Welcome to footballperspective.com. Football Perspective is a blog about football history, football stats, and football stats and history.
That’s how this website started, four years ago today. Moments later, I published my first piece of football analysis at the site, about… newly-drafted Oklahoma State wide receiver Justin Blackmon. Forget election cycles, there’s your reminder that four years is a really long time.
It’s hard for me to talk about this site without talking about The Streak: every day since June 15, 2012, Football Perspective has published a post. Now, at various times over the last couple of years, I had decided to end The Streak. Heck, a year ago today, here’s what I wrote:
I say that because a few months ago, I decided to slow things down. Instead of posting daily, I decided to cut back to 3-4 posts a week. That plan was supposed to go into effect in … March. So far, I’m off to a really bad start.
In the intervening twelve months, I’ve switched jobs, endured the end of a long-term relationship, and twice watched Ryan Fitzpatrick implode against the Bills. Yet even when times are tough, the last thing I want to do is devote less time to this site. Perhaps especially when times are tough. And that’s because this community is awesome.
And that’s because of you. I can’t emphasize how cool it is that smart, successful people, most of whom I have never met in real life, are coming to this site just to see what’s going on. How lucky is a writer to have a community where people are willing to take time out of their busy lives to check in on what you’ve written? That’s a daily shot of adrenaline that’s hard to beat.
But if there’s one thing I’m even more proud of than that, it’s how you guys conduct yourselves. The comments sections on the internet are known for being awful, but you go out of your way to be civil to others and to provide thoughtful, intelligent, and meaningful responses. There really is a Football Perspective community, and it’s a very cool thing. I know many of you guys feel it and know exactly what I’m talking about, so my inability to articulate how different it feels here doesn’t matter. Let’s just be glad it is the way it is.
I can never answer the question about the long-term plans for the site, because there are none. And when your site launches with a Justin Blackmon article, short-term planning may be more up your alley. But I know how honored and lucky I am to be part of the Football Perspective community, and I just hope you guys get a sliver as much joy out of this site as I do. So today, let’s all celebrate: four years running, this thing is as strong as ever. And that’s thanks to you.