What a strange and fascinating place the road is.
At the onset of the year I launched out into the blustery, crisp and miserable white of winter to follow the asphalt ribbon west. My reason was to begin this project—this magnificently ambitious thing—where I would travel around the country in order to turn up and jot down some of the different elements in the fight world that often go unseen and unheard by the fighting faithful.
It was my intention to bring you, the reader, along on this quest and provide the closest thing I possibly could to an interactive experience. We set up a live blog, updated it with adventures and misadventures alike, and by the time the wheels of my Nissan Altima were crossing over the charcoal-tinted slush of the Midwest into the pepper dust of the New Mexico state line, you were all right there with me.
It was crazy to me at the time and still is, just how much energy pulsed through the first leg of this road trip. From comments left on the daily journal to constant interaction on Twitter, the grand experiment of bringing the reader along for the ride was alive and in full swing. All of a sudden the heart was beating, brain firing and with eyes jumping like the needle on the speedometer, the journey picked up steam throughout the Southwest.
That said, those of us involved in the inaugural run also knew it would very much be a learning experience and took notes of what could be done better as we went through the proverbial fire. While such an adventure of this magnitude had never been tackled before in MMA, we fully understood it to be an evolutionary process.
This brings us to the here and now. The next phase of the trip, the next step, the next fantastical wild thing…has finally arrived. I am about to once again launch out into the ether to get my hands on the fibers of what makes this sport we love so special. In that sense, the mission statement is still the same as it ever was, but this time around…this next curve on the ever winding trail, YOUR experience is going to be improved.
The intro you are now reading will be attached to the daily blog, but the contents of the journal will be a mixed bag of goodness for you to chew on and share with your friends. More so than last time, we at Bleacher Report MMA ask that you share all of your thoughts with us, and if they won’t all fit in the comment section below, please take to Twitter (@BR_MMA @Duanefinleymma) to ask your questions or offer up anything you would like to see answered.
Throughout every step of this process always keep this one thing in mind: This road trip project is for you. It’s all for you and I want you to make the absolute most of it. I want you to see what I love about the sport, and there is no better way to show you than through my eyes and words, as we cruise about on this adventure.
With that in mind, let’s not waste anymore of those words and get this thing started. Thank you for taking the ride with me once again and here’s to life.
Here’s to the road.
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