In the past year, I've gotten back into professional wrestling. I grew up on WWF in the late 1990s, but also knew of WCW and ECW, two rival organizations.
WCW was the other high-profile, money-loaded company steeped in history, like the WWF. But in the 1990s, the small ECW came about by being different. It was "extreme."
This meant tables upon tables. Flaming tables. Chairs. Thumbtacks. Weapons the fans decided to bring. Much of the violence you saw in other professional wrestling organizations was influenced by Extreme Championship Wrestling
My wife had foot surgery on Friday. While waiting, I opened my computer and watched a documentary about the history of ECW.
It was a small company in Philadelphia that started to grow. It had a cult following and a knowledgable fanbase. The fans made the company.
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It is with much sadness that I must announce I am leaving The Only Colors for a new career venture.
This has been my favorite place to discuss MSU. It's not extreme, but it's different from any other MSU site out there. Tempo-free stats are our flaming tables. The readers are what make TOC great. It's a rare place where I'm willing to visit a comments section.
Pete will be assuming management again, and we've added another writer to take some of the load. I didn't start this site. KJ did. He, Pete, LVS and others helped create the foundation. In my year-and-a-half at the helm, we've expanded and added a lot of readers, and that has improved the quality of discussion. Along with that came some bad apples, which we quickly disposed of. We have a high standard of conversation here, and I'm proud of that.
Pete brought me aboard almost two years ago to write about football recruiting. I was running my own personal MSU blog, just looking to stay writing after my post-graduation internships ended. That let to more work at SB Nation. A few months later, Pete asked me to take over the site. I told him I could until a found a full-time job. My work at TOC and SBN helped me land a job with CoachingSearch.com, which was nice enough to let me continue running TOC.
I've never been more free to write about MSU than I was here, yet I knew there was a standard set by the writers and readers. I was able to share stories, opinions and blab on about whatever, and those conversations expanded into the comment sections. I was able to use my valuable life skill of making pun headlines. I learned about tempo-free stats, and I haven't been the same since. I now cringe when I see people cite rebound margin. Or total turnovers. I can't go back. I'm smarter because of it. I'm also more frustrated because of it.
I'm sure KJ never dreamed the site would be filled with Rose Bowl analysis and celebration one day.
I'll still be doing my thing, and I'll be reading the site. Thanks to KJ for starting this thing. Thanks to Pete for bringing me on. Thanks to all the other writers who bring valuable content. Thanks to you readers. All of you are the reason this place is what it is. Thanks for letting me be a part of the ride.
Fight for The Only Colors, my Juggalos.