NFL News:

• The big news is Aaron Rodgers putting it all out there at his first press conference yesterday.
  • He turned ten minutes into 30 by talking about
    • How if they were going to build a winning team around him, maybe ask him what his preferences would be,
    • Guys who he felt had been mistreated by the organization,
    • Not wanting to be a “lame duck” quarterback,
    • That he “loves his relationships” with his coaches, teammates & fans, and his relationship with the front office, and especially GM Brian Gutekunst, is “professional”,
  • And in the end, it’s got to be a two-way street.
    • “It’s the people that win championships,” Rodgers said. “I just want to be a part of people decisions.”
• And in a totally unrelated circumstance today, the Packers acquired Randall Cobb from the Texans.
  • GM Brian Gutekunst gave up a sixth-round pick to acquire Cobb, and the Texans agreed to pay $3 million of Cobb’s base salary of $8.25 million.

As I bid farewell to the routine of creating the non-football Open Threads, I fondly remember my first one – February 12, 2016, the classic treatise on the Westminster Dog Show, “Dario Was Robbed!” As it happened, earlier that day Internet Dad put out the signal asking for help because he was “overwhelmed” at work.

So I volunteered. I had written nine posts for the site up to that point, so I had a basic understanding of WordPress & the Classic Editor” function. And remembering that I wasn’t allowed to put swear words in the article’s title (again), I followed the basic format & whipped something up. It seemed well received. It got in the mid-200s for comments, so that provided some validation. There were more than enough Alison Brie gifs to qualify the comments as a “Sexy Friday” episode as well.

On the whole, it was a fun thing to set up, and an easy way to work my way into a posting routine. With some help, I gained confidence in typing things up for people to read on a semi-daily basis, and it then led to me creating individual posts & running series. On the Threads side, I gradually took over Wednesdays, then added Tuesdays & Thursdays, and finally Mondays. After a year, I then was setting up most non-football weekdays & weekends until we get to today, which is my 1200th post of some kind on [DFO].

As I learned, people will read what you write and be favourable towards it, so long as you don’t insult their intelligence by not caring about your end result. It also helps you learn to both accept constructive criticism and not take negative reviews to heart. Further – “likes” & page views aren’t everything; some of my best work only got a few comments, but those comments were the best because they provided insight & assistance. Plus, more Moose gifs = the more he enjoyed the article.

That is what I’d like to pass on to people considering whether to contribute.

You will find a supportive community that will help you find your voice. As a bonus, we won’t sell you out like Bill Simmons would or claim your words as our own like Melania Trump. Joliet Jake has done a wonderful job with his “Wrestling Wednesdays”, and “Sexy Friday” is alive & well. But there are other nights you could claim, and once football season begins Scotchy stops killing hobos & starts prepping gameday threads so you don’t end up doing as many as there actually are.

Besides, it’s not like I’m leaving forever. I just have to give up doing the Open Threads because I know I won’t be able to commit to them for the next year. Stupid career.

My overall commitment to the site is still there. I still go through the user requests & clear out the spambots. In fact, I’ve spent the last couple of days emailing most every registered user of the site to see if they are still active. (I used “commented in the last six months?” as my guide.) It allowed me to clear about 50 dead accounts, and a few Russian bots, out of the database. Some of those names brought back some memories, but I’m hoping they’ll eventually return in some fashion. And some of the casual visitors & lurkers have emailed me indicating they are ready to become more active, so that’s been a plus.

I’ve got a possible series coming up, based on some YouTubing & teaching prep I’ve been doing. I’ll contribute my annual preseason perspective on (for some reason) the Atlanta Falcons and their playoff chances. (Here’s a preview – “poor”.) And as always, I’ll be here for the annual “DFO Hate Week” around the Super Bowl.

So while I will miss being here 3-5 times per week as your humble purveyor of Open Threads, I’ll still be around. But I do thank you for the kind words over the last few days. It means a lot that people enjoyed what I produced.

Tonight’s sports:

• Olympics:
  • Track & Field starts tonight
    • It’s mostly preliminary heats in track & opening rounds in field.
    • Highlight – the Men’s 10,000m final (11:00am ET Friday)
  • Baseball has the USA vs. Israel.
  • Boxing is into the quarterfinals, as is Women’s soccer.
  • More swimming medals are available.
  • Finally, Equestrian Dressage starts!
• Futbol:
  • Gold Cup:
    • Qatar vs. USA – 7:30pm | FS1 / UNI
    • Mexico vs. Canada – 10:00pm | FS1 / UNI
• NBA:
  • Draft – 7:30pm | ABC / ESPN / TSN4 / Sportsnet360
• MLB:
  • Blue Jays at Red Sox – 7:00pm | Sportsnet1
• Wrestling for Jake:
  • Impact – 8:00pm | AXS / FiteNetwork Canada

And with that, that’s it from me for awhile. Keep on keepin’ on, you guys. I’ll be back sooner than you think.