See Ya Later, Alligator

To paraphrase Gary Bettman at the draft:  We have a change to announce.

Effective, more or less, immediately I am stepping down as Managing Editor of our beloved Anaheim Calling.  Trying to balance my real life and running the blog has finally caught up to me.  Imagine for a moment, trying to pay enough attention to write about it, while a three-year-old sits on your lap, pretending to be a dog, licking your face and you'll understand.

It's been a hell of a ride for the last four years or so, since I joined AC and took over Managing two years ago.  I've been able to do a lot of really cool stuff, from a post full of puns at BoC to writing a guest post on Puck Daddy to actually being published in the Freakin' Hockey News, not to mention starting the podcast and writing here just about every day.  But without a doubt the best part has been meeting people to talk hockey with and making new friends.

With that in mind, I want to sincerely thank a few of them.  First of all, I have to thank my good friend Jen Neale for bringing me into the fold and trusting me to take over as Managing Editor when she moved on to bigger and better things.  Hopefully I didn't screw it up too much.  Next, I would have crumbled long ago if it wasn't for the help of our staff, Eric, Kyle, Kid ish, Kristen, Cory, Daniel, Derek, Ben, Lois and Liz as well as those who have already moved on in Shawn, Scott, Kim, Carolyn, SK and Robby, so thanks to all of you for keeping me alive.  Also, of course none of us would be here without Arthur and Daniel starting the site before my time.  And a big thanks to our SBN Hockey manager Travis Hughes for basically letting us do whatever we want over here.  Since I'm, pretty much retiring from blogging altogether, I should also say thanks to Josh Brewster, who made me a credentialed member of the media while I was writing for his Hockeytalk.biz, one of the coolest things I may ever do.  And last, but most importantly, thanks to my wife, Amy, who encouraged me to start blogging in the first place and put up with a lot of long nights and sleepy days.

Beyond that, I'm not really sure how to express my appreciation for everyone who reads this site and listens to the podcast and, for some reason, gave a damn what I had to say about hockey.  When I first signed on I was a little bit afraid of the comments, but I soon came to realize what a fun and (usually) reasonable community this is.  Thank you for engaging, positively, negatively or otherwise.

I imagine, without this outlet I'll probably be a little more active on twitter (@district5hockey) so, check there for some Ducks/Everton fun.  Other than that, I'll be around for another post and a podcast or two, but Eric is in charge of the site on an interim basis. SB Nation will be accepting applications for the site manager role, and you're encouraged to apply if you are interested.

Thanks again to everyone, it's been a blast, and of course Go Ducks!