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 Well folks, we are coming up on our one year anniversary of being a blog and you know what??? It's about time for us to pack up our bags and move along. Keep reading to find out how this blog fell apart, why I'll never buy my "colleagues" beer again and what's going to happen next.....
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Yeah, you kind of got suckered into clicking 'keep reading'. Sorry about that.
Unfortunately, it's now time for me to announce that we've reached the end of the line and our blog days will be coming to an end on June 1st. I've asked Brian to just pull the site from existence, but he owns it so he's free to do as he wants......Some blogs like to leave you hanging without ever know what's happening. Some blogs like to just close up shop and leave town....our blog likes to keep you informed because....you've been there to support us through nearly 12 months. While we've had almost 200,000 visitors and while we appreciate them all, this explanation is for those that have been around the whole time supporting us. THANKS.
I'm sure we've all seen the random blogs shut down that have multiple writers because they've all grown to hate each other. That's not happening here. We're at the same place, friendship-wise, that we were when we started this thing. You can throw the idea that we're feuding and hate each other out the window. This now ends the nearly three paragraphs of disclaimers, let's get onto something good.
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Life happens and things change. It's inevitable. I'm closing on a house with TLD this upcoming Monday, moving to a new state, renting out the house I own and leaving the only job I've had as an adult. Cpt. Morgan is working his way to becoming one of the top Podiatrists in the Northeast (although there are those who don't believe in Podiatry). Bruce Paine has moved to Australia Minnesota and is now living a life of luxury with his wonderful girlfriend, Malea. Buck Rampage is quickly moving up the ranks in our branch here at work and will soon be taking over leadership roles once given to those much older than him while still being able to enjoy Playboy parties at the Kentucky Derby. Life happens and there are only so many hours in the day. We just have too much going on. That's the only explanation.
We prefer to leave you guys on top of our game instead of letting our blog slowly die. We always felt it was important to give our readers consistent coverage and we aren't going to be able to do that anymore. Rather than look at our site two months from now and seeing a carcass of what once was....we prefer to leave with it flourishing. Our readers don't deserve to be jerked around. A lot of you we already know personally and we hate to leave anyone hanging.
When we first started this site it was only an extension of our previous emails/conversations. What you see on these posts are the same things you'd be hearing if you caught us watching the Cubs play the Cardinals/Colts play the Patriots/etc. We never strayed from what we were and we're proud of that. When we heard rumors, we double checked on them before passing them along just like we would in real life. When we were mad, we wrote like we were mad. When we saw a hot woman, we talked about it. When one of us couldn't write because they were too busy...the others picked him up. We weren't in this 'blogging' thing trying to make cash from it or to become 'respected journalists'. Our email chains on IU Basketball were getting too long and we just thought it would be easier to put on a blog for all to see.
Blogs that cover the Cubs/Cardinals/Colts/Braves/IU Basketball don't work. They just don't. There are just too many things to talk about and the readers get confused. We knew from the beginning that we weren't going to be the next Deadspin. We didn't want to be. I know it wouldn't have been that difficult to pull in the traffic to be a top-5 blog but that's not what we are/were. When we needed traffic, we pulled it. The rest of the time, we relaxed. We are four guys sitting around shooting the shit. For some reason, this blog worked. I really liked our blog, I really liked our readers.
So.....there will be some farewell posts in the future from us but for now...please share your thoughts with us. What do you want from us this last month? If you have questions you want answered, now is the time to ask them. We've always tried to oblige our readers and will continue to do so. Again, thanks.
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How about a Shooter in front of the new house? Perhaps a double shooter with Cobra and TLD on either side of the "SOLD" sign? Congrats and good luck.
I think that can be done. I'm not sure if there will be a 'sold' sign but we can figure something out.
After this past weekend, there needs to be at least one more Cards/Cubs post, don't you think?
Absolutely. I'm thinking Thursday. I wasn't able to watch all of the games so I need to catch up on my reading to get a better idea of what the heck happened.
I'm sorry to hear the news. I really enjoyed reading everyone's take on things. Good luck to all of you.
What kind of an asshole kills his blog after just one year?
Oh, right.
Me.
hey, you've had three posts in 2008! You won't find any of that happening around these parts.
Hey, I never said I didn't believe in Podiatry - that would be my father - I'm the one who WENT to the podiatrist against her parent's wishes...and got no help whatsoever for it, but that's neither here nor there.
As for the end being nigh - well, that sucks (for us, not for you guys). You entertained me, which is pretty much the whole point. Good luck boys.
I just like to give you a hard time. I'll go ahead and stop if you make us some cookies.....
As long as you promise not to hug me afterward, I'll make you any cookies you want.
Good-bye. I tend to be very bad at blog farewells, so I don't want to get into my "what do I do now without the Brigade?!" moment for the world to see. (I'm a big baby about blog friends leaving. Seriously, my day is ruined.)
Anyway, since the site is going down anyway, I want to see the text for the unpublished interview with Jack Cobra. And I want to find out what happened to Buck Rampage's Cougar! Oh, and where's a Society Report Card or Bruce Paine special on Bissinger-Leitch?
Oh, also, I want to argue in the comments one more time, so what's with the "We could have been a top 5 blog" nonsense? What the blog accomplished was amazing enough; you all were on the Kelvin Sampson story ahead of nearly everyone else, and you managed to provide decent analysis on 5-6 different sports teams. There's no need to play "what if" or "we could have been a contender"; enjoy what was already, because it was great.
It wasn't 'we could have been a top-5 blog' in the sense of being something we aspired to be. it wasn't something we wanted as you can tell by our various topics.
I could create a whole website based on how to create a blog that works and why people screw theirs up so badly. It's not as difficult as people make it out to be.
Ours was here for a reason. To give us a public place to argue. We don't have any regrets. I'm sure Bruce can answer that more eloquently than I.
Well, if you ever get the bug, you can come over and drop some knowledge on my page. That invite goes for all in the Brigade.
Good luck with the move!
Ok, good to hear that. I should add to my wish list, then, that I want to hear about how to build a better blog. I may know a lot of it anyway, but maybe not, and I'd like to learn from you all before you leave for good.
Step 1. Put large sums of money into a bag
Step 2. Pay me to consult
Step 3. .....
Step 4. Profit
You aren't getting it easy. You've had two tries to do it on your own now.
If I can dig up the unpublished Cobra interview, it will be put up....I do not think that I have any shooters at the moment, so unless someone gives me a final one or two, then we will have to let that pass along like its creator....any last sports injuries anyone wish to see? I will respond to anyone but Redhead...
This is indeed a sad day, especially because you guys make up most of my commenters. And I'm pretty sure most of my readers come thanks to links on this page.
So, really, what I'm saying is that is all about me.
Well, this is very sad for me, too. I'll miss all you guys, though I'm glad to hear you are all moving on to better things.
who said anything about "better"? I live in freakin Minnesota. Trying to figure out the streets in Minneapolis is like trying to look a Playmate in the eyes.
"You aren't getting it easy. You've had two tries to do it on your own now."
Sheesh, why the venom? That's a low blow, and I've suddenly got over much of my grief that you're leaving. Let me clear something up for you. When I was asking people about a combo blog and eventually signing up with sportsonmymind.com, it was not because my blog was doing poorly. I had my two biggest months in February and March 2008 (including a 15,000 hit month), and I cracked the Ballhype 100 for the first time (including a high of 78). But it was a lot of work, and I didn't want to post every day. I wanted to move because I envied the fun I saw happening on group blogs, including this one. Ok?
Toughen up. You aren't going to get anywhere if you take everything personally.
That one was free.
*sniffle*
It's okay guys...really...I'm happy for you...can't you see the smile?
*sniffle*
I'll just...I'll just...I'll drink a beer for you...yeah...in your honor. I'll be fine. I'm happy for you.
*sniffle*
"Trying to figure out the streets in Minneapolis is like trying to look a Playmate in the eyes."
Wait...Playmates have eyes?
damn... first the fat boys break up, and now this?
Thanks, I'll give a free tip to you in return. Take it easy--it can't be possible that every person who gets mad at you has no reason to do so.
Look, we have two different personalities and styles of blogging, and I'm not going to sit here and tell you that mine is always better. But I'm not going to let you tell me about how much better your way is, either.
Dude.....it's my blog and I'll tell you what I want to tell you, when I want to tell you and how I want to tell you. That's how things work around these parts. Whether you 'let me' or not, it's still happening.
A couple of us used to have a friend that reminds me of you, his name was Seth. Ask Paine about him for clarification.
Why you got mad at me, I have no idea why. You took one sentence of what I wrote in a long post, let your imagination run wild with it, made a comment which I returned with a joke and now you are still mad. I'm not here to massage your ego or soothe your feelings. As the Redhead would say, stop being a pussy.
Hey, I said I DIDN'T have anything against podiatrists. I can't control what my father thinks!
I greet your advice for running a blog in much the same way I greeted every Cubs post ever written - with ennui mixed with disdain.
I SAID GOOD DAY SIR!!!!!
I haven't given any advice? Everyone misses this point.
Oh! See, I didn't realize that you took offense to the "We could have been a top 5 blog" criticism I made. That explains a lot, then.
I really don't want to ruin the Brigade's goodbye with a drawn-out fight in the comments. Truce? Regarding my first comment, I was indeed shocked that the site was going away, and thus I didn't express myself as well as I could have. Believe it or not, my intent was to argue that you all had much more fun than you would have if you had been a top 5 blog. In other words, I was attempting a compliment. Clearly, reading the note again, it didn't sound that way.