My last post:
When I went to SB*Nation two and half years ago to see if I could start a Bucs Blog on their platform I had no idea of the responsibility that came with such a request. Early on you had to know HTML code in order to function for SB*Nation and for a person who had no experience in HTML it was a struggle, but a fun struggle. I remember at one point I had stripped the site of all of its color accidentally while working behind the scenes, luckily for me the Tech guys reversed my error. My studies at FSU suffered as I became more and more attuned to the blog, I may have had to repeat a course or two, but it was totally worth it.
Turn the page from then to now and wow has SB*Nation grown. We’ve got twitter feeds, rss feeds, auto-taggers, AP photo privileges, automated schedules and rosters on the sites, a Yahoo partnership; and several bloggers are even credentialed by their respective franchises. Simply amazing. The platform has evolved into a blogger’s haven. That’s why it’s tough to let this thing go. SB*Nation has become and will continue to be the premier Sports Blogging Network for diehard fans across the nation. With that said I can no longer take on the responsibility that comes with blogging for SB*Nation. Over the past two and half years I graduated from college, got a full time job, got married, bought a home, and recently had my first child. Needless to say I don’t have enough hours in my day to commit to this endeavor. It is with great remorse and apprehension that I step away from this site and community, but I must.
Many Thanks:
I would like to thank Tyler and Dave for allowing me to join the SB*Nation family and voice my opinions on everything related to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You guys trusted me with your brand and gave me an outlet to empty my thoughts. For that I will be forever grateful. Dave, Jaxon, and Dave/Sunil I thank you guys for being excellent (rival) colleagues; we spent many a day’s debating the Falcons troubles, Julius Peppers availability, and the Paper Champion Saints (I kid). Ryan, Trei, and the rest of the tech team I greatly appreciate your efforts over the years, you have crafted a fantastic thing here; I can’t even put into words the type of environment you have cultivated for bloggers and fans alike… R.J. and John it was fun being a part of the Tampa Area Blogosphere with you gentlemen! Here’s to continued success for both of you and your sites. Go Devil Rays and Bolts!
I especially want to thank Stephen Holder and Rick Stroud from the St. Pete Times, the fellas from the Pewter Report, Roy Cummings and Anwar Richardson from the Tampa Tribune and Scott from BucStats for providing me with great Buccaneers insight over the years. You guys do a phenomenal job and Bucs Fans are better for having you at their disposal. I have the greatest and utmost respect for what it is that you do. I don’t think fans fully grasp what a grind it is to initially get the information and then to disseminate it to everyone’s satisfaction. You guys do a great job, honestly you do. I’ll continue to lurk your sites, ha!
To the Vendors that provided Merchandise for contests and ticket companies who provided our readers with the cheapest tickets, a big THANK YOU goes out to you. Carroll’s Sports Cove, Wall Daddy, Ticket City, Razorgator, My Ticket Market, and 1st 4 Football Tickets we greatly appreciated your support over the years… Thanks to Flea Flicker for being our Fantasy Football provider.
Finally I want to thank my contributors and the community here. Joel (aka The Bull Gator, Craig (aka Craig T), and Niko (aka Niko521Bucs), you guys did a fantastic job keeping the site fresh with content and providing your own unique insights. It took me a while to make that leap and add voices other than mine to the site, but I feel like I’ve added three brothers to my family. I appreciate all of the time and effort you put into this website! I wish I had more time in my day to keep this thing a float, or had the resources to do this full time as I really enjoyed your company.
And the Community. . . Ghosthippo, Stixx, UNFNole, UltimateBucFan, LinuxTX, and so many more of you made this site worth coming back to day in and day out. I greatly appreciate the discussions you folks conjured up within the comments section of this site… I’ll miss the GameDay Threads we had. You may not realize it, but you are the reason the site is where it is today and why I came back day after day. I started Buc ‘Em because I wanted to provide a place where Bucs fans could come and discuss everything Bucs without censorship. We have that today and I thank you all for it!!!
Buc ‘Em Head Blogger Opportunity:
I can’t make any promises with what I have to say below, but it’s worth a shot for any respective Bucs Fan out there that wants and thinks they can handle running SB*Nation’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers Blog, Buc ‘Em. The powers that be are currently looking for a new head blogger to run Buc ‘Em, do you have what it takes? Several of you responded to my writer request a week ago so I know some of you are ready to contribute. Here’s the challenge: Blog in the FanPost Section. Blog like the site is yours. Introduce yourself to the community and blog like you would if the site was yours. We’ll pull your posts to the front page and make SB*Nation take an honest look at your writing style and abilities. Make it hard for them to pick someone over you. Go! Start! Right now! Let’s see what you got… Maybe they will bring you aboard.
With that, I’m done… It was a fun ride. Go Bucs!!!