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| Eli Underwood, Author, the Sunflower League Football Blog. |
Effective today, I will be discontinuing the Sunflower League Football Blog. The message board will remain active, as will all archived blog posts and information, however, the live blog itself will not be continued.
The decision to stop writing the blog was my own, and it came after many months of deep consideration. On one hand, writing the blog the last seven and a half years has been a wonderful, rewarding hobby and an escape from the rigors of the "real world." Writing gives me a shot of creative adrenaline like nothing else, and I've been obsessed with the Sunflower League since I started going to games in the late 1990s.
On the other hand, as I continue further into my life, and career, I've found spending two to three hours a night writing the blog was becoming difficult to manage. Was it fun? Absolutely. I enjoyed every minute I spent covering the Sunflower League. But I also realized the time resources needed to continue providing outstanding coverage just weren't going to be feasible any longer.
If there was ever a good time to close down the blog it was this offseason.
Before I close things out, there are some thank yous and other comments I wanted to get out there. If you've read anything on my blog, I'd ask you to read the remaining couple paragraphs.
First and foremost, I have to thank God for allowing me to develop a hobby into a weekly source of news and information for thousands of readers around the league. In the early days of the blog I was getting around 30 page views in-season per day. Less than six years later the blog surpassed one million page views. If that wasn't divine intervention, then I don't know what is.
I never had a goal for this blog. It could have fizzled out after a couple months and I wouldn't have thought anything of it. But the fact it continued to grow in popularity for so long was truly awesome. I like to think God used it as a tool to bring more enjoyment to people's daily lives, and maybe in some cases provide motivation or encouragement. I hope that was the case.
I would like to thank all those who read my work, followed the blog (and Tweets), and supported its purpose. Students, parents, players, alumni, media members -- you've all been wonderfully supportive and you were the main reason I kept the blog going for as long as I did. Through the writing I've crossed paths with thousands of individuals I wouldn't have otherwise known. And I will forever be grateful for that.
I would like to tip my hat to the league's coaches. There's so much more that goes into coaching high school football than what you see every Friday night for three hours. Managing hundreds of athletes (and their parents) is not a job for the faint of heart. What my blog did was put the coaching staffs under an even sharper microscope. But I can honestly tell you through the years I never received one disparaging email from any head or assistant coach. In fact, most of their emails were extremely supportive of the blog.
Below I've catalogued 100 of some of the most powerful, unique and and colorful photos I came across covering the Sunflower League. I've put the respective year the shot was taken below each photo. Each image has its own unique story -- its own split-second in time. You may know the story behind some of the photos, while others may be completely foreign to you.
Regardless of your perspective, I challenge each of you to find a block of time this summer to sit down, study and enjoy the photos. Really soak them in. Think about all they represent. I'm confident they'll provide you some form of sentimental imagery about the Sunflower League that no words -- written or spoken -- could have ever otherwise painted. Most importantly, they'll get you ready for the 2015 football season, which will be here before you know it.
If you ever want to give me a shout I can be reached at elias.m.underwood@gmail.com. And don't worry, I'll still be around following the Sunflower League in some capacity.
Take care, best wishes, and God bless. Thanks for all of the wonderful memories. Now go do something great with your lives.
Very respectfully yours,
Eli Underwood
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Special thanks to publications such as the the Lawrence Journal World, the Kansas City Star, the Prairie Village Post, and many others for providing the above photos.
10 comments:
Thanks Eli, awesome job. Great run. Will miss the information and comments
Wow! Eli,
I can speak for my family on this; we will surely miss your blog! I can certainly understand the demand it must have been on your time. The results of your efforts are proof that you put value into each part of the blog; that doesn't happen without deep thought, vision, great editing, a passion for the game and a desire to represent (as equally as possible) the programs across the SL. The photo gallery as a parting thought is outstanding and brought back some great memories. Cheering for you as you search for and develop the next great thing in your life and thanks so much for all the great posts through the years!
Blessings-
Pastor Dennis Carnahan
@theRev_Carnahan
Thank you Eli!
Proud of your work these last 7+ years!
My hopes for the future is that I can follow the sunflower league even half as much as you have over the years. When I first saw this blog five years ago, I was just a guy who chose to play football on a whim (Seriously, I was at the open house at Olathe North and Jason Herman asked me if I wanted to play and I said "Sure"). Now I am completely addicted to not just Olathe North or the Sunflower League, but football in general. It was this blog that helped me realize how much I loved this sport and I thank you for that.
I have a strong feeling this community will live on through the forums and I really hope that is the case. I love hopping onto Proboards and seeing new posts on there! The community has been amazing ever since we were just commenting on the actual blog posts.
Anyways, I just want to thank you for all of the hard work and it was an honor to be able to talk to you and work on the blog/community.
Regards,
"EagleGrad"
Eli,
It is hard to express how grateful we all are for the contribution you've made to the Sunflower League and to the Sunflower League family. We will miss your thoughtful insights and your highly credible analysis of the teams and the players. We were never fully prepared for Friday nights until we read your blog, and after the games were done each week we couldn't wait to read what you had to say about them.
We were truly blessed to get to know you, and we wish you all the best as you move on to do bigger things.
Peace be with you
DMan
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