Zach Landres-Schnur, a blogging buddy from the early days, had a helluva run. The proprietor of The Big Picture announced Thursday night that after four years, he is getting out of the blogging business.
He writes: "In December, 2005 I was just a naïve college student thinking that starting a blog would be my way into the sports-writing world.
"Shockingly, it was.
"I got to the point where I was a professional blogger, working for FanHouse, PlayboyU and receiving ad dollars here. Who knew that would ever be the case?
"Times were humbling early. To spend the time writing a post and have six people read it isn't exactly encouraging. I didn't think the site would last. But over 1,900 posts and six million page views later, I'm so glad it did. To have people reading my words, leaving comments and laughing at my jokes was — to put it bluntly — pretty fucking cool.
"I told myself that I'd stop this blog under two circumstances:
"1. If it started slipping into mediocrity
"2. If it became a job
"Unfortunately, for the last year or so, it's been both. Spending hours writing posts after a full day of work has become a chore. On too many occasions I spent more time blogging than I did doing things that were far more important; this site twisted my priorities.
"The Big Picture peaked about two years ago. The material was still fresh, jokes still crass and feeling still new. The recent slide has been a large part me and also the sports blogosphere getting so terribly cluttered that there were the few top sites and then hundreds of 'everybody else.'
"In the early days, when bloggers were still figuring out this whole sports blogging thing, I knew my peers, the work they put in and what it took to operate a daily sports blog. Not so much the case anymore.
"But it's been a fun ride. I've made friends, computer buddies and even got asked out on a date! Many thanks to all the loyal readers, the regular commenters (you know who you are!) and anyone who's stumbled across this small slice of the Web."
Zach had many great features on his site. His "Would you do..." series was a big hit, and in 2006, he started a series of interviews with bloggers. I was honored to be first on his list.
The blogosphere won't be the same without Zach's wit and wisdom. Here's a toast to four great years!
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