Way back on June 23rd of 2009, I finally bit the bullet and created what would become Wrong Side of the Pond.

This project was something that I had been thinking about doing for quite some time, but always held off because I figured it wouldn’t be worth my time to pour so much thought and effort into something that no one would really read. But thanks to some encouragement from friends (combined with me getting sick of writing the same things repeatedly in the course of one day as i exchanged emails with different groups of people about the latest gossip and events), I decided that maybe it would be worth a shot.

Upon launch, it’s not like I was expecting anything grandiose. After all, I’m a humble blogger with low expectations. But my hope was always to write about and discuss the sport I love, and see if I could at least establish a site with a decent following. Trust me when I say it’s taken quite some time and effort to even attempt that.

So with that in mind, I wanted to celebrate small a traffic milepost that Wrong Side of the Pond finally eclipsed today… 10,000 unique visitors.

Depending on how internet savvy you are, you might be thinking “awesome!”. But more than likely, you’re actually thinking “so what”. Either way, I feel it necessary to write the following reality checks to give you some perspective and prevent my ego from even contemplating a bit of growth:

• It takes Google about 11.5 seconds to reach that same milestone each day.
• ESPN’s Soccernet takes just under 5.5 hours to eclipse that same mark.
• The oft linked to blog, The Spoiler, requires about 1.7 days.

So let’s be honest, my site isn’t shit yet. But everyone has to start somewhere, right?

With this milestone crossed, I’ve decided that the time is right to launch a major development. In the 22 months the site has been up, we’ve been stationed at a less than desirable “enteryoursitename.wordpress.com” address. And if you readers are anything like me, a site doesn’t really scream “read me” if it doesn’t have it’s own URL. So in order to improve it’s legitimacy and hopefully traffic too, we’re putting an end to this lack of professionalism today.

I hear by announce that the site will, from this day forward, be located at http://www.wrongsideofthepond.com! This move will make it easier for everyone to find us on the worldwide intertubes, as well as to share the site with friends/family/coworkers/complete strangers. And you might also notice a slight redesign to the site, though nothing drastic by any means.

Lastly, I’m completely aware that many of you are directly responsible for the success that the blog has had so far, and without you… well, I would have probably given up on this by now. So thank you for your continued readership, thanks for sharing the site with your friends, and for continuing to do so. If nothing else, it at least makes me feel like I’m not the only one in America who was born on the wrong side of the pond.