An Open Letter to Our Readers

Dear B5Q members and readers,

Now that the basketball season is over, I want to take a moment to thank all of you for what was a great first full season of coverage on Bucky's 5th Quarter.

It's been 13 months since we joined the SB Nation network and I really can't imagine a better place for fans to congregate online to discuss Wisconsin Badgers athletics. B5Q presents a unique forum to comment and debate about the Badgers, but I also love that our members have the ability to post their own stories and links.

We launched at an awkward time in January of 2009. Football had just ended and the UW men's basketball team went on a six game losing streak as soon as we started the web site. There was even a time when I thought this site was leading to the demise of a program that had never come anywhere close to a six game losing streak in the four years I had covered the team.

But we all survived. The Badgers went on to pull off a first round upset in the NCAA Tournament and we proceeded to take on the unique challenge of pumping out UW coverage during the summer.

We knew that if we could make it to football season, the great Badger fans out there would join us in the fall. And that is exactly what happened. It certainly helped to have a successful team that went on to beat a good Miami team in the Champs Sports Bowl, but it also helped that the UW Athletic Communications office credentialized us for both the football and basketball seasons. In a time where the line between journalism and blogging is getting blurry, Brian Lucas and Patrick Herb took a small chance on our site and I want to thank them for doing so.

But most of all, I want to thank our readers. You guys drive this site and every other SB Nation site. The idea behind B5Q is to deliver objective, hard-hitting coverage of the Wisconsin Badgers with the opportunity for fans to add their two cents in a greater format than just a message board.

To our regular commenters, thanks for being here all year. To wisco87, AdamT, pjpaulus, Kyle Lobner and wiarchaeologist, thanks for jumping in daily with new thoughts and even breaking news. We appreciate it. To OBrienSchofieldismyHero, your enthusiasm for the Badgers is exactly what drives this site. You get a little crazy sometimes, but never take things too seriously. That's a good thing. And to lwnexgen and your jinxing powers, I'm glad we're both superstitious. For all the newer contributors and others that I might have missed, thanks for jumping on board here at B5Q and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions.

By no means are we done here with our daily coverage. In fact, things are only going to get better. Jake Harris will be in St. Paul this weekend providing some great hockey coverage from the NCAA Tournament. We'll also start reviewing the basketball season in a week or so and start looking ahead to next year.

As far as football goes, we have a major, major surprise for all of you this summer. I'm not going to reveal what it is yet, but in early July, we are going to have something that every Badger fan will enjoy. I promise.

But for now, I'm headed on vacation. In fact, I'm on a flight right now to Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Seriously. I'm 39,000 feet in the air as I write this. Jake will have all the coverage you need while I am gone and hopefully I'll be back next week talking about a Frozen Four appearance for the UW men's hockey team.

Again, thanks to all of you. It's been a great year.

On Wisconsin,

Adam Hoge