Who The Hell Do I Think I Am?

Hi, my name is Dan. I write under the pen name Danno E. Cabeza.

Casa Cabeza

If you know me, it's probably as the Editor and Managing Partner of the world's greatest Army Football fansite, AsForFootball.Com. I love college sports, especially Army sports, and most especially my own personal college football team, the Army Black Knights. 

I also lead Team RBG in the annual Swim Across the Sound.

I graduated from West Point in 1995, have been attending games regularly since 2013, and have been an Army Football Season Ticket Holder since 2015. That was the year the Black Knights went 2-10. I realized early in my fandom, however, that I didn't know nearly as much about who was on the team and/or why things were happening on the field as I needed in order to truly maximize my experience. So I did what I do and started writing about Army Football right here on this very blog.

My work here picked up a little following via Facebook and from various friends and acquaintances emailing it around until other folks started asking me to come write for them. I chose As For Football both because the AFF Crew offered to make me a full partner and because the guys who started the site were a lot better at social media memes than I am. I'm now managing the site after a near-total staff turnover, but I like where we are and what we do. 

As For Football is about the experience of being an Army Football fan. It helps folks improve their fandom. I feel good about that.

It's funny, though, because I didn't play football and don't think of myself really as any kind of football superfan. I'm more of a generalist writer who happens to be very good at trend analysis. I do a lot of that in my day job, and I think it's provided an interesting approach to watching Army sports overall. But we cover Army Football the most because that's what folks mostly want to talk about. However, I also enjoy Army Lacrosse and Army Baseball, and I'll even watch Army Volleyball or Swimming if it's Army-Navy.

I swam at West Point, specializing in the 100 and 200 Butterfly. I did okay. Never lost an individual race to a Navy swimmer, won the Patriot League Championship in the 100 Fly in 1994, and was Co-Champion in the 200 Fly in 1995. Was ranked something like 90th or maybe 95th in my event nationally by the NCAA in 1993-94.

This was before swim meets got shown on ESPN+, but I do have one highlight you can watch:

If you want a comparable, I'd liken my collegiate career to that of former Army Safety Rhyan England ('17). We're about the same size, we were both four-year starters, and if you saw us do our thing, you'd definitely think, "Holy shit, that guy is really good!" But neither of us was a team captain, nor did either of us possess the sheer physical tools to make it to the next level regardless of overall talent. Nevertheless, I think each of us can point to some specific competitions and say, "Y'know what? Army won today at least partly because I personally played really well."

Neither of us is ever making it into the Army Sports Hall of Fame, though.

The Academy grades everything on kind of a triune axis -- academics, physical, military -- but I was somehow well into my 30s before I realized that I'm happiest and most fulfilled when I'm leaning into my athletic side. I'm the best version of myself when I'm actively working as an athlete. This is what keeps me training on a daily basis, and it's part of what keeps me writing about sports, too.

I like physical competition, and I especially like racing sports. That's just part of what makes me, well, me.

With that, my life kind of falls into three seasons: Ski Season, Swim Season, and Football Season. 

Snowboarding at Mt. Snow last season in 13" of fresh powder!

From late August through late March, I train to look good, stay on the slopes all day, and take the occasional fall. This involves a mix of mid-distancee swimming, weight lifting, and bike commuting. Truth to tell, I enjoy lifting more than swimming these days, but it's so hard to come back from layoffs as I get older that I can't ever stop swimming altogether no matter what time of year it is. Alas. Then from the start of April through mid-August, I transition to full swim training, slowly cutting weights and massively upping my yardage in preparation for the Swim Across the Sound.

The Swim is 15-mile open water swim from Port Jefferson, Long Island, to Bridgeport, Connecticut. It's done as part of a big local charity drive in Connecticut that helps cancer victims hold their lives together in the midst of -- massively expensive and painful! -- cancer treatments. I started doing the Swim back in 2015, and started my own team, Team RBG, in 2018. 

The Swim is important to me. I work hard in the water and at fundraising, and for that, I won the Swim's "Dream of Life" Award last year. That's their highest award, basically a lifetime achievement award.

Support Team RBG as we swim to BEAT CANCER!

Former Army Swimmer on a Personal Mission to Help Others

Listen to "PFFL-Episode #43- Danno E. Cabesa" on Spreaker.

One final note:  I wrote a memoir about my swimming career and about my family a few years ago called "Swim, Bike, Run, Live, Love, Repeat". I've been told that's the most "Karen" title possible, and I've also been told that it's perfect. Opinions vary, I guess. Regardless, folks who've given the book a chance seem mostly to have liked it. As of this writing, it's got 16 reviews on Amazon with 14 write-ups, averaging 4.9 stars. The book is never gonna be a bestseller, and that's okay. But it's available for the Kindle app, if you're interested.

Thanks for your time. Let me know if you have any questions.