(Warm up the bus. Pic: Combat Lifestyle)

Best part of it being my last day contributing to this website? Being able to blatantly violate a CagePotato ban without fearing any reprisals from the powers that be. Boom, you guys. Makes me feel a little bit like Tito Ortiz, to tell you the truth. Worst part of it being my last day contributing to this website? That’s probably the last time I’ll ever get to use the word bitch in a headline. My new employer has already laid down the law in terms of the swears, even the minor league ones. That’s the bad news. The good news, at least for you, is this: My understanding is that  (drum roll, please) our friend ReX13 has agreed to step in to replace me as a daily contributor to this site. I know he’ll do a great job.

I have to say I’m going to miss you dudes. Even you, trolls and Russian computer spam commenters. But before we get all weepy and start slapping each other on the back while exchanging awkward bro grabs, keep in mind that I still should be pretty easy to find. You know, if you feel like it. Professionally and personally, I’m going to miss the spirited back-and-forth that goes on both out front and behind the scenes at this website. I’m going to miss the guys I work with who – regardless of what some of you think – are all really cool dudes. I’m even going to miss getting my ass handed to me in the comments section now and then. Nah, jokes. I’m actually not going to miss that at all.

Above all else, the things I think I’m going to miss most are pissing you off with my politics, really pissing you off with my meaningless pound-for-pound rankings and really, really pissing you off by not being Ben Fowlkes. That stuff was fun and I’ll think on it often. It’s been just a little more than a year since I started working at the Potato, but our lasting friendships and the damage I’ve done to my personal credibility make it seem much, much longer than that.

My advice moving forward? Be kind to ReXy. And Mike. And Chris and Seth and Jason. And even BG. This shit ain’t as easy as it looks and all those guys work harder than you know trying to keep you entertained, even though many of you appear not to want to be entertained at all. At its best, I think this website fills a valuable niche in our dark little corner of the web. Somebody’s got to point out when the people in this industry say ridiculous shit, wear ridiculous T-shirts and marry ridiculous porn stars. That somebody, as far as I’m concerned is CagePotato and I hope it continues to fill that need long after we’ve all grown up and taken part time jobs at major corporations.

Anyway, thanks for being so good to me, y’all. I’m gone.

(CD)