I guess you could say this is an ode to this Web site's founder. Powell has since moved on to other things, but it's impressive to think what this site has become--so many users, posts and comments. And it all started at this blogspot location. Since then, the site became "Pounding the Rock." Eventually, it moved onto the Sports Blog Nation.

I think it is safe to say Matthew didn't foresee this much of an explosion from his original idea to start writing his personal opinions about his favorite basketball team (even if those opinions and ideas included trading Ginobili for Kevin Martin, or calling Michael Finley a dependable defender when we signed him). Who knows if Matt has checked out the Web Site recently or not? If he has, I would guess he would be impressed by what's going on. In fact, before "retiring" from PTR, I'm sure he was surprised by the quantity of witty, well-thought-out comments. And it all started with him. Others, such as Michael (stampler), really added to the quality, quantity and depth of writing. Since the blog's inception, there's been no looking back, and the snowball-like growth of PTR has continued.

So kudos to the founder of the best sports blog on the internets, with the best logo, too (based on the quote below, which is found at Spurs HQ... and by the way, pounding the rock into the shape of a Larry O'Brien trophy? Simply awsome! Quite the logo, if you ask me!)

“When nothing seems to help, I go look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”

-Jacob Riis