A Wee Update
By: Martha | February 13th, 2008
Believe it or not, during this (slight longer than) two week break, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this blog, and have come to the very sad conclusion — for me, anyway — that I just can’t devote the time I feel is required to do it well anymore. And, since I care way too much about the blog and those of you who read it to half-ass it, I’m afraid I’m going to have to retire. [The picture shows how I feel about this decision.]
I want to thank all of you for reading and commenting, and teaching me over the past 15-odd months. When I started this, I knew almost nothing and, while I still have a long way to go to be as informed as I like, I know a lot more than I did, and much of that is down to you guys. (Plus, you’ve made me laugh incredibly hard, even when you’re making fun of Inter, which has made this experience an enormous amount of fun.)
Please believe I’ve not made this decision lightly: It’s going to be hard to walk away, but if I can’t give the blog the attention it deserves, I just don’t think I should be doing it. Not to worry, though — RomaChris will be holding things down here at least for the near future, so you’ll be back to getting your regular dose of Serie A news.
So, thank you, everyone, from the bottom of my (nerazzurri) heart. Over to you, Chris!
Category: Serie A
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Comments
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Martha, I had the feeling something like this was in store… Being much of a perfectionist myself, I too would probably stop doing something altogether, rather than doing it half-assed. From that point of view, I understand you completely.
However, I think there’s a better solution for you than quitting the Italy blog entirely. How about sharing responsibilities? If time is an issue, alternate with RomaChris on odd days: that way, you won’t have to update the blog EVERY day, and I’m sure you and Chris can find a suitable timetable arrangement to cover each day of the week appropriately. Hell, if it’s too much of a problem, you don’t even have to update the blog daily, once every two days will do just fine, I’m sure everyone would prefer that to the alternative of seeing you entirely.
Blogging is hard work, believe me I know :) but there are ways to make it work. Don’t leave your faithful readership with tears in their eyes, please don’t! I’ll take Italy.Offside to be Inter-biased over Roma-biased any day of the week! :’(
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United States
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Sorry, that last sentence in paragraph nº2 was supposed to be “I’m sure everyone would prefer that, to the alternative of seeing you *leave* entirely“.
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Hey, I can be unbiased, actually. I just fail to do so at Roma, which I think is the point. And anyway, Martha failed to mention I’m just the stopgap until a permanent solution arrives. A stopgap which should start tomorrow.
(robert, this “We can’t have some Roma fan doing your job, their not smart enough.” made my day. Thank you.)
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United States -
LYK OMG NO.
As if this day could get any worse =[ This sad rossonera going to miss you loads Martha (even if she may have poked fun at Inter. once. or twice. or ten). You have no idea the number of times you’ve made me burst out laughing with your witty and informative posts. I one hundred percent agree with Marco, even if it’s only reading your posts once a week, I would totally prefer it if you took a part-time role, rather than dissapearance completely.
and Zlatan FOREVER. (I swear this was the number one news source for all things Ibra)
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Very sorry to hear it as I’ve loved visiting your slice of the web but best wishes to you!
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I agree totally with Marco.
Once some one suitable is found, work out some sort of schedule so you’re both on it, if that’s possible. It wouldn’t require nearly as much of your time.
I just don’t want to see you go!
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United States -
Bye Martha…it’s been great reading your work here at The Offside. I’ve learned tons about Serie A even if I didn’t always comment, and it’s all thanks to you. You’ll be very missed.
Best of luck with everything!
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Aw, it won’t be the same without you, Martha! (I add my voice to the chorus hoping that once a replacement is found, maybe you’ll return as a co-blogger…)
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Italy -
Martha - This is really sad news as I’ve completely enjoyed ‘The Offside’ and looked forward to reading the blogs each day. It was always so obvious of the hard work and level of effort you’ve had to put in because the articles were so detailed, informative and of course, very funny, so it isn’t a big surprise that you don’t feel able to keep up it any longer. I have loved exchanging Bobo filth and so happy that I found someone to share it with!!! Good luck and happiness for whatever you do in the future, and I still have the email address which I hope I can use to keep in touch from time-to-time. Thanks for everything Martha, its been a pleasure.
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You will be missed, your blog was great to read daily! Do you have a myspace?
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Australia -
Thanks for all the good stuff… hope to see you over at Chris’ for a good Nerrazurri bashing! I’ll sure be missing those WAGS!
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Denmark -
Best of luck to you, Martha.
I know exactly how you feel; I’m in grad school and I work full-time, so serieAmerica has been relegated to the back seat over the past couple weeks, and I feel terrible about it.
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Thanks, everyone, I appreciate your kind words enormously, and it makes me really sad to be walking away.
Marco and mele, we’ve actually talked about the splitting duties idea. My concern is that in order write well, even if it’s much less often, I’d still need to do the really time-consuming stuff — the reading and researching — just as intensely as I have been. Otherwise, I won’t be informed enough to write even infrequently, you know? That said, the powers that be have graciously told me I can come back and help out any time I want, so if my situation changes, I will definitely see if we can work something out!
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Sad to see you go Martha, I loved reading your daily updates and you will surely be missed!
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but…but…can you promise to make chris make posts with pictures such as the naked-cannavaro-with-soccer-ball-inconveniently-in-the-way?!
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Hopefully Chris isn’t an Inter fan….
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I’m glad to have made your day chris. :)
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Alright Martha, please do come back!
And keep in touch!
You are my favorite blogger of all time, and you and your work really turned me on to this whole scene. I thank you deeply and sincerely for everything.Posted from
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You’ll be greatly missed here. Your blog is what got me to this website. Oh well, we’ll always have Sergio ‘hot-as-balls’ Ramos then. In bocca al lupo Martha.
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We’ll all miss you, Martha. Good luck.
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Dagger. Good luck Martha and I’ll look forward to your continued advocacy of all things Bobo in the comments section.
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I guess that’s better than nothing Martha.
By all means do come back to visit us often, I’ll be eagerly awaiting a lengthy pro-Inter/pro-Zlatan/pro-Solari/pro-Figo rambling on Italy.Offside soon, as well as a few well-placed stabs at the Italian soccer establishment (worthy of your sharp tongue).
Not that I’m worried Chris can’t do that sort of thing (his tongue is probably even sharper than yours), but there’s just a different attraction to the whole thing when a feminine touch’s involved.
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Martha, thanks for being the one to bring me into the fold, though you’re probably regretting it by now =). Love ya!
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Heard that you were leaving through Laurie’s blog. Since I’ll probably never get a chance to tell you this otherwise, just wanted to let you know that I think you’re a great writer–I especially loved your review of “The Lives of Others” on cinematical.com. Good luck with whatever you are doing in the future.
Oh, and I hope Figo goes to NY for your sake.
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United States -
I’ve only recently spotted the offside and I have found your blogs to have been very informative and very funny also.Sorry to see you are leaving.May I wish you all the best in the future and thank you Martha.
Posted from
United Kingdom
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