Relax, I'm not retiring

please note that i included phrases like "this is a long-winded way of me not saying goodbye" and "i'm not going away" so yes this site will stay alive, and i never had any other intentions. i appreciate the love from AC and SoP, but all i was trying to say was that i will likely post a little less during the season. this will still be your home for unabashed (and sometimes unfounded) criticism.

i seemingly can't escape quotes from BC about the goddamn red wine in Italy, so there's no reason to think my anger will diminish.

It's not you, it's me

it's hard to believe i've been at this for so long; my dumb little blog was born in January 2006. i didn't start FBC because i thought i had all the answers or because i claimed to be an expert on Northwestern basketball. the whole idea behind FBC was that Bill Carmody was just dicking around and no one was paying attention. Northwestern basketball was showing no signs of progress and, from where i sat, not one person gave a damn. so i figured i'd try to stir up some enthusiasm or anger or at least some acknowledgment that NU had a hoops team.

i'm certainly not taking the credit, but i'm happy to say that there now exists a tangible population that has strong feelings about Northwestern basketball. the rumble through the twitter/blog world when Coble quit is evidence of that. there are more NU sports blogs/sites out there than you probably know about, and according to this list, FBC pre-dates just about all of them. several of those do a much better job covering the season than i do...

my personal favorite is Sippin' on Purple, where Rodger pulls off an effective combination of humor and analysis, and he pumps out a TON of content. whether it's Rodger or Loretta8 covering the upcoming season, i look forward to reading what SoP has to say.

i'm also a big fan of Chicago College Basketball. John's work is not limited to Northwestern, but let's be honest: there's only so much you can write about UIC, Loyola and Chicago State. he's a big fan of working in plenty of numbers and statistics, so you NU nerds should love that.

Welsh-Ryan Ramblings might be the most complete NU hoops blog. it has been noted that WRR and FBC have "just about polar opposite viewpoints on NU basketball" and i don't disagree with that. we never got a chance to do a second roundtable, but i'd welcome the opportunity. if you like FBC, you may not like the mostly positive vibe over at WRR, but the site is nothing if not thorough.

i also need to mention Spread Far the Fame, which introduced something called The Many Moods of Bill Carmody. let's hope this feature has legs.

(everyone knows about Lake the Posts. LTP has increased his coverage of the basketball program in the past year or two. which, i suppose, is a good thing. but then i read things like the million dollar idea and think it's best if he sticks to football.)

anyway, this is a long-winded way of me not saying goodbye. i stand by my long-ago promise that i will not shutter this site until NU makes the tournament (or BC gets canned, whichever comes first) but you can expect less updates during the season. i will absolutely still vent my frustration here from time to time, but i have no interest in writing pre- and post-game entries when there are others who do it better. i'm not going away; just dialing it back a bit. oh, and i'll still be active on twitter, for those of you who like your NU hoops commentary limited to 140 characters.