One year ago today I sat down and started a little project…I had no idea what I was getting into! A Redskin’s win over Dallas inspired me to sit down and create a blog. Despite the fact that I’m not the most computer savvy guy in the world, I somehow navigated my way to blogger where budlightthoughts.blogspot was born. A week or so later I changed the name of the site to Fatpickled, a play on a username that I’ve used for many years. My first header is pictured above, it was kinda cool…it changed to my current header shortly before http://www.fatpickled.com/ was launched in January.

It’s gone a lot further than I could have ever imagined, to date I’ve had nearly 200K hits for the year (minus my 100k, that’s still a solid #.) In the next few days I plan on posting a Top Ten collection of my favorite and most visited posts, but today I’d like to thank a few people that have helped support the site in the past year.

I’ve been very fortunate to have some VIP’s in the sports and blogging world help me along the way:

Tanner and Chris Cooley have been so awesome and instrumental to this site. I’m convinced the site wouldn’t exist without The Cooley Zone. When my comments on their site started turning into blog posts I knew it was time to start my own. My site wouldn’t be called Fatpickled either…had certain Cooley family members not thought my comments and handle were funny. Tanner has been a huge supporter since day 1 and I consider him a friend. Chris has granted me interviews, posted comments and worn a Fatpickled tee shirt to show his support. Additionally I’m also honored they allow me to be a contributor to the Cooley Zone, thanks for everything Cooley bros!

I respect Matt Terl as much as any blogger in the business…he also happens to have the coolest job as the official blogger of the Redskins. Matt linked Fatpickled to the Redskins site early on and has supported the site with links and tweets ever since. He works extremely hard and produces awesome inside info on the Redskins several times a day. If you don’t have his site under your favorites and don’t check it on a daily basis, well…your cheating yourself. Thanks Matt for your support, keep up the great work.

Hot Clicks is the Holy Grail for sports bloggers…it’s located in the Extra Mustard section of SI’s website and is run by Jimmy Traina. There is no better feeling as a blogger than to click on Hot Clicks around 11am (approx time it’s updated M-F) and see your site linked to it, because you know your going to get major traffic that day. In fact, this site probably had closer to 250K hits in the past year, but Jimmy’s loyal Yankee followers crashed my site for 8 days…and I’m ok with that. Hot Clicks is an awesome blend of sports and pop culture and is a must read on a daily basis. Thank you Jimmy for including Fatpickled…it’s your world, I’m just passing thru it.

I’d also like to thank the Fat White Guy; we are partners in crime who tag team posts from time to time. He’s a gifted writer who covers sports and pop culture at his site. Thanks Rob, I look forward to working with you moving forward.

I have some awesome writers who contribute to this blog, although none of them will be accused of working too much, haha. Porkboy, Lazy JC, E4three and RevJT…thanks for your humor and talent.

I need to thank Oliver Morris, who is responsible for setting up my site, my header, photo shopping and t-shirt designs…thanks Ollie.

Thanks to all the current and former athletes who granted me interviews. I know you didn’t have to grant an interview to a small blog run by a guy named Fatpickle…I thank you for doing so.

Most importantly, I have to thank Mrs. Pickle. I’m blessed to have a super hot and cool wife. I work long hours in my real job, then come home with an idea that I must blog about. She puts up with my hobby and supports me…even if she doesn’t read my blog. Thanks for being the most awesome wife and mommy, you are the MVP of my life.

Finally, thanks to all of you reading this right now. I hope you have found some entertainment and humor here in the past year. I appreciate your comments and tell your friends to visit…year 2 is going to be so much better.

Cheers and Hail