Gratitude

Before I started contributing to this site, I was a fan. To me, IgglesBlog was a source of intelligent analysis, unlike anything else I had seen. And at that point, IgglesBlog was Derek. Bounty and Tommy came later, and I was a fan of theirs individually long before they started writing under the IgglesBlog banner. But to me, this site has always been about Derek, first and foremost. His writing style, his clear analysis, his statistical research, his video breakdowns, all of it challenged the way I think about the Eagles. I thought then – and still think now – that Derek was the most unique voice out there among Eagles fans. I am forever in his debt for having kept the quality of this site as high as it has been for so long.

At some point, I transitioned from merely reading the articles and to commenting on them. I found that the community of IgglesBlog readers was just as intelligent, thoughtful, and articulate as the site’s proprietor. It was a haven from some of the reactionary and poorly-informed Eagles fan communities that are out there. In many ways, I have enjoyed the comments section as much or maybe even more than I did the articles on the site.

To me, the thing that hurts so much about today’s announcement is that this community will be disbanded. I am sure we will all run into each other on other sites, but in truth, we will probably wind up scattered across various venues. So this is my last best chance to thank you all, individually and collectively, for all of the contributions you made to my enjoyment of this sport and of this team over the past few years. Thank you.

I also want to thank Derek and Bounty, who gave me the chance to write for this site, and whose posts have always been must-reads for me. And thanks to Tommy as well, who gave this idea of a merged IgglesBlog/Eagles Blitz idea a shot, and who puts in so much time and passion into writing about the team. I sincerely look forward to reading future work by all three of you in the future. Above all, I have always been a fan.

In conclusion, I want to say this to each of you: Thank you for reading, thank you for commenting, and thank you for being Eagles fans.