Fear the Sword news and notes: We have a new site manager

My first post on Fear the Sword came five years and one week ago. It was a Big Board for the Cavs heading into the 2012 Draft. Eventual pick Dion Waiters ranked 14th. I had lied to Conrad and said I watched college basketball when he was looking for a new writer to cover the draft. He hired me, and so I pretended to know what I was talking about.

There’s been a lot of that over the years. Act as ye have faith, and faith shall be given unto you. Fake it til you make it. Basketball was far from my favorite sport growing up. I’d have ranked it behind football, hockey, tennis, baseball and golf, probably. It’s been utterly strange to become so immersed in the Cleveland Cavaliers over the last 10 years, to write about them over the last five, to get paid to write about a championship caliber team over the last three. Utterly strange and incredible.

I’m taking a new job in a couple weeks that will take me out of the classroom and into a different sphere. It wasn’t something I sought, but it is something I believe I will find great meaning in. I don’t think I can do it and stay on as site manager here. We’ve forged great relationships here among the writers and commenters. We had a Fear the Sword meetup a few years ago when the team was terrible that was all kinds of fun. I’ve met many of you in person. Everyone here shares the Cavs. It’s far from a perfect place but I’m proud of the content we produce and the people who produce the content. The comments are part of that.

Chris Manning will take over at the end of the month as interim site manager through July. He has helped me with the day to day stuff over the last two years and is well qualified. I’m still going to be around in a support and editing role, and perhaps I’ll actually do more writing than I have this year. I don’t really know.

Big thanks for Seth Pollack for all his help on the SB Nation side of things, and Conrad Kaczmarek for being such a good friend and mentor, even if he’s like nine years younger than I am. I have gotten to meet amazing people, cover Cavs games - cover NBA Finals games - thanks to these guys. And thanks to the writers and commenters for friendship, motivation, encouragement, and encouragement to improve. Of course, perhaps the biggest acknowledgment would have to be for my fiance for having the patience to watch so many Cavs games and stick with me through it all.

I’m excited about the rest of this playoff run. Fear the Sword will remain the place to learn about, and love, the Cleveland Cavaliers.