Update [2008-4-25 10:15:4 by Dave the Falconer]: Due to some network-wide server isuses, we won't be getting the upgrade until after the draft. Our tech team is working hard on this, though, so we'll just make do with what we have.

By the time most of you see this, The Falcoholic will be upgraded like the rest of SBN. I'm terribly excited about the new features, but I did want to take a few moments out of my schedule of lazy analysis and shameless linking to share a few thoughts with you.

I'm in a position very few get to be in because of SBN and Dave Halprin at Blogging The Boys in particular. I reached out to Dave when I saw the network had an opening for a Falcons blogger, though I was only a college student up in the northeast at the time. The idea of writing about the team I love every day was too much for me to pass up, and so I went for it.

Though I didn't have an established blog, Dave took a chance on me after I submitted some writing samples, and I'll always be grateful for the shot. A year and a half later, I'm getting a new platform with some great bells and whistles, and I've got a place to kick a long day of reporting to the side by immersing myself in this simultaneously awful and wonderful team. Most of all, though, I'm grateful for the readers I have. I don't have the traffic some of my batterymates do (maybe because the Falcons, um, aren't good), but those of you who have stuck around during the rough times of the last year are what makes this worth it. It's a lot more fun to write, even during the most abjectly miserable scandals the Falcons have to offer, if you've got people to commiserate with.

So I guess what I'm saying is, enjoy the new stuff. We're on the brink of a new era in Falcon football, and Saturday and Sunday ought to bear that out for good or ill. Hope to see you all here for the draft.

And yes, that's the last time I'll write something so sentimental. Get the hell out of here!