I can't believe I'm writing this...

Three weeks ago, a previously undiagnosed cardiac abnormality nearly killed me.  I needed emergency room doctors at Winchester Hospital to shock my heart back into a normal rhythm, or I wouldn't be typing this message today, and my wife and daughters would be without a husband and father.  While I'm better now and slowly starting to deal with my condition, I don't think I'd be human if I didn't come away from that experience a little shaken.

If those doctors hadn't saved my life, I would have been remembered in part as the guy who tried to convince people not to go to Revolution games.  I’m not sure I like that.  If I'm truly honest with myself, some of the greatest moments of my life have happened in Section 143.  I've made some great friends because I became a fan of this team.  At halftime of a game against D.C. United, I got a call from the Massachusetts Department of Social Services that informed me they were placing a 7-month baby girl in the custody of my wife and I - a girl we ended up adopting a year later.  To this day, that same little girl still talks about getting a high five from Slyde at the Seattle game last year.  Revs fans I only know from the internet sent unsolicited donations to the Scholarship Fund set up to honor my two brothers after they were killed in a car accident six and a half years ago.

While there hadn’t been much going on publicly with the boycott, behind the scenes, I had actually pretty busy with “Boycott the Revs” duties.  I had saved up to purchase Photoshop and some web site design software to help create a more professional look and feel (…a perfectly valid criticism, by the way), and was teaching myself how to use those tools.  I was probably 80% of the way towards launching a new, revamped, much-improved site with a goal of getting things up and running before the home opener.

But after leaving the hospital, I discovered I didn’t have the appetite for it any more.  In fact, I don’t really have the appetite to boycott at all.  It’s a lesson I should have learned six and a half years ago.  Nothing is guaranteed in life.  Apparently, it took something to happen to me to drive the point home.  Or maybe I just forgot for a while.

I’ve decided to live my life for myself and my family first.  And part of what I find enjoyable about my life is going to Revolution games with friends and family.  Could I have boycotted for a few years?  Probably.  But when your doctor says your risk of a severe stroke over the next ten years is roughly ten times greater than that of the average person, who’s to say you’ve got a few years?  A few months ago, a boycott sounded and felt like the right idea.  Now?  Well, now I think I’d rather spend my time and energy creating more memories and friendships than making a point.

I’d like to thank all of those who joined the effort and also offer my sincere apologies.  I know how this makes me look.  In all honesty, this is not how I envisioned my involvement ending, and I’m more than a little embarrassed by my somewhat sudden change of direction.  I had the best of intentions when I started, and whatever problems there were getting more people to go through with this is completely my fault.  I am truly sorry.