Raise Our Hands!

Before we being with our traditional end-of-year thank you post, allow us to present a brief anecdote from Sunday’s awards ceremony.  For the most part, we generally put serious thought into the acknowledgments we bestow upon the BTSH community, despite the vacuousness of the prizes and categories themselves (aside from the Stacy S. Kehoe Award, of course).  However, as a direct result of choosing the nominees and winners every season, neither of us had ever actually won one of our own media awards.  This had to change.  We came in with the intention of getting booed off the stage for giving ourselves the award for Best Duo, especially following a planned self-centered acceptance speech.  Instead, we were met with a chorus of cheers and applause.  Even Craig withheld his usual heckles and slurs.  It was actual quite heartwarming.

Adriano and others have repeatedly acknowledged us for putting a lot of work into what most consider to be a thankless task.  While true that this has had to be a labor of love over the past few seasons considering the small compensation we receive (thank you to those who voted to give us anything though!), calling our job “thankless” is not entirely accurate.  Throughout our tenure as editors for the website, and especially during this past weekend, we have been showered with effusive praise and accolades.  As writers, we thrive on knowing that people are reading and enjoying our work, and the comments and good tidings have kept us motivated throughout the years.

However, we could not have done this without the help and contributions of several dedicated staffers.  Jesse Kalb has provided his thoughts on the Hockey Night in Tompkins matchups for two seasons, and they have become a highlight of the weekly previews.  Sven Larsen saved us from the unenviable task of covering the MacNeil Division with his weekly submissions.  Abby “Tayne” Meisterman’s work may not have been enjoyed by everyone (T-Beau, Hockey Rich), but it was always entertaining.  Monica Russo decided to use the space we gave her to write about herself and Fitlhy Gorgeous, instead of the Donohue Division, as she was assigned…but at least, we didn’t have to write about Cobra Kai.  Rich Glanzer surprised us all with coherent, well-researched musings and relatively accurate predictions.  Plus, his Know Your Neighbor contributions were actually quite funny.  Ben Chadwick wrote far too much far too often, no matter what he called himself.  Last and certainly least, Shaun deLacy was the media intern, and he should not be acknowledged.

In addition, we’d also like to thank the past two league commissioners.  Adriano “Muscles Marinara” Bratta supported us throughout the creative process, and Bob “Olmec” Weyersberg allowed us to take control of btsh.org in the first place.

As we look back at our years of service, we leave with no regrets and are excited to hand the reigns to someone else (hopefully).  It has been a pleasure using the website as a platform to get to know most of the league so well, but it will also be nice to have more free time to spend with our newfound friends.

Your humble Editors Emeriti,
Eli Kazin & Derek Tagliarino