There is nothing quite like an Opening Day news dump. Ben Upton and Dimitri Kourtis of 11Point7 are trying to bury their new hire under all of the anticipated action on Valentine's Day. No, not that kind of action, and we are not talking about those kinds of diamonds. I’m talking about the 130+ D1 College Baseball games on February 14th. Anyways, 11Point7 has hired me, Noah Bieniek (no, I don’t always talk about myself in 3rd person. That was just for SEO purposes).
I feel like an intro article about me is necessary for the college baseball community because like Eric Church said, “I’m Mr. Misunderstood.” I struggled as a college student, I didn’t survive winter cuts in all three years with my NAIA Baseball team. Something needed to change.
Gambling on College Baseball
I saw an opportunity to fill a sports betting niche in a growing sport. I hit the hole hard like a middle linebacker. That was courtesy to the guys over at SGPN.
A few years ago Sean Green and Ryan Kramer saw value in offering a platform for every aspiring niche sports betting creator. They brought me on as a 20-year-old (yes, I was placing bets on Bovada for chump change and giving out the betting picks underage). I joined Colby Dant’s team, becoming his right hand man for The College Experience brand.
Dant, in my opinion, is the #1 grinder in the sports betting space. It’s incredible to look back and see what we’ve built in the four years I’ve worked with SGPN. When I joined the TCE team we had 500 Twitter followers.
Countless episodes later we have garnered a following of over 16,000 YouTube subscribers, 15K TikTok followers, thousands of podcast listeners, and 7.5K X followers. Our community is super strong and I don’t plan on leaving it.
The Upbringing Of Noah Bieniek
I’ve loved having an extra sweat on sports games since I was in grade school. It started out with NFL Pick ‘em pools against family and friends when I could barely write. I’d use a mini helmet set to make my picks.
In school I was always the guy running (free) College Football Bowl Game and March Madness bracket pools. A family friend used to create a cool bowl game spreadsheet every year with each matchup featuring their school's helmets. I would print off 20 of those and bring them to school.
One time in 3rd grade a teacher of mine caught on to what I was doing. She sat me down in a 1-on-1 conversation during recess. I thought I was in trouble. Nope, she thought the sheets were sweet and asked for two of them. One for her and one for her husband. I felt like the cool kid on the block.
I still feel like the cool kid on the block. I’m attempting to live a dream of being a sports writer. Unfortunately my now-late 5th grade teacher instilled the passion of writing inside of me. Rest in peace to Mrs. Wilcox. She was hard on me, but I always liked strict teachers and sports coaches. They kept me focused and on task (I’m a notorious procrastinator).
Future Plans For Noah Bieniek With 11Point7
Sports Gambling publicly receives a very negative connotation, especially if you're trying to grow as a media personality. But like they say sometimes, you sleep in the bed you make. Because of the lack of competition when I got started I built a good initial following for myself. I wouldn’t trade that away.
But I do aspire to travel to some of the game’s greatest environments. I want to be credentialed media and share stories from my experiences at places and the great players I see. After being (initially) denied credentials to the 2024 College World Series, I knew I needed to make even more non-betting related content if I wanted to be respected nationally.
11Point7 is allowing me to join their growing team as not only their lead betting analyst but I’ll have my paws on a lot of different things. I valued teaming up with Ben and Dimitri because I know they are college baseball encyclopedias and former D1 players. That is knowledge that I severely lack.
Growing up in the Great Lakes area NCAA Baseball was barely talked about until the College World Series came around. I’m forever grateful to Erik Bakich and the 2019 Michigan Baseball team for getting me hooked to the great game of collegiate baseball.
One new thing I’m anxious to see if I enjoy is the offseason college baseball coverage. The transfer portal and the coaching carousel. Nowadays news in college athletics never stops.
Also, I’m interested in what kind of recruiting coverage 11Point7 could deliver. I never played ball in the showcase circuit but I thoroughly enjoyed my summer baseball days. I’ve never been to the Cape but I’m excited about the thought of it.
I can’t wait for what’s ahead. As college baseball grows we all will grow with it. Let It Ride!
Oh, and one more thing. Here's a donation to support the cause.
There is nothing quite like an Opening Day news dump. Ben Upton and Dimitri Kourtis of 11Point7 are trying to bury their new hire under all of the anticipated action on Valentine's Day. No, not that kind of action, and we are not talking about those kinds of diamonds. I’m talking about the 130+ D1 College Baseball games on February 14th. Anyways, 11Point7 has hired me, Noah Bieniek (no, I don’t always talk about myself in 3rd person. That was just for SEO purposes).
I feel like an intro article about me is necessary for the college baseball community because like Eric Church said, “I’m Mr. Misunderstood.” I struggled as a college student, I didn’t survive winter cuts in all three years with my NAIA Baseball team. Something needed to change.
Gambling on College Baseball
I saw an opportunity to fill a sports betting niche in a growing sport. I hit the hole hard like a middle linebacker. That was courtesy to the guys over at SGPN.
A few years ago Sean Green and Ryan Kramer saw value in offering a platform for every aspiring niche sports betting creator. They brought me on as a 20-year-old (yes, I was placing bets on Bovada for chump change and giving out the betting picks underage). I joined Colby Dant’s team, becoming his right hand man for The College Experience brand.
Dant, in my opinion, is the #1 grinder in the sports betting space. It’s incredible to look back and see what we’ve built in the four years I’ve worked with SGPN. When I joined the TCE team we had 500 Twitter followers.
Countless episodes later we have garnered a following of over 16,000 YouTube subscribers, 15K TikTok followers, thousands of podcast listeners, and 7.5K X followers. Our community is super strong and I don’t plan on leaving it.
The Upbringing Of Noah Bieniek
I’ve loved having an extra sweat on sports games since I was in grade school. It started out with NFL Pick ‘em pools against family and friends when I could barely write. I’d use a mini helmet set to make my picks.
In school I was always the guy running (free) College Football Bowl Game and March Madness bracket pools. A family friend used to create a cool bowl game spreadsheet every year with each matchup featuring their school's helmets. I would print off 20 of those and bring them to school.
One time in 3rd grade a teacher of mine caught on to what I was doing. She sat me down in a 1-on-1 conversation during recess. I thought I was in trouble. Nope, she thought the sheets were sweet and asked for two of them. One for her and one for her husband. I felt like the cool kid on the block.
I still feel like the cool kid on the block. I’m attempting to live a dream of being a sports writer. Unfortunately my now-late 5th grade teacher instilled the passion of writing inside of me. Rest in peace to Mrs. Wilcox. She was hard on me, but I always liked strict teachers and sports coaches. They kept me focused and on task (I’m a notorious procrastinator).
Future Plans For Noah Bieniek With 11Point7
Sports Gambling publicly receives a very negative connotation, especially if you're trying to grow as a media personality. But like they say sometimes, you sleep in the bed you make. Because of the lack of competition when I got started I built a good initial following for myself. I wouldn’t trade that away.
But I do aspire to travel to some of the game’s greatest environments. I want to be credentialed media and share stories from my experiences at places and the great players I see. After being (initially) denied credentials to the 2024 College World Series, I knew I needed to make even more non-betting related content if I wanted to be respected nationally.
11Point7 is allowing me to join their growing team as not only their lead betting analyst but I’ll have my paws on a lot of different things. I valued teaming up with Ben and Dimitri because I know they are college baseball encyclopedias and former D1 players. That is knowledge that I severely lack.
Growing up in the Great Lakes area NCAA Baseball was barely talked about until the College World Series came around. I’m forever grateful to Erik Bakich and the 2019 Michigan Baseball team for getting me hooked to the great game of collegiate baseball.
One new thing I’m anxious to see if I enjoy is the offseason college baseball coverage. The transfer portal and the coaching carousel. Nowadays news in college athletics never stops.
Also, I’m interested in what kind of recruiting coverage 11Point7 could deliver. I never played ball in the showcase circuit but I thoroughly enjoyed my summer baseball days. I’ve never been to the Cape but I’m excited about the thought of it.
I can’t wait for what’s ahead. As college baseball grows we all will grow with it. Let It Ride!
Oh, and one more thing. Here's a donation to support the cause.
