Gentlemen -

I was off-line for about a month and (not gonna lie) I missed you maniacs! When I logged on Sunday night I was grinning from ear-to-ear seeing so many familiar messy faces and bare chests. I posted a silly premise for a video, got some good feedback, and decided to edit the blog.

Then my mood and writing tone shifted from 'Messy' to 'Mushy.' But since we're all friends or future friends anyway...

I've known many of you since the long-ago days of Yahoo Groups and Messenger where I found Other Dudes who loved to toss and take pies and other messes while Shirtless. It was great meeting up with all you once again on the utterly amazing UMD.

A Much Belated Thank You to all of you who welcomed and befriended me, from early amigos (Jon! Peter!), and mentors (Kevin! Jim!), to current confidants (Dave! Brett!), and to many messy sessions from the earliest (Drew! Will!) to the more recent (Eric! Erik!).

Here's to the photos that intrigued me (David! Mike! Mikey!), and challenged me (Dana! Miles!), and one last toast to everyone's mutual best-friends (the Tennessee Boys) and, sadly, the dearly-departed and deeply-missed Alabama Jay. I am a better man for knowing All Y'all.

And finally a Special Thank You to Good Buddy Brutus, who saw my now-deleted Sunday post and asked, "Is this something that could happen spontaneously?" I answered "Unless someone has a dozen-or-more pies lying around, probably not. But I'm not sure what constitutes a WIN in a Pie Fight Club."

Brutus suggested, "Maybe the person with the least amount of pie on them?" I said "That's a pretty good idea. Maybe each fighter has only 3 pies to do as much damage as possible." He added, "Or maybe one pie is the winning pie. A different color filling or something on the underside of the tin."

I told him, "See, that's why I love you. It could be like Russian Roulette, but with pies." Brutus replied, "Aw thanks. I love you too." After briefly considering changing (Pie)Fight Club to the alternate game title "Prussian Prize-ettes," I came up with an ever-expanding set of rules.

Please check out "(Pie)FIGHT CLUB" in the following blog.

Thanks!
Jay