^{*Cover Photo From Here; I was going to use a picture of a happy miner, but those were all stock photos or Disney, both quite litigious}

Happy 4th of July! Or another Monday, depending on your geography and/or perspective.  Given that there is so much figuratively on fire right now in the world, let’s take a beat this morning to look back just a skosh.

As many of you know, this site is an outgrowth of the waning days of the quivering husk of KSK, which was itself the afterbirth of Deadspin. At DFO’s inception (and conception, I suppose), the thesis was football, dick jokes, puzzles, and football. The common thread(s) throughout were straightforward–football, dick jokes, occasionally trenchant wit, and a sense of community.

Contrary to the views of (just guessing here) 1 to 3 sitting Supreme Court justices, evolution is real and inevitable, not just with animals but even dick joke blogs. DFO’s “coverage” of football expanded to futbol and footy. It also now covers a lot of other shit, important societal issues, Canadian history, crazy ass fiction, and the frivolous and personal matters that bond people to one another. At times, and not exclusively the barren wastelands of dead NFL off-season times, we have straight up ignored major NFL happenings, either due to apathy, lack of bandwidth, or straight up disdain for the Ginger Steward of the Shield. And that’s fine because even if FOOTBALL blog became sometimes other stuff and football blog, what has persisted above all else has been the sense of community (and dick jokes).

I guess what I’m saying is at its core, this site is still the place where many people come to write and comment, attempt to be funny and/or entertained, and know they have an outlet and a likely outpouring of support if they’ve lost a pet or a job or found a new love or hobby. Sometimes we lose sight of that (or the apparent power trip of author’s privileges makes them lose more than sight) and I just wanted to take a minute to say “hey, this dick joke blog is a pretty cool place. It only stays that way with genuine, original connections and efforts from strangers, many of whom aren’t strangers anymore. Thanks for being a part of it.”

And if you want to be MORE of a part than you already are, raise a hand. As you can tell, we let almost anyone write here, just have to obey the golden rules of DFO–be funny, be respectful, be supportive of one another, and be free to declare your independence from the tyranny of pants.

On account of the holiday and the pure spirit of leveraging the Monday Mock Drafts to procrastinate work, Horatio’s regularly scheduled feature shall appear tomorrow instead. If you’re still itching for thematic collaborative selection activities, Sharky nominated a mini mock draft of “Songs Idiots Think Are Patriotic.” The over/under there is 2.5 so why don’t we say “Subversive pseudojingoistic items that go right over people’s heads” and go from there?  If you get on a roll, I’ll make up a commissioner, but let’s keep it loose in the spirit of a day off.

Anyway, may you not have to work and be able to enjoy grilled food and chilled drinks all day and all night long.

P.S. Don’t forget to let us know if you’re joining DFOCON east in Baltimore the weekend after Bastille Day. Viva DFO!