Coming forth from the primordial ooze of the tubes

It was around this time in 2005 that Jason wrote about getting it in his head that there weren't a lot of blogs out there that catered to him and his ilk. (Can I just say that I love the word "ilk?" Ilk, ilk, ilk.) A blog that spoke his language - kids, music, movies, pop culture, gear and vasectomies. And he was right. Sure there were blogs by dads out there, but they tended to talk about how blessed we were and how we should cherish each and every moment and it's such a beautiful thing to be a father and...oh, my fuckin' hell you're making me sick. There were no group blogs out there by dads for dads that don't want to get punched in the junk for talking like this amongst their friends. If you act like this with your buddies while watching a Pats-Jets game, you deserve the atomic wedgie you just received even if you are 40. Yes, being a dad is a great thing, I wouldn't trade a moment of it, but it's also a dirty business: there's shite and vomit and urinary baptisms - it's not always pretty nor is it always pleasant. And dammit I don't feel blessed to be breaking out the Little Green machine at one in the morning to clean up curdled milk vomit. I just don't. I think I can be honest about that without incurring the wrath of the sensitive pony-tailed guys out there. Thus was born DadCentric.

Currently, there are only three of us left of that original line-up: Jason, CroutonBoy and myself. Dads have come and dads have gone - much like the dad blogosphere itself. When I started blogging in May 2005, I didn't know what the hell I was doing: who would read what I wrote? Who should I read in return? How many of us are out there? I literally stumbled across other blogs, flailing about the tubes looking for people who spoke my language of Star Wars, 80s supergroups and movie quotes and wrapped it all up in fatherhood. I would follow a comment on my own site, see who that person had in their blogroll and so on and so on. Pet Cobra, CroutonBoy, Because I'm Your Father, Child's Play, Cynical Dad, Metrodad, mr. nice guy, Laid-off Dad, Dad Gone Mad and so many more - these are the guys I was getting inspiration from. These are the types of guys I could hang out with (and have done so on occasion).

We share a common bond, this fatherhood thing. We have, on many occasions, railed against the media's bassackward assumption that good dads are rare. We've mocked tabloid blurbs about how nice, how refreshing, it is to see this male celebrity or that pushing a stroller: Hey, look! Seal's pushing a Bugaboo - how metro of him. We continue to struggle for some level of respect from the powers-that-be, taking silly writers to task for dissing dads and offering backhanded compliments. And, we have, at times, fought within our own ranks against pretension and who makes whom the moral arbiter of what makes a good or bad dad. Answer: not you. However, I can say that there is a level of camaraderie among the y-chromosome set, but we're not nearly as coalesced a group as out mommy counterparts. We don't have weekend-long, corporate-sponsored conferences (though if any of you corporate muckity-mucks are reading, we are open to this). We don't have nearly the cachet PR flacks look for when trolling for mouthpieces, though again, they should really do some research. We quietly go about our business, blogging about this or that, trying to desperately out-pop-culture-reference our readers in an attempt to entertain and keep them coming back for more of our blabber about being a dad.

If you are a long-time reader of DadCentric, you have watched us evolve and tackle a lot of different issues with openness and honesty and, from time-to-time, a very warped sense of humor: because, honestly, if we didn't laugh we'd either cry or go crazy or go crazy crying. Yes, we are men and we do sometimes cry...not me of course, just the other guys. Wimps. Anyway, I'm sure Jason will be thanking you as well for your patronage over the past four years, but I wanted to offer up how appreciative I am to all of you for taking the time to read this site. I have no idea what the next four years may hold, but I hope DadCentric continues to dominate this corner of the internetowebosphere, blazing new trails and bringing you more comic serializations of vasectomies. Gold, pure comedy gold. Thank you for your support.