Today the tiny sliver of the Internet that I named One Foot Down is 3 years old. If you had told me back then that OFD would be what it is today I would have laughed out loud and asked you how early you had started drinking that day. But here we are.
As it stands today we have a great group of writers and an arguably better commentariat. Our never-ending discussion about Notre Dame Athletics and the greater college football landscape isn't just a tagline. It is literally what happens here almost 24 hours a day, and it belongs to all of us.
For the last few weeks I have been thinking about what I should write in this post. How does one summarize a three year evolution in a few paragraphs? Is anyone even interested? Maybe not.
At the speed that information moves today a blog is only as good as its last post and the next one better not be too far around the corner! Despite this, I feel compelled to pause for a minute and take a brief look back at how this all got started.
31 January 2009. I hit post for the first time. That post was not good, but it also really wasn't anything more than me trying to figure out how to use Blogger. Nice excuse right! Regardless One Foot Down came to life.
This all started much as it is today only significantly smaller. It was a never-ending conversation about college football that was happening via email. The Coach, my brother-in-law "The Deer Hunter", a couple of other close family friends and I were constantly firing emails back and forth about assorted college football topics du jour. We represented affiliations with assorted programs but shared a common love of the game. That email conversation literally went on for about 10 years
Within that group my emails were always the most longwinded. I like to write. I don't consider myself to be particularly good at it but it is one of the few activities in life that I have discovered to be relaxing for me. Couple writing with my favorite recreational topic of conversation (Notre Dame & anything else college football related) and I can run long on occasion.
My original idea was to move that email chain to the web where anyone else that was interested could join the conversation. At the time the other guys participating in that conversation were all fans of different teams, and the collective discussion was national in scope. Hence the more general college football name One Foot Down.
As it shook out, I started writing and those guys commented. The more I wrote, the more the conversation naturally turned to South Bend. I still discussed a fair amount of national stuff, and as you know I still enjoy doing that, but One Foot Down obviously ended up reflecting the primary interest of its only writer. As I found my voice the site took on more and more of a Notre Dame flavor.
During the 2009 season I settled into a groove and the site turned into the freshman version of what it is today. By the end of that season the site had a small following and a few regular commenters. The foundation was in place.
Today the focus remains the same as it was three years ago. It really is all about the conversation, and that conversation is now the product of a great team of writers and an outstanding commentariat.
As we continue to move forward that won't change. As you know our community goals are to keep an open dialogue that is interesting, thought provoking, entertaining, educational and fun. That's it.
Thanks for being here. We are looking forward to a great 2012.
Go Irish!
Whiskey