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"Ball." |
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Ordinarily, I find "Why I've been gone so long" blog posts to be self-indulgent and boring. But it's been over a year since I posted here and I've been continually asked about my absence over that time so I might as well get this out of the way right off the bat. The short explanation is that this blog stopped being fun for me. The reason why it stopped being fun is a longer explanation and one I'll keep private, for the most part. Let's just say it's buried in the title of this post. I started this blog in 2002 because I saw a need for entertaining and informative discussion about the Raptors and I hoped I had the skill and passion to fill that need. Over the next few years, my passion and this site's audience grew - and so did the opportunities this site opened for me. Once I started to realize that RaptorBlog could be more than a hobby but a gateway to a whole new career path, it turned into something I took very seriously and a commodity I became very protective of. The upside to that approach is that I succeeded in gaining access to a career in the sports media field and this site will always be dear to me for that reason. The downside is that my approach attracted a lot of haters and sabotagers and, as a result, RaptorBlog wasn't fun anymore. Add two young children and a hectic new job into the equation and it wasn't hard for me to walk away from here. Of course, as many of you know or figured out, just because I stopped updating the blog, that didn't mean I was ready to hand it over to someone else. Part of it was ego, but mostly I was afraid to hand over the reins because I wondered if I would ever regain the passion that I once had for this site and for the Raptors. Well, the passion is back. I should thank Bryan Colangelo, Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon for keeping me interested in this team. And I should thank my wife for ensuring that I never did anything as short-sighted as handing over the keys to this ride. But most of all, I'd like to thank the people who I met or emailed me to tell me how bummed out they were that I stopped writing. I had assumed that all the other great blogs out there would fill the void. To most of the old crowd, that is probably the case - but a few people persisted and kept the flame alive. OK, let's not get carried away here about how big of a deal this is. This isn't Vince Carter returning to the Raptors (thank God) or Hayden Panettiere appearing in Playboy (unfortunately). It's just a blog and I'm just a guy who loves to write and talk about NBA basketball. But you know something? This was the first team-specific NBA blog on the Web (as far as I know) and for a few years, it was one of the best. I don't know if I can reclaim that status, but I'm here to have some fun again, just like back in '02. Two years ago, the going got weird so this weirdo turned pro. Now, I just want to see how much the game changed since I've been gone - and whether or not I can still ball with the best of 'em. I'm finally back. Ante up, bloggers. |
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