Meet the Halos Heaven staff: htennis

In a couple months, I’ll have been in my site manager/editor-in-chief role for two years, and one of the things I’m most proud of in that time is curating a new group of amazing and talented writers to grace the front page of our esteemed site. I have tried to do the same thing for the new blood I’ve brought on as Rev did for me all those years ago, giving them the outlet, the tools and all the audience one could ever need to broadcast their Angels-related opinions.

As a community, it’s also crucial to know these writers, to feel familiar and friendly with them, because that’s what makes the Halos Heaven vibe so special. So, once again, I’m doing just as Rev did back in 2011, and I’m posting some Q&As that I did for each of the new staff writers that we’ve seen come on in the past year. Heck, I even used Rev’s same questions!

So, without further ado, let’s meet the Halos Heaven staff, shall we?

htennis is the most recent roster addition to Halos Heaven, but it’s been a long time coming, that’s for sure. If you’ve hung around here for more than a couple days, then you’re undoubtedly familiar with htennis’ frequent analysis, opinion or insight in the comments section; or you know him as a total goofball who cracks you up on the reg.

Hey, the guy’s got range, what can I say?

What else do I know about my dude, htennis? Well, not a ton, I’ll admit. He’s another young buck, like Chad from yesterday, or some of the other new blood we’ll be talking to in days to come, and he’s in school. But look, he’s passionate about the Halos and he’s a smart, funny person who is well-liked in our community. I’m not sure there’s much more I need to know.

I have always thought that he’s sharp, and knows his Angels baseball, and I was secretly hoping that he’d eventually reach out to me, asking if he could come aboard our crazy train. Then, it happened, one day in the comments section in an offhand comment as we were all discussing the pre-game picks that Scottnak used to do.

Our community missed sorely missed pregame picks, and Scottnak was long gone (due to being super busy in his career, but he says “Hi!” and hopefully he’ll drop in from time to time this season), and as I was sort of throwing my hands up, in my head telling myself “We really need someone else to step up, these people want pregame picks!”

Then htennis strolls into the comments like he’s John Wayne and told me if nobody else will do it, then he’ll take over.

A couple weeks later, and BOOM...Halos Heaven had it’s newest face, but new only to the masthead, as he’s a site veteran, through and through. So now, in 2017, I’m proud to say that we have the pregame picks up and running once again, and that’s all due to our main man, htennis. (insert massive round of applause here)

In a perfect world, he’d share some of his Halos takes with us from time to time, via articles (hint, hint!!!), but for now, I’m extremely excited to just get the pregame picks back, so I ain’t complaining.

On that note, folks, let’s check out our Q&A with pregame pick maestro, htennis.

WHO WAS THE FIRST ANGELS PLAYER YOU DECIDED WAS "YOUR GUY"?

The first Angel I decided was "my guy" was probably Vladdy. When I was young, I remember flitting between the channels, watching the Angels AND the Dodgers (gasp!). But I always made sure to focus in on Vlad whenever he was at the plate, because you could always count on him to do something out of the ordinary. He was there when I first started following the Angels. As was Weave.

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CURRENT ANGEL AND WHY?

Trout. No question. He has the most talent, he is the greatest guy...need I go on? A close second, however, is Calhoun. I saw his first HR game and essentially have seen him grow from a rookie into an All-Star talent in the past couple of years.

WHICH SIDE OF THE "STATS VS CHEMISTRY" DEBATE ARE YOU ON AND WHY?

I'm a stats guy, but I like general concepts, not specifics. For example, I like the general concept of building a lineup of contact hitters, when the rest of the MLB is moving towards the three true outcomes. I like the concept of a good defense, even as defensive metrics rate Trout average.

PICK A SONG FOR THE ANGELS TO REPLACE BUTTERCUP WITH?

Replace Buttercup? Why would we ever do that? (@LanaBanana) Ah well, if we had to...a-ha's Take of Me.

IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF THE ANGELS SUMMER CONCERT SERIES, NAME THE PERFORMER YOU BREAK THE BANK TO GET...

I'd definitely book Taylor Swift. Ever since my math teacher played it in 6th grade, I've been in love.

SAY SOMETHING BALLSY / CONTROVERSIAL FOR US TO REMEMBER YOU BY...

There are two guidelines in life, my two sig quotes. If you follow them both, you will have a good life.

Editors note: I found this on Youtube, and I’m dedicating it to htennis-JM