The CheckerBoard

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

Wes Rucker said...

I have a small window here in between all the recruiting announcements and Butch Jones’ 4 p.m. presser and the 8 p.m. Vols-Georgia hoops game, and I think it’s a great time to mention one quick thing …

Thank. You.

I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you for subscribing to govols247 and making our community here a part of your lives. We try to mention that as much as possible, but we can never mention it enough. We wouldn’t be here with y’all, and we’ll never forget that.

Mentioning every single one of y’all on an individual basis would be the best thing to do, but then no one would be able to sit through this entire message. But we could tell at least one story about nearly every single one of our posters, and that’s why this place is great. And that’s why we continue to be the fastest-growing UT-centered site on Planet Earth and one of the fastest anywhere in the college sports newsphere.

We have an especially large place in our hearts for those who joined our site from the very beginning, when it was me, Ryno and Kevin thinking of every way in the world to generate more traffic and activity on a new site. But we welcome our newer and even future members as we continue to grow and grow and grow and grow some more.

It’s really amazing when you think about how far we’ve come. We started this place from scratch, and it’s become 247Sports’ largest from-scratch site and one of the network’s biggest sites overall.

Have we worked hard? Yes. We have. Ryno, Kevin and I have spent tons of time writing stories, answering questions and talking — and occasionally arguing — with each other about what works, what doesn’t work and what might work going forward. And we’ll continue to do that every day, because that’s who we are. We’re workers. We work. It’s all we know in this business. We’ve exceeded every expectation for growth to this point, but we’re never satisfied. And we’ll never be satisfied. Complacency won’t cut it around here. Ever.

But this place has never been and never will be about the staff. It’s about our readers — the VIP subscribers and non-VIP people who register and collect the free nuggets. It’s about the community. It’s about people discussing things in a fun-but-civil manner. It’s about agreeing to disagree without being babies. It’s about members sending the moderators private messages to pay for someone else’s membership when a fellow member of the community is going through tough times. It’s about what we’re putting on the grill and what we’re pouring in frosty mugs. It’s about our favorite movies and TV shows. It’s about where we were when something memorable happened, for good or bad. It’s about raising money to buy new uniforms for the girls’ and boys’ basketball teams and the cheerleaders at the Tennessee School for the Deaf. It’s about how much we hate the St. Louis Cardinals and everything they stand for, on and off the field. (Don’t fight me on that. I’m the senior writer around here.)

It’s about all of us.

We’re not a website. We’re not a message board. We’re a community. We’re becoming a family. And we’re awesome. And it’s not because of the staff. It’s because of our subscribers and readers. It’s because of you. It really is.

Those who have been here before the most recent football coaching search and most recent recruiting cycle know all about this place, and some of our new subscribers and readers know it, too. But if you’re brand new or relatively new and remain on the fence, hang around for a while after today. Those who do that tend to stay around for good. And I know that because the numbers prove it’s true.

We’re not done today. We’re never done around here.

The Class of 2014 isn’t starting today. It’s been going on for months. But it’ll really become a focus now. And we’ll report on every twist and turn along the way. Basketball recruiting probably isn’t done for the Class of 2013, either, and the Class of 2014 will be right behind that.

Basketball season is far from over — at least I, for one, don’t think it is — but football never stops being a priority here. Juniors days have already started. Spring football practice is right around the corner, and now that Jones and his staff have much more time to spend with the team, we’ll have much more information to bring you on that front. And make no mistake about it, we’ll be doing that. Baseball season starts pretty soon, too, and Dave Serrano’s Vols have some intriguing young (and returning) pieces that should make this season much more interesting. And judging by the way he and his staff are recruiting in the Class of 2014 and Class of 2015, baseball season will be even more interesting in the future. That guy’s good, folks, and so is his staff.

If you’re just a football person, though, we’ve got you covered. You’ll find new Vols football info on this site nearly every day. We report. We analyze. We discuss. And we do all of it in our own way. It’s fun, but it’s civil. And it makes you think. And that’s what we want.

We have old series that’ll be coming out of woodwork, and we’ll have new things, too. Some of it will work, and some of it won’t, but we’ll continue to be a mix of the conventional and the unconventional, and we’ll find a way to keep earning your business on a daily basis. We want to bring you everything you need, and as much of what you want as possible. And we continue to evolve our already-impressive format to fit all of that and more.

At the risk of seeming immodest — which doesn’t bother me at all but probably irks Ryno and Kevin from time to time — I have no problem suggesting you won’t find a better all-around college sports website than 247Sports. And you definitely won’t find a better mobile site. And we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can and will do going forward. I don’t have the highest security clearance in the company, but what I’ve seen is awesome, and what I’ve heard is awesome, and I know that even more is coming down the pike in the short-term and long-term future. Shannon Terry is the best in this business, and he’s surrounded himself with the best in the business. These guys don’t like losing, so they make a habit of rarely doing it in the short-term and never doing it in the long-term. That’s why I came to work here, and that’s why others have and will continue to do the same thing. This is the place to be in this industry, and that’s not much of a secret anymore.

I don’t want to ramble all day — that’s never easy for me, and most of y’all know that — but I want to end this the same way I started it.

Thank. You.

I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you for subscribing to govols247 and making our community here a part of your lives. We try to mention that as much as possible, but we can never mention it enough. We wouldn’t be here with y’all, and we’ll never forget that.

When you think about how far we’ve come, and how quickly we’ve done it, how can you not get excited to think about what’s next? I know I can’t.

Go Cubs. Go America. govols247.

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

Fear_Smokey said...

Wes, you guys are the best in the business. I subscribed back in June and I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of my subscription. It is absolutely more than worth the money I pay. During the coaching search, you guys were on top of everything: every story, every rumor, every name, etc. And not to mention the countless hours that you guys have spent covering the fickle animal that is recruiting, as well as basketball season.

So thank YOU, Wes! Thanks Kevin and thank you Ryan! You guys are incredible; with how thorough you are in your reporting and the creative way in which you report it (The MSR is pure gold )

And to my fellow posters: you guys are awesome too. Trust me, having come here from VQ 8 months ago, this board is vastly, vastly, vastly superior. I really enjoy the insight you all give on the state of the program, different recruits, coaching philosophies, etc. There are a great deal of knowledgeable posters on here, and the atmosphere on this board really is like a family. Yes, there may be some of us who get out of line every once in a while, but we police ourselves exceptionally well, and it makes for a much more enjoyable experience.

To the new subscribers on here: please STAY! It is soooooo worth it to stay on this board and get the inside info and be a part of the 247 community. There really is no better place to get info and discuss it than right here on 247.

Once again, Wes, Ryan, and Kevin...THANK YOU! Thank you so much for all you do and how hard you work. I hope you can get some more sleep in the coming weeks and I hope you'll be able to spend some more time with your families. You guys are the best.

Oh and Kevin, thank you for hosting us at CrossCorner today! I really enjoyed that and I think the board should have get-togethers like that more often.

Thanks to all of you.

Go Vols. Go 247. Go White Sox

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down

• Reply
• Quote
• Rate Up Rate Down