Our own Empty Maybe gave us a real jolt last week — informing us of his need to part ways with OFB for the foreseeable future — and he shared this news with readers over the weekend. Truthfully, the remaining three of us were shellshocked. We’ve never known anything but the four of us in this venture.
Over the weekend I gave some thought to EM’s lasting contributions and to how we’ll carry forward without him. There can be renewal and healthy evolution in change, but I wish it weren’t happening in this instance. I’ve said it to print reporters, on radio, and in casual conversations about rinks: the most striking and rewarding feature about being involved in a hockey blog in this town is developing the friendships we have. I’m biased, but I believe that has something (everything) to do with the nature of the game we cover and the people who make livelihoods in it and are drawn toward it.
I greatly enjoyed reading readers’ appreciation for Empty that amassed in the comments to his final Knee-Jerk file. He made as large an impression on many of you as he did us. We just had the added good fortune of being able to empty a few cold ones with him in and out of season. And of calling him friend — which his departing of course doesn’t change.
As for that legacy . . . one of the things I told Empty last week was that in storyboarding for our trip to Moscow to cover the Worlds last spring the Caps’ communications team very quickly adopted his knee-jerk focus and format for its coverage plan. It was also a format increasingly imitated in other blogs. What I enjoyed most about his files was their maturation. Like the rest of us, last autumn he just started bloviating a bit about puck, but it was impossible not to detect Empty’s gaining a unique and endearing voice in them as the season progressed. You could approach his Knee-Jerks merely for the purpose of obtaining a well-delineated recap of a Caps’ game, but I found fondness in many of them for their containing his inimitable drollness. Few in hockey were spared from it.
This morning I’m not prepared to discuss the future of OFB without Empty. Suffice to say we’ll move forward in some iteration, and perhaps manage somehow to carry off a collective set of Knee-Jerks in the months ahead. But we’d necessarily do so in a rough voice.
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8 Comments
I echo everything that pucksandbooks wrote. In talking to Empty this weekend, he told me how he struggled with this decision. All is well with him, so no worries of health or other personal concerns.
The time available to devote to both his job and the blog was less than he felt was required to meet his standards. As a true professional, he did not want both, much less one to suffer and made the difficult decision to skate away from the blog. After all, one pays the mortgage, the other does not.
We wish Empty nothing but the best. We’ll still talk puck over beers with him, just not as often.
Cheers to you, Empty.
He will be missed. The Beatles did ok after Pete Best left the band–carry on. Ted Leonsis
I’m glad to hear that there are no pressing personal or helath concerns. That is always my first thought when reading news such as this.
Please keep up the great work! Your addition to the hockey blogosphere is both admired and appreciated.
Tyler
NHLDigest.com
I am a relatively new reader, but I hope you will all remember, salute and carry on. OFB is a great hockey blog, and maybe you will be able to convince Empty to come back once in a while for a guest appearance. Who knows where the technology will be in a year or two? Keep up the great work …
BE
All the best Empty… OFB’s door will of course always remain open to you. And we’ll meet up at a game very soon.
Additionally, according to my wedding countdown, I’ll be seeing you in 12d 00h 51m 07s.
12 days? I guess I shouldn’t offer you an escape route to Vegas huh.
Just make sure you give Empty a big fat wet one from us.
Besides, maybe there’ll be a cameo knee-jerk about the wedding for us.
I’ve already mentioned to OrderedChaos that if there’s wireless internet available, I just might have to live blog the wedding.
Live blogging the wedding… What’s the world coming to?
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