About 20 years ago I was hunched over at one of the public use computers in Mirror Lake Cafe on campus, as part of my regular routine of "class - sandwich - read about college football - gym - play Guitar Hero - sleep."

Mirror Lake Cafe had these old, yellowed CRT computer monitors that convinced you that you had glaucoma, but I had a very specific reason for using them. I got a pizza sub (I always got a pizza sub), and voraciously read every article on the internet that even briefly mentioned Ohio State football while scarfing down about 1350 calories of gourmet cuisine.

In 2006 this took about fifteen minutes. Between the Dispatch, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and the nascent version of what eventually would become the Buckeye interweb (fan sites, pay sites that hadn't figured out paywalls, etc.) the coverage you got about Ohio State football was still very much stuck in the Old Media mindset. Rote, predictable content that didn't challenge or surprise anyone and could be read in seconds.

There were exceptions to that rule (Keith at Buckeye Commentary was amazing and so, so far ahead of the game in basically every area), but ultimately I never really had a lot of actual fun reading about the Buckeyes.

And then one day I stumbled upon Eleven Warriors. I think my original commenting account (bup bup bup) is user #100-ish, and I stuck around because I loved both the content and community. In 2010 Jason and company had an open call for writers here, and I typed up a ridiculous submission on my iPhone that somehow got accepted.

In the fifteen years or so between then and now, I've been able to: interview players and coaches, help fund the creation of a statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown, fill in at 97.1 The Fan, be a beat writer and stand on the sidelines during games, report on practices, record over 500 episodes of a podcast (some on the road at BW3), write over 1000 articles, get an angry admonishment from a former mayor of Columbus, become best friends with Richard Lewis, and generally just have an incredible time writing about Ohio State sports.

So while it's tough to have to say that I'm moving on from the site after this week's Dubcast, after a decade and a half at 11W, I'm really proud of what we've been able to accomplish together.

I'll still be around! If something crazy happens (Michigan getting the death penalty, Ohio State winning a natty, women's hockey finally getting a decent rink, etc.) you'll see an article by me on the site giving my two cents.

But for now I'm taking a step back and riding solo for a while. I'll still be writing, but in a different format and (mostly) different topics. If that's something you're interested in, I'll have more information about that soon-ish.

Thank you to everyone at 11W for being so great to me, especially Jason, Chris, Ramzy, and everyone else on the board (yeah that's right, I'm a co-owner and have been since 2011, didn't see that coming did you hahahahah), but also my Dubcast co-hosts Luke, Sarah, Michael, Beau, Andy, and, of course, George.

Thanks as well to my wife for putting up with many, many, many late nights and weekends while I plied my trade in walrus jokes about Jim Bollman. She's an absolute rockstar and has never been anything but supportive and understanding.

And, finally, thanks to anybody who ever read one of my articles or listened to the Dubcast. Doesn't matter if you love or hate my stuff, I still really value anybody that takes the time to engage with my writing. Unless you're the guy who said that my voice sounds like I'm on bath salts, that was extremely hurtful and you'll be hearing from my lawyers.

Anyway, I've rambled on long enough, but it has been an awesome ride and I'm excited to share what I've got cooking next.

See you soon,

Johnny