At some point last weekend, the odometer on the 1976 AMC Pacer that is Battle Red Blog rolled over 4,000,000 hits. Seeing as how we passed 3,000,000 back in November, that means another 1,000,000 unique visits happened between then and now.
Maybe. I'm not sure. I'm not a numbers guy.
For a site that once consisted of little more than a couple of people lamenting the continued employment of Chad Stanley, this kind of growth continues to amaze me. It never would have happened without every single person who takes the time to read and contribute to the discussion here, and I am tremendously grateful for that. BRB is bigger than any one individual (well, except for maybe Rivers...that guy is a rock star), and it's more than a little daunting to realize how big this place has become.
There's a plethora of things to be proud of here at BRB. From the gifted writers who take the time out of their busy lives to share their thoughts on the front page to the folks who simply choose to lurk every once in awhile, it all adds up to form a wonderfully unique community of Texans fans that I (with bias fully admitted and with no offense to other Texans sites intended) believe is the best around. Better still is that the community doesn't stop at sharing a fondness that borders on the macabre for your Houston Texans. It goes beyond that.
Perhaps nothing that's happened at BRB since it opened its virtual doors in January of 2007 quite illustrates that point than how this community stepped up at the last BRBAPALOOZA. To my knowledge, no one here was familar with James' story until shortly before the 2012 NFL Draft, yet an overwhelming number of you donated to The James Camden Sikes Fund without giving it a second thought. I've never been prouder to be associated with BRB than I was that night, and it only underscored how exceptional this community is.
BRB is a great place because you fine people make it great, and seeing how this group selflessly helps its own is infinitely more satisfying than any amount of page hits. Thus, I offer our sincere thanks to each and every person who's reading this. Not so much for the traffic, but for caring enough to keep coming back and making this a better and better place for fans to congregate.
Here's to the next million and to the next chance to make a difference.