Three years ago today, on July 17, 2004, I started a blog that I called "Stick and Ball Guy". The url for that site was stickandballguy.blogspot.com, a site that I left and has now been usurped by a cybersquatter. All of the original posts have been ported over here, but any images that were posted are lost.

I had long wanted to start a blog, but I was in law school and it was tough to work, go to school, and write a blog, or so I reasoned. Three years ago today, I was out of school and studying for the bar exam, which I desperately wanted to avoid, so I started this blog. I've written before about what it was like to start a blog and write when nobody was reading, but what I want to talk about today is the last year, which I have found to be the best year of this site.

First, though, I'll recount the site traffic over the last three years:
July 17, 2004-July 16, 2005: 50,133 page hits, 35,166 visitors
July 17, 2005-July 16, 2006: 177,988 page hits, 88,559 visitors
July 17, 2006-July 16, 2007: 431,827 page hits, 148,745 visitors

Clearly, the WGOM has had an increase in traffic over the last year and I thank all of you for stopping by.

I'd like to thank some people who have kept this thing going when I thought it might die. When Lucy got pregnant, I wondered if this site would survive. With a new baby, it seemed like I was going to have to make some choices. Clearly, I couldn't pump out a bunch of content with a new baby coming. So, I decided to open up the WGOM to people if they wanted to contribute. The result has been that the site is better than ever. So, I give thanks to the following people.

ubelmann -- This site would have died without ubelmann. He took it over almost completely for about two months. Plus he's written a ton of great stuff and he does the game logs. ubes has put as much, if not more, time into this site this year as I have. Well maybe not quite that much, but he's done a whole hell of a lot. I hope you enjoy it, ubes, because we enjoy what you do. Thanks a ton.

AMR -- I always liked AMR's old blog. He has a little different perspective on things and I've always enjoyed it. I decided to invite him to write and told him to do what he wanted. The result was "Mugshot Purgatory", which never fails to amuse me. Thank you so much for providing some truly original content to the WGOM. I feel lucky to have asked you.

Big Mak -- Big Mak approached me and asked if I'd like to have a series preview from the perspective of the other team's blogs. I jumped at the chance to have someone write this as this was something that I'd kicked around in my head for some time. It takes a lot of time to research and write that kind of column and his work is always well done and interesting. Thanks, Big Mak, for making a valuable contribution to this site. I always look forward to your columns.

brianS -- I decided one day to give brianS privileges to do videos. He left a comment saying that I must have left something on, because now he could edit things. I told him that that was his new privileges -- that's how he's found out. He's been a tireless contributor of music videos and an occasional column on beer. He's more than welcome to write more beer columns and I really appreciate all his participation on the site.

Andrew -- Andrew, I think, was the first person to contribute guest columns when he wrote about soccer a while back. I'm not sure about that, but I know he was one of the first. He came to me with an idea about profiling the Citizens of SBG Nation. I was willing to give it a shot and it has turned out to be very interesting and a big hit. Thank you very much, Andrew, for your contributions, the BKAC feature has been a whole lot of fun.

Banjo -- Banjo has made a couple of different contributions to the site. He's been a voice that has always said, now wait a minute, I don't agree with that. Believe it or not, I really like that. Disagreement builds discussion and that's what we need around here. He's also given me some really cool stuff, including Guard Dog Watches and some Banjo Brothers gear for my bike (and Lucy's bike, too, but her bike got stolen). Plus, he offered to write a column about grilling. I thought, all right, let's give it a try. Turns out that his On The Grill feature is a very well written piece every time out. I love reading about his grilling exploits and am more than a little jealous. I'm looking forward to actually using some of those recipes on a new grill at my new house. Thanks, Banjo, for well-written pieces that are quite interesting.

Rhubarb_Runner -- Rhu_Ru has created the SBG Library. The magazine covers are interesting (Zoilo!) and the books are of course worth discussing. Rhu_Ru has put a lot of time into this and he's secured an interview with the author of Cool of the Evening that will run tomorrow. Very nice work, Rhu_Ru. Rhu_Ru has done an excellent job with this feature and I'm very happy that he's provided his quality work to this site.

frightwig -- frightwig has been a long time reader and has been a great commenter. I knew his time was cramped with the new baby and his site had gone abandoned. I asked him if he wanted to contribute here and he has responded by doing a great job with the SBG video feature. I know he's got a lot of stuff keeping him busy, so I hope he can stick around and help out when he feels like it. Thanks for your help.

CarterHayes -- CarterHayes has contributed a couple of articles, including one on baseball cards and another on platooning -- military style. He's a talented writer and always welcome here. Thank you.

The Rest of the Nation -- To all of the readers of this site and especially to those who have commented, I appreciate your attention and contributions. This website is mine in that I own the URL and pay a few bucks to host it. But, it ours in that so many of you (listed above) have contributed and made it a real community. One of the things I marvel at is that every person who has pitched me an idea has had a good idea. I appreciate all of the people who have contributed to this thing. You've made it much more than I could ever have done by myself. It's been three years and we'll keep plugging away.

Lucy A special thanks to my wife, who still lets me do this without (much) complaint. She has recognized that this is my hobby and she's let me have a lot of time to do this. I appreciate that very much. She's a wonderful woman and she's got a very lovely little daughter.

Happy Blogiversary to us. And may we have many more.