I want to begin this letter by thanking every single one of you out there in Penguins nation. Whether you are a twitter follower, facebook liker or simply a fan of the blog, I cannot thank you enough for your support over the past few years. You guys made every pregame, every post, every tweet worth while. I enjoyed writing for you guys greatly.
With that said, I am going to be stepping away from writing the Pregames and on the blog for an extended time. It may not be forever, but it certainly is going to be for a while.
The greatest thing about this blog was that it was an outlet for me on a personal level. While I was in grad school and searching for a job, it was a great outlet. It allowed me to discuss something I love very much and it took me away for a little time from the real things going on around me in my life. For someone who was having a horrible run trying to find a full-time job, this blog was a godsend as it took me away from that disheartening mess for a few hours almost on a daily basis.
However, things have changed as I mentioned when the season began. I know have a full time job. I enjoy it very much and it has come to take up a lot of time. And I also fell in love with a great girl over the last few months. She deserves my free time and honestly, I'd rather be out and about with her than in front of the computer typing.
The biggest thing about it all has been I just am not watching the games like I used to. A game day was sacred just seven months ago. My whole day revolved around it and I watched every game with such intensity I'd forget there were other people sitting next to me. However, now I barely see the games. In the last two weeks I've seen just two full games, and the Pens have played nearly seven games in that stretch. And even if I am listening to the game, it just isn't the same as watching, especially when it comes to writing for the future.
It comes down to fairness for you, the readers. If I am not watching the games, how can I possibly give honest insight and discussion on the games, players and opponents if I am not paying close attention anymore. I simply don't like to half ass things I am passionate about, and my passion for writing the Pregames has dwindled with me not watching the games as often and trying to make these posts sound right when I've been absent. It simply isn't fair for you all.
As I said, this isn't necessarily goodbye forever, but it certainly is goodbye for now. I fully intend to still tweet and post on facebook information and when I can watch the games, but the Pregames and the other blog posts are going to be discontinued for now.
Again, I thank each and every one of you for your support over the last few years. This page started as a simple twitter handle with 100 followers and grew to a twitter handle with 1200 followers, a facebook page with over 400 likes and a blog that, at its peak, was averaging 750-1000 hits a day for a pregame. While it may have been my words, it was each and every one of you that made Big Dave's Pens Pregame what it is/was. I cannot thank you enough for that.
Thank you all again, and goodbye for now.
My Best,
Big Dave