Sunday, July 20, 2014

The End Of The AB4AR Era

On August 30th, 2009, I was still a relative newcomer to the midwest.  Bored and missing home on that Sunday afternoon, I made the decision to start my first blog, this blog.  The decision to write about the Yankees was an easy one.  They've always been my favorite team and getting into writing about them would be a great way to stay close to them and follow them without the benefit of the YES Network that I had back in CT.  The writing was admittedly not very good early, more the ramblings of an under-educated baseball fan than true analysis.  But by writing more and by starting to read other Yankee blogs, I slowly figured out what I was missing and where I was lacking, and over the last few years I think I've managed to bring this blog up to some minimal level of respectability.

Now almost 5 years and 3,956 blogs later, the time has come to say goodbye, at least as the leader of the AB4ARmy.  Tomorrow morning I'll be starting a  full-time role over at IIATMS/TYA as the new co-Editor-In-Chief, and this 3,957th blog on AB4AR will be my last.

In a way, nothing is really changing.  I'll be writing all the same stuff I am now, just over there exclusively.  I won't be able to throw out the casual F-word anymore, but looking back at how frequently I used it in the early days of AB4AR, that's probably a good thing.  With some changes on the horizon in my personal and professional lives, it just didn't make sense to keep splitting my time anymore, and I think I've taken the minimalist blogger approach about as far I can on this site.  Maybe now I'll actually be forced to create a Twitter account.

So to everybody who's been a regular AB4AR reader for any amount of time over the last 5 years, thank you.  It's your support that got me my first opportunity at TYA and got me the chance to take this latest opportunity at IIATMS.  I hope you'll keep following and reading over at IIATMS if you don't already because we've got a really great group of writers there and we're going to be churning out a lot of quality content.  I don't want to say this is the end of AB4AR forever, but it's definitely the end of it for now.  Thanks again to everybody who's been a reader, and I'll see you on the other side tomorrow.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear that you'll be shutting down this blog (which I've been following pretty religiously since the start of the 2011 season), but congrats on the new gig/promotion! To be entirely honest, I tend to get extremely frustrated reading through any Yankees blogs written by someone other than you, Chad Jennings, and Mike Axisa, but I will definitely continue reading your posts on IIATMS.

Best,
Dan

Mikegyro said...

Hey Brad, been reading your site for the last couple of seasons and have also been following IIATMS at the same time. Congrats on the promotion. I'll still read ya on the other side anyway.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the kind words, gents. I appreciate them.

Anonymous said...

Just to let you know I have been reading this blog as a Dutch Yankees fan and thoroughly enjoyed it. Hopefully I will be able to find your writings elsewhere. Thanks.

Mister D said...

Been reading both. Sorry to see this site go, but as long as you are still writing, I guess I won't miss a thing, will I?

Unknown said...

To the anon Dutch reader, you can read everything I write now here:

http://itsaboutthemoney.net/

Anonymous said...

Brad, thanks for everything you wrote here. Your work is great.
Congratulations.

Joao, from Brazil

nicknowsky said...

Nah dude I had fun with your occasional FB post and rant, I wouldn't shut this down

Unknown said...

Love reading your blog. Congrats on the promotion and good to hear that we'll still be able to read your great perspective on the Yanks.

Yanker said...

I've always enjoyed your writing and will continue to follow you over at IIATMS.

One request: maybe you can help IIATMS get game recaps up on a more timely basis. Often they're very late, and sometimes they don't post anything at all.

MScott said...

It's been - and will continue to be - fun. I enjoy your enthusiasm, insight, and willingness to consider antithetical viewpoints.

Already reading you at IIATMS!

Best of luck.

MScott

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