Reaching The Highest Level Of B/R: A Personal Thanks To The Community

Though it is appreciated, this is not written for POTD honors. Thus, I ask to not give it a vote even though you may feel it deserves the recognition.

Dear Friends, Administrators, and Every Writer Of The BleacherReport Community,

In early of March '09 I came upon The BleacherReport after hearing the site being mentioned on a sports forum. I first thought of the site as simply another blogging site; one like blogspot or wordpress that was simply just another hobby while on the internet.

However, when I took the first glance of the site, my thoughts changed. From the first article I read (which happened to be a Oakland Raiders article), to making an account, along with getting the first word of advice from senior writer Ron Johnson, I knew this would be the place for me to make an impact with my sports opinion.

Though I started a bit on the slow slide of getting recognition from my work, I earned a good fan base, and have come close with fans I have faced encounters with in the past. The most important thing about being a writer is staying with your belief, which helped me get respect on B/R.

After a month in of learning the ways of the site, my writing began to improve, which led to many reads and being featured on sites and sports forums.

The biggest day in my B/R career was early in the month of June, where I wrote my first piece as a columnist. The article was "Cream Of The Crop, Pt.2: Ranking The offenses In the NFL". I received a notice that the article made the front page of the NFL section of cbssports.com.

Yet, three hours later it was featured as the main article on the home page of the site, garnering over 4000+ reads, 120+ comments, and brought me into the NFL writers rankings for the first time.

Since that moment, I have become as a known figure here. From my 100th article, to my 100th fan, my first Article Of The Day, what I was able to see is the growth of myself as a writer.

Those days, however, are not as important as the goal I achieved today. On Tuesday, September 8th, I reached the highest goal on B/R by being promoted to senior writer. As senior writer, I join a group of great writers of all ages, who have different writing styles, and love to blog on their favorite topics.

This goal wouldn't be reached though, if it wasn't for the support of the B/R family. Leroy Watson, Josh Dhani, Issac Barrow, and Graham Brunell were the first of many supporters of my work, and continue to be close with them on BleacherReport.

My writing style has also been impact ful on the NFL community, and have received great help from John Fennelly, Angel Navedo, Nick Signorelli, and Cody Swartz along the way.

As I became more active within the community itself, I have received great help and advice from the likes of Andrew Nuschler, Rocky Getters, Shane H, Jack Anderson, Heartbeat Of The Bronx, Eric Annett, LJ Burgess and Blaine Spence.

Being at a young age and having a gifted talent, B/R has seen many young writers make their stand here. Josh Dhani, Graham, and Taylor Rummel are just a few of the many we have here.

Though I can't include all of the fans on here, I appreciate all 163 of them (Bob Warja being the first ever), for the support on the articles I have written.

Most importantly, I need to thank the community as a whole. The thousands of bloggers that write here everyday has brought a great site alive, and has helped lead me and many others to different opportunities in the sports media world.

Without you none of this is possible, so I would like to thank you all for making this place the way it is today, and lets continue making it the best way of showing your opinions with everyone who loves to talk sports.

Regards,

Matt Miselis