This is a meta post that doesn't have to do much with UCLA athletics but a lot to do with Bruins Nation. One of our best friends in the entire college blogosphere - Blue Gray Sky - the incomparable bloggers covering the Fighting Irish closed up their shop today. As Jay wrote in his post entitled "hanging up our jerseys":
It's been a good run. When we started this endeavor, way back in the Winter of 2004, Tyrone Willingham had been fired, and Urban Meyer had just said "no thanks" to Notre Dame. Charlie was to be hired shortly thereafter, and we followed him diligently over these last five years. I think if BGS can claim anything, it's turned out to be a pretty comprehensive chronicle of the Charlie Weis era under the Dome. Over the last five years we've parsed the pressers, broken down the schemes, charted the recruiting, celebrated the victories, and mourned the losses. In the heyday of the blog, we were spending countless hours a week reading articles, brainstorming ideas, researching history and statistics, watching (and rewatching, and rewatching) games, corresponding with other bloggers and folks in the media, and writing and editing posts. One of our hallmarks was that we weren't afraid of the long-form post (or even the multi-post project, spread over several weeks). Maybe that was a way of getting out of having to post something every hour of the day, as many bloggers do it; but for us, the style seemed to fit. We took our time, polished things up, and when we were ready, hit that "post" button. It was a blast.
Well it was a blast not just for Notre Dame fans but all for pure college football fans whether they loved or hated the Irish. BN launched few months after BGS. BGS was one of our key inspirations in launching this community because we also wanted to have a place for the UCLA shade of Blue and Gold, where Bruin fans would be able to celebrate, commiserate and analyze to death every aspect of Bruin athletics.
They have had an amazing run and it was a pleasure for us to have BGS as great friends. BGS was one of the pillars of classic college football blogosphere when it took off in 2005. I just wish we had them around when UCLA and Notre Dame played each other in a football game that actually meant something.
So congrats are in order for Jay, Pat, Mike, Michael, Dylan, Jeff, Pete and Kevin. They set the standard on what college football blogosphere should be all about. Yet it is sad to see them go. We will miss them a lot.
GO BRUINS.