A whole year has gone by since my first post on Fight For Iowa. (Actually it's been a year and one day...I took Easter off.) It is really kind of hard for me to believe. This all started out as kind of an experiment. I had never had a blog before or even put much content out on the internet via a website or forum or even Facebook. But I spent much of my time scouring the depths of the web for any mention of Iowa Football during the way too long off season. So, really, this blog was a place for me to consolidate what I had read and then provide an opinion on it.

I decided not to even read my first post (you can go back in the Archives and find it if you want). It's about spring practice and is probably not well written (not to say things have gotten much better in that regard around here). Since my first post, though, I have learned a lot. I have studied about web design, search engine optimization, user experience, etc... all in hopes to make this site better. But I have learned more in the day to day work than from studying. (That's the way it always works, right?)

Starting off, I would spend a considerable amount of time researching and analyzing data and then post my results. There wasn't a lot of news naturally coming out on Iowa Football, so I wrote things like the win-loss record of teams with artificial turf vs. grass, that took a very long time. I got excited about the smallest piece of news and would come home from work and quickly post it. I even remember the first time a site linked to this blog and how exciting it was.

Once the season started though, I found myself drowning in too much information. I felt like I had to write something everyday because there was always something to write about. I had all things big plans about reoccurring posts and lots of analysis. But I got burnt out.

I pushed through it though, and once Iowa lost to Northwestern I allowed myself to slow down a bit. With a step taken back, I started enjoying the writing more and enjoying the football season more and more. It was an amazing season to cover for my first year and it was fun to share my excitement on here.

For now, I've got myself on a pretty routine and though my posts are somewhat minimal during the off season, I'm prepared for another exciting season to cover. I hope to do a better job with everything this upcoming year and I plan on continuing to write this blog for the foreseeable future. So thank you to everyone for reading and helping make this an enjoyable hobby.