Back in October 1997, Dean Smith tried to get motivated to start his 37th season as head basketball coach at UNC and found he couldn’t muster the fire.  Coaching is a hard job and requires immense amounts of commitment and intensity.  When it’s not there, you can’t fake it.  Coach Smith knew the signs and so retired.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I’m not really comparing blogging to coaching an ACC basketball team, but like Dean Smith, I just can’t summon the necessary motivation to keep this thing going.  Life has stepped up around me – work, family, work #2 – and to compete with that and keep this blog as good (OK, nearly as good) as I want it to be would require effort I can’t provide.

I’ve known this for a while now but just couldn’t bring myself to write a coda.  I like this blog!  It’s been a lot of fun and while it didn’t turn out to be what I wanted, it did become more than I ever really deserved.  Even now, due largely to the bizarre workings of Google Images and despite the lack of any significant content in months, this site gets quite a bit of traffic.  Sure, it’s not really good traffic, but it still amazes me that so many people click over here, even by accident.

So, this is it.  Sure, I could find time here and there to write little posts about things I find interesting or amusing (like before and after pics of Ralph Friedgen), but I think it’s best if I just walk away.  Leave it as it is.  It’s really best that way.

The one thing I’m unsure about is my content.  What to do with it all?  Do I take it all down?  Leave it up there to collect dust and cobwebs like your grandmother’s attic?  I really don’t know what’s best.  For now, I’m going with “leave it up there,” but at some point I might have to rethink that.

Lastly I want to thank everyone who has ever read, commented on, emailed about or linked to one of my articles.  Those little nuggets of feedback, whether it was a whole blog post about what I wrote or just a counter-tick on my web stats, kept me going. 

Thank you.

(p.s. As a final gift to you, my readers – Sail With The Pilot!)