My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey. The Phillies fans have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of tweeting our opponent, Mike Meech of the Fightins, to congratulate him on defeating us in the second round of The Phield.

In a contest such as this, his site commands respect for its unique style and clear voice. The Fightins has long stood as the funniest and most esoteric Phillies blog and it’s of my considered opinion that it is the best fan-run baseball blogs on the internet.

Meech and his crew have cultivated a large and dedicated following that have made their voices heard loud and clear at the polls today. It’s with absolute sincerity that I count myself amongst the vast group of people that call themselves fans of The Fightins.

Did I expect to beat The Fightins in this tournament? No. I did not. Did I want to beat The Fightins in this tournament? Well… I don’t think so. I, and I say this without hyperbole, was worried sick this morning that Long Drive would actually pull out a victory. I knew that such a victory would not be a true barometer of fan interest, but rather a PR stunt carried out through social networks. To knock, what is in my opinion, the worthiest contender out of this tournament in such a fashion would have been a travesty and I was literally queasy at the ever-so-faint possibility of it happening.

To Meech, Tug, Dash, and FTM: I want to thank you for being so unique and for entertaining me almost every day since I first stumbled onto your site nearly two years ago after being linked to you from Uni Watch. I also want to thank you for being both an inspiration and a supporter of mine. I was, no joke, super honored when I was asked to contribute to your site in January. Every time I get a compliment from one of you guys on something I’ve done here at Long Drive it means that much more because, goddamnit, it’s coming from The Fightins crew. Thanks for playing along as I took The Phield WAY too seriously. Meech, Thanks for letting me call you a baby-killer and not being (or at least acting) creeped out when I asked you to send me a picture of your head for the above photoshop. Dash, thanks for always workshopping stuff with me over gChat. FTM, thanks for all the encouragement these last few days. And Tug… You’re my fucking hero. You can use that picture of me in my boxers as long as you want now that I have that picture of you.

To Chris: Same as all that bullshit above, but slightly less because you haven’t actually been eliminated from The Phield yet. Screw you. But seriously, thanks for the chance to write for this site. Although I guess now I’m “the video guy” here. Oh well, Tug’s at The Fightins full-time anyway, may as well.

But most importantly, to the fans: This is the one bit of this that I want you to take seriously. I speak for everybody here when I say that I’m supremely humbled by the amount of support we’ve garnered this past week because of The Phield. I knew instantly is would be a great way to grow this blog to new audiences, but… GODDAMN PEOPLE… we got the sixth most votes in the first round. That truly would not have happened if it weren’t for all the retweets, emails, and Facebook messages that were sent.
Personally, one of the reasons I wanted to write for Long Drive was the chance to get my stuff out to an established audience. I don’t think I realized just how large that audience is until very recently. I’m convinced that not only are Phillies fans the best fucking fans in all of baseball, but they’re easily the coolest and funniest, too. You guys, be it on this site, on other sites, or on Twitter or Facebook, make this fun and worth doing and we all really appreciate you so much.

I’m amazed how long this is already. WordPress is telling me I’m over 700 words already so I’m going to wrap it the fuck up. Maybe it’s the adderall, or maybe I just get overly passionate this time of year as Opening Day grows closer and closer, but I want to thank everybody once again for a truly eye-opening experience. I hope we can continue to inform and entertain you all throughout the baseball season.

Thank you again. Good night and God bless.
Ryan Edmund

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