Thank you Iowa fans!
That’s really all I have to say, thank you!
Ok, I lied, I have more to say.
Today will be our last day here at Rivals. We started out here in the spring of 2003 not really knowing how long this journey would last. Here we are on the final day of 2022 announcing that our run here has come to a close.
When I was growing up, my dad would ask him what I wanted to do when I grew up. I said I’d love to cover the Chicago Cubs or the Iowa Hawkeyes. For me, those were dream jobs.
As I tried to figure out my way in life, my dad would always nudge me towards covering sports. Before his sudden passing in March of 1998, I had started writing for a local monthly newspaper called the QC Sports Connection and every time it came out I couldn’t wait to drop a copy of it in the mail to him in California.
It would have been fun to share the journey that I have had here with him and I think he would have been proud of what has been able to do here Rivals.com with our coverage of the Hawkeyes.
It’s crazy how I even got here. The internet and message boards were just starting to grow and I happened to have access to Iowa press credentials for a radio station I was helping out at in the Quad Cities and I emailed with a guy named Jon Miller to see if he needed some help with his new website. I will always be appreciative that Jon took a chance on me to do some work here.
The best move I ever made was in the spring of 2003 when I reached out a poster named KnightHawk to see if he was interested in covering football recruiting. I’ve said this many times in the past and will say it many times in the future, no one in this business is better than Blair Sanderson. Period. Folks can brag all they want about nonsense, but no one provides Iowa fans with accurate information better than Blair. He’s great at what he does here, and he’s an even better human being.
I really don’t want to make this about me or Blair or our other great hires, Kyle Huesmann and Dennis Scheidt. I am so blessed to be able to work with such terrific people every day and our team here is as strong as it has ever been. They all make life easy for me and are terrific teammates. Having my friend Tory Brecht sprinkle in his columns has been awesome as well.
This is really about all of you, the Hawkeye fans.
You made this community what it is. We fight. We complain. We get out of control from time to time. But, at the end of the day, this is one hell of a community that has chipped in with various causes over the years to help so many people, mourned the loss of great posters who became friends with all of us like my dear friend Cloyd Webb, and celebrated some really good times in Hawkeye athletics.
That’s really what life is all about, right? Good times or bad times, we stick together like one big Hawkeye family.
They say if you do something you love, you never have to work a day in your life. That’s been the case here for me every day since the spring of 2003. I’ve made some all-time great friends as a result of this community and I will be forever thankful for that. I’ve been blessed to work with great people here at Rivals. Many of the publishers have becomes great friends and will remain that way.
You will never hear me say a bad word about my time at Rivals.
From Shannon Terry, who hired me initially, to Eric Winter, to John Talman, to Josh Helmholdt, everyone here has been great to me and my family. Everything has been first class from the beginning to this final day. I appreciate my friend Josh Helmholdt letting me share this good bye with all of you today.
Thank you Rivals for taking a chance on me and for all of you for supporting our work over the years. It has been an honor to be a part of this wonderful Hawkeye community.
That’s really all I have to say, thank you!
Ok, I lied, I have more to say.
Today will be our last day here at Rivals. We started out here in the spring of 2003 not really knowing how long this journey would last. Here we are on the final day of 2022 announcing that our run here has come to a close.
When I was growing up, my dad would ask him what I wanted to do when I grew up. I said I’d love to cover the Chicago Cubs or the Iowa Hawkeyes. For me, those were dream jobs.
As I tried to figure out my way in life, my dad would always nudge me towards covering sports. Before his sudden passing in March of 1998, I had started writing for a local monthly newspaper called the QC Sports Connection and every time it came out I couldn’t wait to drop a copy of it in the mail to him in California.
It would have been fun to share the journey that I have had here with him and I think he would have been proud of what has been able to do here Rivals.com with our coverage of the Hawkeyes.
It’s crazy how I even got here. The internet and message boards were just starting to grow and I happened to have access to Iowa press credentials for a radio station I was helping out at in the Quad Cities and I emailed with a guy named Jon Miller to see if he needed some help with his new website. I will always be appreciative that Jon took a chance on me to do some work here.
The best move I ever made was in the spring of 2003 when I reached out a poster named KnightHawk to see if he was interested in covering football recruiting. I’ve said this many times in the past and will say it many times in the future, no one in this business is better than Blair Sanderson. Period. Folks can brag all they want about nonsense, but no one provides Iowa fans with accurate information better than Blair. He’s great at what he does here, and he’s an even better human being.
I really don’t want to make this about me or Blair or our other great hires, Kyle Huesmann and Dennis Scheidt. I am so blessed to be able to work with such terrific people every day and our team here is as strong as it has ever been. They all make life easy for me and are terrific teammates. Having my friend Tory Brecht sprinkle in his columns has been awesome as well.
This is really about all of you, the Hawkeye fans.
You made this community what it is. We fight. We complain. We get out of control from time to time. But, at the end of the day, this is one hell of a community that has chipped in with various causes over the years to help so many people, mourned the loss of great posters who became friends with all of us like my dear friend Cloyd Webb, and celebrated some really good times in Hawkeye athletics.
That’s really what life is all about, right? Good times or bad times, we stick together like one big Hawkeye family.
They say if you do something you love, you never have to work a day in your life. That’s been the case here for me every day since the spring of 2003. I’ve made some all-time great friends as a result of this community and I will be forever thankful for that. I’ve been blessed to work with great people here at Rivals. Many of the publishers have becomes great friends and will remain that way.
You will never hear me say a bad word about my time at Rivals.
From Shannon Terry, who hired me initially, to Eric Winter, to John Talman, to Josh Helmholdt, everyone here has been great to me and my family. Everything has been first class from the beginning to this final day. I appreciate my friend Josh Helmholdt letting me share this good bye with all of you today.
Thank you Rivals for taking a chance on me and for all of you for supporting our work over the years. It has been an honor to be a part of this wonderful Hawkeye community.
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