Happy birthday to RBH (and Japers' Rink, and Casonblog)

I nearly forgot all about it, but today is the third birthday of Red and Black Hockey.

Japers' Rink just turned three this week, and BFLOblog will be turning three in September. Oddly, the only reason I remembered was a post that Kevin made at BFLOblog, congratulating JP on three years in the blogosphere. Let me be the second, or fortieth or whatever, to also congratulate JP, even if it is a few days late.

As Kevin said, there was a batch of us who started blogging at the tail end of the lockout, and for some reason, those are the ones we feel more connected with. Obviously, I'm more connected with other Canes bloggers, which allows me to also congratulate Scott Cason on the third birthday of CasonBlog, which was just two days ago. I'm sure there are others whom I've forgotten to congratulate on their third birthday, but seeing as how I nearly forgot my own....

It's been mostly fun. I've gone through periods of taking this blog über-seriously. I've gone through periods when I wanted to give the whole thing up. I've gone thorough some personal highs and lows whilst writing this blog. On that day three years ago when the "new NHL", and this blog were born, I never imagined that I would ever have any readers. To my surprise, people keep coming back. Some of them by choice. I'm no James Mirtle, but it's really cool that anyone at all reads this.

My favorite blog-related moment was when I was on tee-vee with my horrible beard during game 7 of the 2006 ECF. People who read this blog recognized me just in that brief three or four seconds I was on screen, and I got a few emails and messages from complete strangers because of it.

Thanks again to the people who keep checking in here.

I raise my glass not only to myself, but to JP, Cason, and all the others who started blogging hockey back in July of 2005.