Happy 10th Anniversary, Bruins Nation!

"Welcome Bruin Nation"

"Welcome, everyone."

Those were the words gave birth to Bruins Nation ten years ago today. Think about that for a moment: Ten years on the internet. That 's like 50 years or more in real time, depending on whom you ask. It seems appropriate to revisit the entire first post which read like this:

Welcome everyone. This is our very first post on this brand new blog. We started out over at FireKarlDorrell, where we had been posting during last few months covering all angles of major UCLA sports (football and hoops) and other stuff. And, we have grown lot bigger than just a single issue blog, which we started intially around our incompetent head football coach. We will still be linking back to lot of our archived material from the old site, while we post latest material on this site. If you have any questions, comments, feedbacks please click on the comment link below and post your thoughts. If you are curious about our site here is some prelim. FAQ, and here is a quick FAQ on how blogs work, which we previously posted on FKD.

We realize lot of KD's minions will try to portray us as bunch of "haters." LOL Yeah we have heard this term before. We heard it incessently back in the Lavin days. First, we are sure Karl Dorrell is a very nice man (well when he is not in Vegas I guess). Anyways by all accounts KD seems like a good guy (in public). But that does not change the fact that he should be fired for being the worst coach in the history of UCLA football. In all fairness, he probably should never have been hired, so it's not entirely fair to blame Coach Dorrell's failures entirely on him.

One of our main goals here on BruinsNation is to restore our alma mater's football tradition. If KD cannot beat SuC and win the Pac-10 , he needs to go. Period.

So welcome again.

We will have lot more on KD, UCLA football, basketball, everything Bruin related in the upcoming days. So stay tuned ... visit early and visit often.

Go Bruins.

A lot has happened in the ten years since Nestor wrote that first post.

Of course, Karl Dorrell was not successful at beating $c or at winning the Pac-10 and he finally went away. Unfortunately, his replacement Rick Neuheisel, while a true Bruin if ever there was one, could not succeed either and another change was necessary.

That brings us to where we are today.

We have Coach Jim Mora now leading our football program and, while he has succeeded at beating Just$c three years in a row, he has yet to prove that he can win the Pac-12 conference. He has also been successful in an area no one really considered with Dorrell or Neuheisel: moving the program in the right direction from a character standpoint.

While the original Bruins Nation post makes no mention of the state of our basketball program in 2005 other than saying that BN's predecessor blog FireKarlDorrell had covered all angles of major UCLA sports, anyone who has read a basketball post in the past two years can probably figure out that Steve Alford enjoys the same popularity here that Karl Dorrell did a decade ago.

One constant since the site was launched ten years ago is that Dan Guerrero is still UCLA's Athletic Director. And, while it appears that he will remain until he reaches the UC mandatory retirement age in 2019, it doesn't change the fact that we would be overjoyed if he left tomorrow since we believe his tenure has been marked by our failures in football, men's basketball and many other sports.

The launch of Bruins Nation was an important milestone for SB Nation. It was the first non-baseball blog and twenty-seventh overall on the network which now boasts over 300 different blogs.

There have been almost 10,000 articles, almost 10,000 Fan Posts, over 8,300 Fanshots and approximately 440,000 comments. We've passed over 9,500 members.

Since its inception, Bruins Nation has had 69,129,598 pageviews and 28,710,340 visits. We also have over 9,600 followers of @BruinNation and nearly 3,400 likes on Facebook.

Today, we celebrate everything that is Bruins Nation. I want to personally thank Nestor for making this site the go-to site for UCLA sports. I want to also thank the other site founders and all the front page writers who came before me for creating a platform for both celebrating the victories as well as demanding better when things don't go well. I have a much better appreciation for the first nine years as a result of the last year. Thanks to everyone who poured their blood, sweat and tears into building the first nine years of Bruins Nation.

But, most of all, I want to thank each and everyone of you - the members of Bruins Nation. Without you and your contributions, this site would not be half of what it is today. Think about that for a moment because it's true. Without almost 70 million pageviews or almost 29 million visits or 440,000 comments, what would Bruins Nation be?

The answer is simple. It would be a shell of what it is today. And, that is why we thank you for your continued contributions to the site, even if all you ever do is visit and read what's being written. Without everyone who reads the site, Bruins Nation would not be celebrating its tenth birthday today.

At the same time, I want to say that this site is what it is because of our members. I want to encourage everyone to get involved in the conversations on the site. Even if you just stumbled on the site a few days ago, if you have something to say, please say it. If you've never commented, take a moment to add one. If you've never created a Fanshot, but see something cool elsewhere, create a Fanshot about it. If you've never written anything on the site longer than a comment, take some time and write your first Fan Post. This community only gets stronger as more and more people participate and everyone is encouraged to participate.

Throughout the day today, our writers will be sharing their thoughts about today's tenth anniversary. I want to encourage all of you to share yours as well either in the comments or with a Fan Post.

Today is a day to celebrate everything that Bruins Nation has accomplished over ten years. To some, that may include the more visible accomplishments like #SFatPauley or #DefendOurLogo. To others, the memories may be more personal. I encourage you to discuss them all today.

In closing, I again want to thank everyone from Nestor and the other site founders down to the members who have joined in the last few weeks for all of your contributions to Bruins Nation. Each and everyone one of you has made BN what it has been, what it is today and what it will be tomorrow.

Here's to the first ten years as well as the next ten!

Go Bruins!!!