Passing the Torch

“Do a speech at them.”

Nah, I better not.

I didn’t want to draw attention to this so I nearly contemplated not addressing it at all. But I wanted to take the opportunity to mention that I’ll be stepping down from managing the site, effective September 1.

I started the Cardiac Hill blog sometime around 2008 and soon after, was given the chance to move it to SB Nation. Due to SB Nation’s incredible network, the readership went way up almost overnight.

The site’s goal was never to make news as much as it was to report on news and give it a blogger’s spin. The independence that the site holds, if you will, is what I think is special about it and makes it different from traditional media. We’ve not been confined to the same restraints that mainstream media covering the team on a daily basis have.

That said, the site is sort of stuck in between being a traditional media entity and an outlet for nonsense and fandom. And I’ve loved that. We were able to do silly things like bad April Fools jokes and Cardiac Spill. But we also got to do a lot of ‘real’ media stuff, including covering actual practices and games. I’m not going to use this as an opportunity to call out many folks individually but the media privilege we were given was almost entirely due to E.J. Borghetti at Pitt, who afforded us the platform we never really deserved. Thanks, E.J.

Our formula mostly worked. We weren’t perfect but we sort of carved out this little niche that at least some people found charming. And I had a heck of a lot of fun sort of steering this ship for the more than ten years that I did. ‘Steering’ is not so much the right term as maybe ‘overseeing’ is. There have been so many wonderfully talented writers and media creators that have come through here that the thing basically ran itself. And without those folks, this site would have never gone far.

I loved it. All of it. At the same time, increased responsibilities with other writing and a real-life, full-time job have sort of caused me to shift in focus. And I’ve decided that it’s the right time to take a step back from running this site and reluctantly pass the torch. It wasn’t an easy decision and I think that was made harder because it was my own creation, if you will. But the reality is that I simply don’t have the bandwidth anymore and the site deserves more attention.

The good news is, if you love the site, its core isn’t going to change much. Mike, the primary contributor here, is taking the lead. And he’ll be full of all sorts of great ideas that will only make it better. While I did the game recaps and a lot of the game week stuff during the seasons, Mike’s been here, churning out an incredible amount of content year-round, including handling the recruiting load. I’ve sort of used the offseasons to recharge a bit but Mike has been working year-round, without ceasing. I could not think of a better person to take control of things.

If you’ve hated my ramblings on Pitt sports, you’ll be disheartened to know that I’m sticking around a bit. I won’t be writing as much during the seasons as I typically do but I’ll be here in a reserve capacity, filling in when I can. I’ve enjoyed covering some of the Olympic sports, in particular, and really want to continue doing that while writing the occasional football and basketball recap when needed.

A final note is the most important. And it’s directed to all of you crazy folks. Just, honestly, thank you. That is not an obligatory mention. It is one of sincerity. I never imagined this site would gain the sort of notoriety it did and I definitely didn’t envision this as the long-term project it ultimately became. The only reason that both happened is because folks kept coming back to read. So for that, I’ll always be grateful.

Hail to Pitt, I guess, right? Now, where’s that door again?

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill’s Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics. Follow the author and founder @AnsonWhaley.