This little site began with a Warren Zevon reference two years ago, so piggybacking on his art is appropriate for marking Out of Left Field's birthday.
(Move ahead to the 3:45 mark and listen to man play.)
There is not much to be said that hasn't made it into one of the 2,406 posts that have appeared here across the past 732 days. There have been countless late, lonely nights, endless empty threats to retire, death by a thousand typos and of course, shenanigans.
Someone even got sued that one time. C'est la vie.
Please know that there is no end to the gratitude toward everyone who has contributed to two years that have never been dull, except maybe during the dog days of the baseball season and that period in the dead of Canadian winter when the sun is just a rumour. There are too many folks to mention by name, but it takes in readers, commenters, every other blog who's linked here, colleagues who have gone from not knowing what a blog is to understand what makes someone write one, plus the family and friends who have been very encouraging.
Truth be known, it's too hard to get through this without thanking some people specifically. It seems best to keep it to the family (Mom, Dad, Trina, Shawn and Amer) and friends who have been supportive sincebefore this site launched -- a group including but not limited to Neil Acharya, Jim Burnett, Keith Borkowsky, Samantha Craggs, Jeff Dertinger, John Gillis, Dan Hirschorn, Greg Hughes, Tiffany Mayer, Dan Pearce, Peter Roney, Dan Rowe, Darryl G. Smart, Trevor Stewart. and of course, Christopher J. Thomas, the world's oldest teenager.
Then there are the people who've become trusted associates through the blog, such as Jean-Pierre Allard, John Bower, John Brattain, Andrew Bucholtz, John Cosway, Andy Grabia, Carl Kiiffner, Tyler King, Greg Layson, Mark Masters, James Mirtle, Erin Nicks, Dennis Prouse, Pete Toms and Mark Wacyk. Everyone should be so lucky to have a commenter such as Dennis. Dan Pawliw of the Queen's Football Club gets a special thanks.
The Tao of Stieb deserves a special thanks; so do Deadspin, Boatmen Blog and the motley crew over at Epic Carnival. Last but not least are all the readers, who might prefer having staying anonymous. Every e-mail, supportive or critical, has done the trick.
Like Warren said, some will sink, but we will float.
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8 comments:
Congrats on the anniversary: keeping something as time-consuming as this afloat for that long is something that truly deserves celebration.
Congrats Neate. All this excellent work will surely net you a sports editor gig somewhere. And just think, you won't ever need to have your staff start a blog for you will undoubtedly be on to the next medium.
J.P. aka Jonhstone Apork
Congrats Neate,
You've come a very long way from (and I quote from a phone conversation oh so many years ago) "that snot-nosed punk who thinks he can just sluff things off until the last minute and then think I won't notice when I'm putting the pages together in the morning."
You are now a no-nonsense, fire and brimstone sports journalist that can still remember the little guy (and I'm sure KB is thankful for that) and yet continues to have a sense of humour - albeit wacky at at times...
Doing his best on the Capital Region (AB) sports front,
Jordie Dwyer
Thanks all, and Jords, every word he said was true then, and probably still pretty true on some days now.
This is the freshest, sharpest Canadian sports blog out there. I toss in the "Canadian" not as a backhanded compliment, but rather to illustrate the fact that this blog covers the sports and issues that so many others miss. KSK, for example, is a daily must read also, but I am never going to read about CIS there. The snark here is also much more refined. :-)
For this sports obsessed nerd, Neate, this place is a daily must read. Thanks again for doing this, and I am pleased to play whatever little role I can in keeping it going for you.
Aww, and I thought GM Mike would be the only Gillis on the blog these days.
Congrats. Still a faithful reader.
--John
Congratulations on 2 years Neate. The blog is excellent as always, and it remains one of my first stops when I get up in the morning all bleary-eyed and processing things at 1/4 speed (usually around noon).
Neate - Congrats on the two year anniversary!! You know sports like no one else I've ever met. Definitely it is "your thing" and it's great that so many people can and do read your articles and points of view. I like how you are willing to take a stance on issues that you believe is right regardless of popular opinion. This makes for some interesting reading - even for a semi-“sports illiterate” guy like me! ;) Best of luck for the future!
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