On the fourth Thursday in November, we give thanks for the many things about which we should be thankful. And even when it’s been perhaps a challenging or difficult year, there are still many things about which to be thankful.
Whether it’s health, family, gainful employment, or anything that can be regarded as a good thing, we all have something about which to be thankful.
And here’s the part where I get all sappy and explain that, as it relates to this 17-year-old operation that started on a lark and became an actual multi-platform media operation, I’m thankful that you (both specifically and collectively) are reading these words. The fact that you are, the fact that you have, that fact that enough of you were a decade ago to get NBC to decide to take a chance on a West Virginia wiseass with a dial-up Internet connection, changed my life in many significant ways, allowing me to work without really working, to develop new skills, to grow the audience, and to cover the NFL a lot more comprehensively with a full staff of five other writers: MDS, Josh Alper, Darin Gantt, Curtis Crabtree, and our most recent addition, Charean Williams.
Coupled with Peter King’s Football Morning in America column and a wide variety of videos (including clips from the PFT Live simulcast on NBCSN), the NFL and its teams are covered in a clear, thorough, and comprehensive way, every day of the year. (I still haven’t taken a day off since January 1, 2004, even though Chris Simms still doesn’t believe me when I say that, because he still refuses to work more than two days in a row.)
More than 20 years ago, with the emergence of free agency and the creation of the salary cap, the NFL became a 24/7/365 proposition. The rise of the dot-com industry created the platform for meeting the constant demand for NFL-related information, rumor, analysis, etc. I’d like to say I planned to be in the right place at the right time with the right voice to pull it all together in an informative, authentic, and engaging way, but that’s not the truth. The truth is I’m just a guy who has loved football since I was old enough to look up from my Hot Wheels and notice that something was on TV that I’d never seen before, and then the planets eventually lined up in a way that swept me into the life that I would have always wanted, if I’d ever had any idea between ages five and 35 that it was even a possibility.
But here we are, and we’re here ultimately and primarily because you, both specifically and collectively, are here, consuming the content at a time when there is an endless supply of options. That’s the thing for which I’m most thankful, because none of this ever amounts to anything without people reading what we write and/or listening to what we say.
So allow me to write, and to say, thank you, to each of you who have given us any of your valuable time this year. I hope we can continue to earn your attention and loyalty in the future, and I hope that you have a rewarding and memorable Thanksgiving, especially if it includes watching roughly nine hours of football.
