A Bloggy Goodbye of Sorts

A little over seven years ago, in June 2005, dajafi, David S. Cohen, several other dearly missed folks*, and myself responded to an "all-call" looking for someone to write a blog about the perpetually underachieving Philadelphia Phillies as part of a fledgling collective known as Sports Blog Nation. None of us had formally "blogged" before, but we were people on the Internet with strong opinions; what else did we need?

And here we are, at the end of 2012: SB Nation features over 300 individual team and league sites and has become a force in the industry. The Phillies went from "underachievers" to winners of the World Series, another pennant, and five straight division titles. We've had two MVPs, a Cy Young Award, a Perfect Game and a postseason no-hitter, and The Good Phight has turned into the best source for Phillies commentary and analysis online, thanks to the hard work of our talented editors and writers.

However, the time has come for me to pass the torch. Effective December 1st, I will be passing my Supreme Blog Lord duties off to Supreme Blog Lady Liz Roscher, who joined us last summer and has been an incredibly valuable resource and voice.

I don't plan on going anywhere! I'll still be around, still watching the Phillies and chiming in, and still wondering what wacky hijinks Ruben Amaro will get involved in next. But my time of being "in charge" around here is coming to an end. Life changes, "day-job" demands change, and new fresh blood is needed. Everyone please join me in congratulating Liz!

It has been one of the great pleasures of my life to be INTERNET FRIENDS with all of you. And it's been a joy to write about the Phillies during the greatest run in franchise history. Not many people can say that, but I can, and it's been an honor.

Thank you for being with us as we grew over the last seven years, watched the Phillies experience the highest of highs and lowest of lows, and complained about it together. Online!

Specifically, I want to thank dajafi for getting the crazy idea to start this thing after seeing that ad, and to David S. Cohen for being there since the beginning and for his invaluable contributions. And for the tickets to Game Four of the 2009 National League Championship Series (JIMMY!!!!!). Thanks to all the current Associate Blog Lords and Contributors for making these last few years incredibly fun, for making me see things from different perspectives and for those incredibly amusing email chains. And thanks to Eric Simon and Tyler Bleszinski at SB Nation for their support and guidance.

Be well, everyone. Go Phillies Forever!

* Miss you jonk, Shore, lethal, Ace, Karn, Laaaaaaz!, jeff2sf, phatj... and FuquaManuel and PhillyFriar.