Independence Day Is here, so let's talk about independence stuff

So here we are, the 240th anniversary of our country's independence from those uptight, #Brexit voting weirdos across the pond. It's a time to think about a lot of things, from how grateful we are for canisters of gunpowder that explode into pretty colors in the night sky to our ability to consume disgusting amounts of hot dogs and win trophies and money for it.

We have many rights and freedoms in this country, some appreciated and some taken for granted. One of those is the right to choose what makes us happy, what it is we want to pursue as a life goal, and what is going to get us closer to where we envision ourselves in the future.

To that end, I am using this day and this post to announce that I will be leaving the site manager position here at Underdog Dynasty in about a month and branching out in an attempt to pursue my own blogging independence, in a way.

Ok so you're leaving... why exactly?

I've been in the SB Nation universe in a variety of forms over the past... good grief, six years. First as a staff writer over at Hustle Belt, than as 50% of the team that resurrected Mid-Major Madness, and then as the site manager here. Every time it seems to last about two years, and then I'm ready for the next thing. This time, the next thing just happens to be my own thing.

I've tried my own thing numerous times in the past, but it was never terribly successful - in large part, no doubt, because they were all "I'll sit here and write stuff and just cross my fingers that the internet sees it." Which did not work for very obvious reasons.

In the six years since I last tried that, I have learned buckets and buckets through the prism of SB Nation. I've learned  how to get noticed in ways that help you grow, how to be smart about your online presence, and how to surround yourself with like-minded people that make pursuing said internet relevance much easier.

I've learned much more than that, obviously, like how to use social media towards your benefit, namely how to engage in a GIF duel (thanks Courtney), but to list them all would bore everyone reading this.

O.K. cool. So you're leaving... to where, exactly?

Now that the next two-year transition has come about, I have decided to try and take everything I have learned and see if I can turn it into what I'm truly after - a site that is legitimately something I can claim full ownership of (for better or worse), while still writing about that which I consider to be fun: sports.

In early August I and a number of the writers here at the site (my "team" as it were) will be heading off to pursue our own site. I don't know a ton about the specifics yet, other than that it will be both very similar to and not at all the same as Underdog Dynasty.

Running this site has given me two years to figure out what I love about it and what I think needs work, from the scope of teams we cover to the back-end tools and everything in between. Hopefully I can get lucky and use all the things I've learned to continue to be successful, right alongside the continued success of UDD.

Keep an eye on my personal Twitter account (@Doctor_Nicolas) as well as those of just about any of the others joining me (@cfoutpost, @UDDSportsBall, etc) as we get later into this month and on into August, and you'll start seeing signs of what is next, because then we'll have more solid understandings of what that will be.

O.K. cool. So... what about Underdog Dynasty?

Well, a few folks have decided to continue on with this site, and in the immediate term, that will keep the candle burning. Everyone you have seen on a byline over the past year will largely continue in that respect for this month of July. At that point, folks will begin shuffling off towards this new thing.

Around that same time, the grand high and all-knowing poobahs that run the SBN College family of sites (hi Matt, Luke and Wescott) will put up job postings and look to hire whatever combination of site managers and staff writers will create the next generation of Underdog Dynasty.

Speaking of which, if you or anybody you know would like to become part of that next group, make sure to keep checking the job board here, as over the next few weeks a posting for site manager and then a posting for staff writers should start popping up.

This has been a fun two years running this site, and a fun six years using the SB Nation family as a means to learn how to do that thing I've always been trying to do, which is my own site. I hope that you all will continue to support Underdog Dynasty and whatever the next generation of writers decide it should become, as well as finding room in your sports-blog-reading hearts for this new awesomeness that I'm convinced I'm creating.

It's been a fun ride, but now it's time to buy my own car and tend to it myself.