Chairman How's Glorious Army
Significantly Lowering the Bar Since 2008.

When I left this place last year, it was with a lot of regret.

You read yesterday about exactly why I left and what was going on behind the scenes to make all of that happen. At the time, it was all very necessary. The clusterfuck-on-ice we were subjected to on a nightly basis made it nearly impossible to run this site. When the season was flushed down the toilet by Thanksgiving, I had a very hard time finding original ways to say “fuck these guys” every night. I tried my best to find the positive, but if we’re all honest with each other, it would have been easier to find the positive in being diagnosed with leprosy than finding the positive in last year’s team. Around here, the prevailing sentiment among the staff was that if the guys on the ice didn’t give a fuck, there really wasn’t much motivation for us to do so, either. As a result, the negativity, perhaps justifiably, rained down on the site. Then came the whole Twitter-Fritsche thing, and it just catalyzed the whole situation for me. In hindsight, I knew I’d be leaving — in the spirit of full disclosure, I did tell my partners here that I’d stick it out until the end of the year — but after Twittergate went down, it was just time to go. The problems surrounding this place began to spill over into my personal life, which was something I swore I’d never let happen. Well, it began to happen, as you’ve seen, and when push came to shove, I had to walk away.

Leaving was the right thing to do, and it was easy at the time, but I regretted it on many occasions. The first few home games after walking away from it all were strange, in the sense that I realized that I’d forgotten how to go to the game just to watch it, and not have to think about what I was going to write about later in the evening. It was a strange, albeit liberating feeling. Still, my sense of loyalty to what I’d helped create here left me feeling incredibly guilty. I think that’s why I attempted to come back as a “guest star” of sorts a couple of times, because I felt like I owed you, the readers (and, maybe more importantly, Alex and Dave) at least some kind of effort to finish out what I’d helped to start. I just couldn’t find that fire, though, and I really mailed it in. It showed, too — my attempts at posting were just awful. On some level, I think I realized that, and just stopped trying at that point. It wasn’t exactly the way I thought it would have ended, but that’s the way it happens sometimes, I guess, and I went on to do other things instead.

So, after four days and a couple thousand words, let’s get to why all of this is happening, shall we? With a new affiliate and a new roster to look forward to, along with some time to reevaluate the world around me, I think I’m ready to try this again. Now, before you get wet and/or hard with anticipation, let’s get a couple of things straight:

What’s going to be different? You mentioned things will be different.
When I first kicked around coming back to this, one of the things I had to admit was that my lack of originality last time around really pushed me out the door more than anything. With that in mind, I’m going to be incorporating other non-Crunch stuff into the mix this year. The hope is that in addition to being a way to rebuild traffic, it will also help me to keep myself fresh in the event that this season falls apart sooner rather than later. So, in addition to the most up-to-date and best written Crunch talk in town, expect material about my other sporting interests, namely Yankee baseball, EPL soccer, Toronto Maple Leafs hockey and New York Jets football. In addition to this, expect other topics as well — given that I’m working on becoming Dr. Magic’s, there may, from time to time, be a post or two about being a graduate student and working toward what feels like an impossible goal. Music, television, comic books…it’s all fair game. Above all else, remember that there’s a reason for all of the non-Crunch stuff: without it, there might be no Chairman’s at all. Read it, don’t read it, I really don’t give a fuck what you do with it…but keep in mind that it’s all there for a reason.

What about Alex and Dave? What’s the story with them?
Good question. The answer is simple — I don’t know. Obviously, they’re the co-owners of this place, and they’re as involved with the site as they want to be. It’s been that way from the start, and that hasn’t changed. It’s important to remember that all of this has nothing to do with them and whatever the future holds for them. This is all me, and I don’t claim to speak for anyone but me. Are they under any obligation to come back in October once the season begins? No. Do I hope that they come back in October and go buck wild about anything and everything, like I plan to do? Fuck yes. Hopefully that clears it up.

How do we know you’re not going to say fuck it and leave again, asshole?
Fair enough. And again, the answer is simple — you can’t, because I can’t. I’m not planning on it as I write this, but I never planned on leaving the first time, either. What I can tell you, though, is that I will be gone (in the physical sense) for half of the season, as I am tentatively moving to Russia for a couple of months to work for the State Department as part of my ongoing educational saga. What happens to this place while I’m gone is a question mark right now, but we’ll worry about that when we need to worry about it. Until then, just assume that things will move along as planned, until otherwise notified.

Will this place be like it was before?
No, and I hope it isn’t. As amazing of a time as I had the first time around, I don’t know that we ever realized our full potential, for a variety of reasons. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to do that this time around. Now, you might have heard from your friends and coworkers that other sites and message boards are in the works to fill the void that this place left. I wish them all the luck in the world, and I want them all to succeed to the best of their ability. I hope that we can all coexist and comingle, and that we can prove what all of us know — that we’re among the most passionate and loyal fanbases in the sporting world.

So, that’s that…the birth, life, death, and second coming. To paraphrase Roger Waters, this is where we came in. To close this out, I’d like to end with a brief announcement and a couple of thank-yous. First, now that this is all out of the way, we can get down to normal posts, beginning next week. For now, expect a few posts per week, and we’ll see where things go from there. It may not be the few posts per day that we once did, but rest assured, this is happening.

Now, for the obligatory thank you list. First and foremost, thank you to Alex and Dave, who are the two finest partners I could have had. They kept this place rolling, and it would have fallen to the wayside without them. They’re the reason I’m back here today. I’d also like to thank the one and only Brent Axe for all of the support and friendship he’s given us from day one. The on-air plugs and Twitter mentions, along with the advice and encouragement were way more than we ever hoped for or deserved. The man is a class act. Brent, buddy, thanks much.

Finally, thanks to all of you for coming back for more. Let’s get this fucker going bigger and better than ever.