Twenty-five years is a lengthy time to do anything. That’s how long that yours truly has been penning “From the Swamp.”  It’s been a labor of love, because as my esteemed editor Chris Rieman is quick to point out, “You get paid the same salary ($0) as me.”

All good things must come to an end and so this will be the swan song for “FTS.” But before I sign off, I thought we could take a look in the rear-view mirror at some of the highlights and lowlights of a self-proclaimed “fan with a blog.”

In 2007, “FTS” was the first media slug to discover that crooked college hoops agent Christian Dawkins was a lying cyber weasel…while he was still a freshman in HS!

https://www.udpride.com/things-really-are-not-what-they-seem-the-christian-dawkins-story/ 

And a follow up:

https://www.udpride.com/nothing-ever-really-gets-deleted-on-the-internet/ 

Writing for UDPride afforded me the chance to hang with legendary MSU HC Tom Izzo while watching BG recruit Percy Gibson and Spartan signee Branden Dawson square off at Detroit Country Day HS.

Some of the other Michigan-based Flyer recruits that I saw in action included Devin Searcy, Paul Williams, LaDontae Henton and Darrell Davis.

Even more fun was the opportunity to interview former Flyers now in the pros such as Chris Wright, Brian Roberts, Jordan Sibert, Toumani Camara and DaRon Holmes.

“FTS” has also had the pleasure of meeting a host of interesting folk associated with the Flyer program over the years:

The soon-to-be-retired Doug Hauschild. Without Doug’s help a lot of the stuff that you have read here over the years simply never happens: You are truly one of a kind, Doug. What other SID would email a hack blogger like me to make sure I hadn’t forgotten to ask for a press pass for the Duquesne game in Pittsburgh? Doug did. 

After mucho begging and pleading during the first three rounds of the 2014 NCAA Championship, Doug was able to secure a press pass for me in Memphis for the Dayton/ Florida Elite Eight clash: Even though UD lost, it was a great experience.

Thanks Doug!

David Jablonski of The DDN is really good at what he does. Thanks for always including me in the Annual Twitter All-Star Pickup Extravaganza. And for your tireless multimedia efforts to keep the Flyer Faithful informed.

My one “FTS” regret is that I never did the interview with Tom Archdeacon of The DDN that we had agreed upon a while back. That’s on me, Arch. Keep on being the best feature writer in the business, dude.

Thanks to Larry and Bucky for chatting with me before games when I was in attendance. 

Gonna miss catching up with FlyerHoops.net’s Matt Schwade on game days. I started “FTS” a quarter of a century ago on the old FlyerHoops.com website, after being coerced into it by the website’s founders, Joe Lombardi and Greg Bilotta. Thanks for letting me continue to be a part of your site, Matt!

And, of course, my esteemed editor Chris Rieman (and his dad, Jerry). Thanks for putting up with my nonsense for all these years, Chris.

Some favorite interviews:

Former UD Assistant Coach Kevin Kuwik, now the HC at Army.

Flyer great Johnny Davis. The best interview subject I ever had.

Veteran NBA writer and UD grad Steve Bulpett.

“The Hometown Coach” Mark Adams.

UDPride MB poster Moville, AKA Joe Sutherland.

Also got to reminisce about WVUD “The Radio Station” where I started my media sales career in 1972:

https://www.udpride.com/happy-50th-birthday-wvud/ 

And two of the friends I made there:

Chris Cage

https://www.udpride.com/chris-cage/ 

Steve Downes

https://www.udpride.com/a-tale-of-two-paths/ 

As well as the indelible experience of having lived on “West Campus” AKA University Hall during my freshman year at UD:

https://www.udpride.com/university-hall/ 

Got to play two-on-two with Negele Knight at the PAC (in a column that got lost in the ether). I was teamed with fellow Detroiter Eric Matthews and we beat Negele and some other guy, much to his chagrin. I was also able to run pickup hoops twice with Ryan Perryman at the Birmingham Y here in Michigan.

On a subject totally unrelated to UD hoops, I chronicled the softball exploits of The Younger Swampette:

https://www.udpride.com/the-breaks-and-sprains-of-the-game/ 

https://www.udpride.com/5027-2/ 

In case you are wondering whatever happened to her, the YS is now an Orthopedic Surgeon. Her sister the Elder Swampette is a UD grad, fervent Flyer fan and an Administrative Law Judge for the federal government. Let’s face it–writing a too-infrequent blog for a UD hoops website, selling ads for WVUD or CNN or the final score of some stupid basketball game doesn’t really mean jack sh*t at the end of the day. Their health, happiness and success and that of our 4 grandkids are all that truly matters to me and my wife. 

Mrs. Swampy and I recently visited Key Largo. Before we left, I told her that I really wanted to enjoy our days in the sun and decided to forego visiting any political websites or posting on the OTG MB here at UDPride. I was able to relax and unwind so much that when we returned, I said, “screw it” and committed to following my own good advice full time.

I will still frequent the hoops MB and post updates on Obi, Toumani and DaRon and their NBA exploits. You don’t get rid of me that easily!

Thanks for reading.  It’s been my pleasure. Go Flyers! 

That’s it “From the Swamp.”