Spike: Thank You

Thanks for everything.

[photo by Jason Riedmiller]

Live podcasts are not like that. I've been to live podcasts. There are some that are big, for sure, but none of them feel like a concert like Live Ricky III did at VTBNL (Electric Factory) on Saturday night.

As the "Bill Simmons" intro was playing (thanks again @killakow), and then Felicia was singing, Mike and I were backstage, and I was looking out at all of you, and my mood came from what I'll conservatively called very stressed, to very proud and excited. We were about to go out and do a show on a stage that I've watched some of my favorite bands play for almost three decades. And it's all because of you.

People ask us all the time, "what made you start doing the podcast?" I regularly have no real answer to that. I just liked to do podcasts. But the answer would have never been to help create a community of thousands of people that I feel like I know personally. It would have never been to be part of a movement so strong, that the newly hired general manager of the Sixers would decide that coming to the live podcast is the right thing to do. It sure as hell wouldn't have ever been to play the Electric Factory (I know "play" is the wrong word, give me a break).

TJ, Rock, and Dario have now all had the same reaction when they meet you. "They said it would be crazy, but I didn't know it'd be this crazy."

But I do know why we keep doing it, and that's certainly because of you. I truly and honestly love you for what you've provided us and what you continue to provide. Support, entertainment, friendship, are all just the start of it. You also seem to love mead, engagement rings, dog beds, skateboards, and occasionally (unfortunately) getting injured and knowing who to call. To be quite honest, you're coming up with most of the ideas, doing the singing, the graphic artistry, taking the photos, none of this really happens without you.

I would have never have dreamed of being a part of all of this for the last five years. But if I did, that show on Saturday night would have been a dream come true. I'm proud of you and of what we did.