Thank You, Joe

A little more than a week ago, our (at this point former) editor-in-chief Joe Gravellese announced his retirement from managing BC Interruption. We wanted to leave a note before his departure.

Laura: Joe invited me to join BCI a couple years ago because of twitter. I had started an account to consolidate info on hockey alums playing in the pros, and joining BCI seemed like a much more effective way to organize that information. I just expected the blog to be a fun way to indulge my hockey obsession, but if Joe hadn't taken a chance on inviting me to the blog, my life would be a lot different right now. Thanks to BCI and Joe I've found a whole community of IRL and internet friends that love BC sports and/or college hockey as much as I do (#Friendtopia). It's given me people to go to random away games with... and to go to Finnish games in Canada with? BCI also got me back into BC WBB, which might be more of a curse than a blessing, but I volunteered to write about them so that's on me. Big thanks to Joe for bringing me into the blog and indulging all my weird contributions - you can peace out of BCI but you better continue show up for BC Hockey and all Rachel Bloom media content. (Now go watch Brooklyn 99 with the time you used to use at BCI.)I'm going to do my very best to keep the blog up to Joe's standards once he leaves - it won't be the same but you'll all just have to Settle For Me.- Laura aka Catwoman aka "that cat shelter chick" aka the reason this blog is overrun with Taylor Swift gifs and rants about Bananas the "black bear"

Grant: Joe was a hell of a leader for us here at BCI. He took what Brian built and made it even better, which I didn't think possible.

Perhaps most importantly, Joe encouraged a culture where cat GIFs, Taylor Swift GIFs, and Taylor Swift Cat Gifs were welcomed and encouraged. For that I think we're all grateful.

Thanks Joe. Don't disappear entirely!

Eric: Thank you for providing an independent voice on BC sports for the last few years. You and the staff have always been fair with your treatment of BC sports---never too high for mediocre accomplishments and never too unfair when times are rough

Tom: Joe, thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to write about Boston College sports on such a popular forum. You didn't have to let me write as much as I have and I truly appreciate you giving me the chance to do so. I look forward to continuing to interact with you through BC Interruption and maybe we'll even meet in real life at some point! Thank you and good luck with all.

A.J.: Joe, thanks for all your hard work and dedication to the site, taking over for Blogfather was no easy task, but you did so seamlessly, and BCI still kicks ass because of your efforts. Thanks for putting up with and defending my work here, coming to my tailgates, and being a friend and editor. Whatever you do you'll be successful and to say goodbye here is my special Joe Grav Beer and Rap Song Of The Week (look I know you don't like rap, but I don't know anything about your music).

Beer: Celebration Ale

No we aren't celebrating Joe leaving, we are celebrating all the good work he did for the site and for the support of Boston College sports. I'm not a huge fan of winter beers, but this one is a homerun. Hopefully you can enjoy a few of these with a couple of hockey (men and women's) beanpot wins, Hockey East titles, and national championships.

Rap Dedication:

Joe, you Regulated this site, and you did it well. You earned your keep as they say in the song. Cheers bud, good luck with everything else that you do.

John “Coach” Fidler: For those of you who don’t get to see the behind the scenes at BCI, know that what you see in print is far from all that Joe has done for the site. I know, because I see it virtually every day, what a labor of love Boston College, Boston College athletics and in specific Boston College hockey are to Joe.

I was lucky enough to catch a hockey game with Joe a couple of years ago and as you would imagine, Joe is both the mayor and a reasonable and educated voice for the program. He rightly has the respect and the well wishes of the BC and BCI community. He is a top notch writer and human being, one that those of us who are either BC grads or fans should be proud to call one of own our.

I will miss him, but I trust he isn’t going very far..never more than a puck drop away.

Best of luck Joe and thank you for your support!

Arthur: I can’t express to you how grateful I am not just for giving me this opportunity with BCI, but for being one of the best friends I’ve ever had. I remember you and Grant begging me to skip class the day of the Women’s Beanpot my sophomore year so I could play pool with you guys at Tastyburger. Thank God I did, because I couldn’t imagine my life without BCI, without my friendships here on the site, or my friendship with Whyte or Nate.

Thank you for always having my back after doing whatever dumb thing that I did that day, thank you for allowing me to develop as a writer, but also as a person, and thank you for always being a friend. No matter wherever I end up for law school, I hope you and I can count each other as friends.