.

I mean this with complete and total seriousness. In more than six years of working in the media, interviewing Rob O’Neill was hands down the most incredible experience I’ve ever had.

In my humble opinion, it’s the coolest interview the company has ever done. If you ever see him out and about, buy that man a beer! He deserves it.

Outside of “TDHS” blowing up, I also rewrote the Caller’s record books (they were all previously already held by me), and we show absolutely no signs of slowing down.

At this point, it’s borderline ridiculous just how much I’m rolling. I feel like Nick Saban and Alabama playing an FCS program. You almost have to feel bad. Almost!

On a personal level, 2021 was more wild and unexpected than any year before. I bought the (working class) Hookstead Compound, I passed the two-year mark with my girlfriend, watched several of my friends get married, did a bunch of traveling, had another annual trip to Vegas that was absolutely wild, my grandmother gifted me my great-great-uncle’s war medals from WWII and Korea (RIP), my sisters are more successful than ever before, my dad sold his business and I didn’t even have to get in the trenches to lead a bayonet charge to save football this year.

I just got to sit back and enjoy packed stands again without going to war with seemingly half the country.

What does 2022 hold? I have no idea, but I do know that when you’re winning on the battlefield, crushing your enemies and advancing, you don’t take the boot off their neck. You apply more pressure and push forward.

That’s what I plan to do this upcoming year, and I can only ask that you guys join me on the journey like you have for the past 6+ years.

What awaits us in the unknown? Can’t tell you, but I can tell you I will proudly lead the charge into that fog.

In closing, I want to give everyone a huge thank you for everything because without you, I wouldn’t be blessed to do any of this. Now, that’s enough sappy talk for one day. Let’s crack some beers and enjoy a Friday packed full of college football!

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Neil Patel