As is customary around these parts on Thanksgiving, we reflect on what we are thankful for and use that gratitude to propel our efforts for the next full year. I’ll go first and encourage the rest of staff to contribute to this post with their selections.
For me, I’m grateful of course to the community here. You and I (by I, I mean myself and the staff) have worked hard to develop an ethos of reasoned discourse and erudition. There is no substitute for impassioned, intelligent debate or discussion. Because of our interaction we are all made more aware. There is no price I can place on such a wonderful treasure.
I’m also thankful for SB Nation. I am thankful for providing us a platform to discuss our sport. I am thankful for their commitment to MMA when so many companies seem too tepid to back it. I am also thankful for their belief in the ability of me, Nate and several other important people to be real contributors to the company. I never imagined we’d get to this place, but I can tell you this is only the first permutation of our MMA content projects. Wait until 2011. We are going to blow you away.
Be safe on this holiday. Be kind to friends, family and even strangers. Be thankful for all that is going right in your life. Thanks for visiting BloodyElbow.com.
MIKE FAGAN: Luke brought me on to the site in the summer of 2008. We drew 550k page views that month. We did 5.2 million last month. We garner 50-60k unique visitors every day. To say that I am thankful for the success of this site – and the hard work put in by everyone involved – would be an understatement.
I’m thankful to be a part of a site that isn’t interested in exchanging favorable content for privileged access. I’m thankful for the infrastructure that SB Nation provides. I’m thankful for Hunter Thompson and Ernest Hemingway and Michael Lewis and Joseph Heller and George Orwell and Sam Harris and all the other writers that have influenced me this past year. I’m thankful for Dana White and Brock Lesnar and the sport of MMA. I’m thankful for the family I have, and the family that’s no longer with us. Be safe everyone.
JONATHAN SNOWDEN: It’s hard to believe I’ve only been doing this since April. It feels like an eternity since Nate and I first discussed the idea of me joining the Bloody Elbow team. It’s been a rocky ride, but that’s par for the course. After all, I first met Nate and Luke when Dave Walsh and I duked it out with them in the Fight Opinion comments. It was only later, with daily Google chats, that I came to realize that Nate is by far the savviest guy I’ve met on the MMA internet. There are a lot of great contributors to BE – but he’s the one I’ve learned the most from, day after day, week after week.
I know we’ve had some rocky times. Some of you don’t always agree with some of my articles. That’s fine. You don’t play with fire and expect not to sweat. But I hope you’ve enjoyed the ensuing conversations, even when we’ve been on opposite sides. I told Nate a long time ago it was the audience that was drawing me to BE. Eight months in, that remains true. You guys are the smartest fans on the internet. Thanks for reading.
NICK THOMAS: I’m thankful for Strikeforce booking Alistair Overeem in 2010, hoping for lots more Ubereem in 2011. I’m thankful for all the awesome FanPosts and FanShots you guys have been submitting and the UFC for getting MMA regulated in Ontario Canada. =) Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
ANTON TABUENA: First of all, I am very thankful to Nate and Luke for deciding to take a chance on bringing in a guy living half-way around the world. It’s because of them that I am now doing what I truly love, on one of the biggest and best outlets available for our sport… I am also thankful for the UFC-WEC merger. We’ve wanted this for years, and now the smaller guys have a chance to perform on the biggest stage available. It’s been a great year so far, but hopefully by next year I will be thanking Zuffa for a UFC Philippines show. 😉 Be safe everyone.