Ya know, inviting the SensChirp comment section out of our collective basements and into the real world and combining that with a table of my drunkest friends, at a bar no less, may not have been my smartest decision.
But it worked out okay.
I guess I want to begin by saying thanks our hosts at Beyond the Pale. Nothing was broken or set on fire so I’d say they may have us over again some time.
And we’re gonna need about a thousand more of those beers by the way.
When I started this site 15 years ago, that was not a scene I could have envisioned.
A crowded bar, full of people drinking SensChirp beer is not what I had pictured for the site.
Honestly, it was a lot better.
One of the best things about SensChirp- way better than the once a year podcast and even the HEAD2HEAD table- is the community around it.
Because I don’t get to do this often (and because this speech last night was rudely interrupted by the Sens), I’d like to mention a few people in that community that helped make this weird site what it is today.
The Source- he was there that fateful night at Minglewoods when we came up with the idea for SensChirp and he’s a co-host on the podcast to this day.
Greg was really the brains on the technical side. He built a site that was so easy to use even I could figure it out.
Steve, who runs Ottawa’s best sports bar the Senate Tavern and has hung a SensChirp banner in his bar for the better part of a decade even though I almost always forget to pay when I leave.
Mike, a former-Sens employee who has always been one of the biggest believers in the site.
Bruce, who was the one that told me to write, write, write and now shows up on the podcast whenever the hell he feels like it.
The Stickler who is a relentless editor but also, maybe the biggest SensChirp fan I know and was honestly the reason this event happened.
Ian, who had the nerve to invite me on live radio on multiple occasions.
Anthony from the Wisers Box days- he was foolish enough to trust me with a box at a Sens game and unlimited wisers on multiple occasions.
Brian, a current Sens employee who was also foolish enough to give me a press pass on multiple occasions even after I tap danced on the logo the first time out.
There’s Greg from Hyperline, who is an avid SensChirp reader and the one who offered up those amazing seats in Club Bell.
The Score, Nation Network, Faces Magazine, Clubhouse, that weird Turkish Airlines phase. Air Canada accidentally sent me to Tampa Bay once and while I got kicked out of the game before the end of the second, I think the promo mostly went okay.
The Sens Twitter community- Lalime’s Martian, the Locked On guys, BringBackLee, Brian5or6, 6th Sens, WTYKY, Luke Peristy. There’s just so many good people that I’ve met through the site over the years.
There was a table full of my good friends there last night and they were always the ones that told me to hang on to the site, when people tried to buy it off me along the way.
All the other comment section regulars that came out last night.
Honestly, I could go on and on.
I guess my point is… I don’t think I’m SensChirp. I think it’s all of you.
It was never really about the Ottawa Senators. It was about the community we built around them.
I really appreciate everyone coming out last night. It meant a lot.
Game Day post in a little bit.
