This is going to take some getting used to

This is going to take some getting used to. I have spent the last month acclimating to my new digs (we have an office!), my new coworkers, and my new job description here at DNVR. But for you, for many other Nuggets fans out there, and even for myself—today is one of adjustment.

Adam Mares has been the keeper of the most important online Nuggets community in the world for half a decade. And I got like, Klay Thompson hot with the Stiffs twitter account for a couple of months during the playoffs. It’s obviously hard to say which departure left a bigger hole in the community.

Things are strange in the land of local Nuggets coverage. In addition to this new venture, we’re all still wondering how exactly we’re supposed to watch our favorite basketball team, and when that will be resolved.

For the sake of everyone’s sanity, I’ll start with what I hope stays the same. Long before my arrival in Denver, and ever since that moment, Adam and I have worked tirelessly to cultivate something specific. This is something we both believe is important, and something that, frankly, is difficult to articulate.

Sports fandom is a unique distraction. It’s a subscription to a lifestyle that exists somewhere between religious and primal; a golden ticket to an arena in which irrational behavior and the full range of emotional expression are not only allowed but strongly encouraged.

Sports have made me feel both more alive, and subsequently more ridiculous than anything in my life. Few things derive their meaning from their absurdity and triviality the way this lifestyle does, and nothing is quite like the sense of community shared by those who rally around it.

All we want to do here at DNVR is enrich that experience–for you, for ourselves, for anyone who cares about their Denver Nuggets and Denver sports as a whole. We know you want more than four quarters of basketball. We know you want the conversation to run 24/7, and the content to flow freely. We know you want to stay inside that arena for as long as you can, whenever you can.

I’d like to think that to some extent, we provided you with that at Stiffs. But we know you want more.

We want the same thing.

The list of rad projects we attempted at Stiffs pales in comparison to the list of great ideas that never get off the ground. I am proud of what we accomplished, but I’m more excited about what I believe we are capable of with the support of someone who believes in us.

I didn’t just agree to follow Adam, although that does appear to be working out for me. I also agreed to join a company that was built by the tireless work of a handful of people who want the same things that I do. They believe in the power of sports the same way I do. And they’re going to empower me to make this as fun as I can for everyone involved.

So that’s why I’m here. Now what is DNVR, and what will I be doing?

I’m staying on the Nuggets beat, to be clear. And I’ll be running the DNVR Nuggets account along with stepping into a larger role in the process of establishing our online identity.

This is not BSN. This is not a front-facing sports media company or a journalistic institution. This is a lifestyle company.

Denver has never been more malleable. It’s a city that’s growing every day, and one that’s in search of its new soul. Not everyone asked for this change, but it’s here, and I think the lifestyle of sports fandom can play an important role in what’s to come.

We can mold these communities, in both digital and physical places, into whatever we want them to be. We can build a lifestyle that represents not just fans of every sport, but every kind of fan in between those lines. We can make this fun, we can make this informative, and we can make this inclusive. We do not have to sacrifice.

Times are changing. Traditional media doesn’t appeal to every kind of consumer, and there’s an appetite for something new. We’re going to step up and try to fill the void. We need your help to do it.

We wouldn’t ask you to step behind a paywall if we weren’t willing to step up our games. You may have noticed an increasing amount of digital content and experimentation at Denver Stiffs. The direction we were headed in on social media, and our attempts to create video content native to the internet are the seeds of something that will grow in this new environment.

You can expect original digital content of every form–we’ll be writing, podcasting, tweeting, and producing videos more than ever. And this time we’re teaming up the machine that is Harrison Wind. If you want it, we’ve got it.

The merch we collaborated on with the folks at DLineCo. contained elements of a larger vision, a vision they’ve turned their full attention to with the creation of the DNVR brand.

I believe this company has the tools at its disposal to deliver what it promises, but we can’t do it without you. When I described the molding of communities and the power at our disposal, I didn’t mean the company. I meant all of us. Anyone who cares to build a lifestyle they’d be proud to represent.

If you enjoyed my work at Stiffs, or like me, have found the work of Adam and Harrison to be an important part of your life, then join us.

Subscribe, follow, and interact, as you always have. It might feel different now, for you and me. But in our corner of the Nuggets universe, not much has to change.

I’ll see you on the internet.