Reflections of the Newbie

I was the last person to join IgglesBlog and only got to spend about 6 months here. If I had to describe my experience in one word it would be...IgglesBlogtastic!!! What does that mean? Hell if I know. The guys told me to say something positive or there'd be no fruit-cup for me tonight.

Derek, Gabe, and Sam invited me into their cyberhome with open arms back in the summer. That seemed like a nice gesture, but it was actually just a ruse to lure me into the basement. I'd rather not talk about that incident, but I will say that the sight of Derek in a kimono is something I'll never get over.

It was fun to be part of a great team that did a "heckuva job" covering the Eagles. Derek is a gifted writer and often had a different take on things than I did. That was good. I like when a site can offer multiple opinions on a subject. Groupthink is boring. Derek made me question the way I looked at things. Sadly, I was always right and he was always wrong, but that's just a cross I have to bear. I will miss Derek's posts, especially the headlines. They were always interesting and clever, a slight step above my "Sunday Stuff" and "Thursday Thoughts" entries.

Gabe, aka BountyBowl, did a great job of bringing a whole other perspective to things. I remember when Izzy Stradlin left Guns 'N Roses. Slash tried to explain to the new guitar player what Izzy did, but wasn't sure how to describe it. Izzy was just Izzy and that put the band their unique sound. Gabe made things fun and interesting. He also was able to bring the gameday experience to the site. One of my regrets is that I can only talk about what I see on TV.

Sam is the best source of information about the Eagles and the business side of things. Period. I have to read his stuff about three times to make sure I understand it all. That's no insult to him, but rather a comment on the difficulty of the issues he's willing to try and explain. Einstein said that genius is the ability to make complex ideas simple. Sam does a very good job of doing just that. I'm also constantly blown away by his knowledge of assistant coaches. I know that side of things pretty well, but he puts me to shame.

Eagles fans are losing a great site in the closing of IggleBlog, but you know the old saying...as one door closes another one opens. I'll be starting an Eagles site here in the next few days. You can continue to follow me on Twitter, PE.com, SB Nation Philly, and ScoutsNotebook as well. I'm still waiting to be named lead NFL Draft analyst for Naughty Nurses magazine, but no update on that situation yet.

Thanks for a great run here at IgglesBlog. Time's yours.