So here we are at the end of the first season of NLL Chatter. For those of you who have been reading for the whole season, a very big thank you! I hope it has been exciting and informative! Well perhaps not, but I hope it’s been entertaining. OK, so I hope it didn’t suck too badly. Today I’m going to take a quick look back over the first season of this blog, so please forgive my short journey into narcissism.

My first posting was December 14, 2011, and the article you are reading is the 80th one posted. Many are game reports and there was one “picks” article per week. There were some stats analysis, some opinions, a couple of interviews, and I tried to be funny a few times.

A few of my personal favourite postings, in no particular order:

• A Christmas lacrosse poem
• Lacrosse players in the Harry Potter universe
• My debunking of the phrase “Defense wins championships”
• My first-ever interview! Talked to former NLL player and current broadcaster Teddy Jenner
• Top 10 surprises in the 2012 season, parts one and two
• Guest columnist: Jackie Harvey of The Onion (Behind-the-scenes trivia: it wasn’t really him. It was me.)
• Analysis of the results of back-to-back games. Is playing games on consecutive days any different than playing a week apart?
• My interview with NLL legend Steve Toll

The most viewed articles over the last six months:

• My article on Geoff Snider, RT’ed by Mr. Snider himself
• The Harry Potter one again, RT’ed by Harry Potter Kevin Crowley
• The “2012 Boston Blazers” – a team full of released and unsigned players, some of whom were later signed. This was linked to on the Wingszone message board.
• The fight involving Pat Campbell and Geoff Snider, RT’ed by Teddy Jenner
• My interview with the aforementioned Mr. Jenner, which he RT’ed

Are you seeing a trend here? My most popular articles are the ones that other people helped to promote. This should not surprise anyone – that’s how the web works. But I think I need to engage my readers a little more. I got a few comments and even a few RT’s on twitter about some articles, but after the 79 postings, there are a grand total of six comments on the blog itself. I didn’t even get any spam comments that I had to delete. Obviously, this means that everyone must have agreed with all of my opinions and comments. Note to self: be more controversial next year!

Anyway, thanks again for joining me throughout this season. I don’t really follow the summer leagues much, nor the MLL, so don’t expect too many new articles over the next few months. I will probably post something when big trades are made, or free agent signings, or at the entry draft, and then again when training camp begins next season. I also have a couple of stats-analysis things in the queue. This season is barely over, and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Until then, you can follow me on twitter (@graemeperrow), and don’t forget to follow @NLLFactOfTheDay for a daily dose of fun and sometimes goofy NLL trivia (once the NLL season begins again). Enjoy your summer!