Like McNabb, your humble narrator is heading up the tunnel for now. (Photo: Associated Press)

Come children, let us shut up the box and the puppets, for our play is played out.

--William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

Seven years ago next month, I walked into a press box as a professional for the first time to broadcast a high school baseball game live from Gill Stadium in my hometown of Manchester, New Hampshire. In the intervening time, my work (and I use the term very, very loosely indeed) has taken me many wonderful places. I've been courtside for NYU basketball at the Coles Sports Center in lower Manhattan, and I've been in the press box at Fenway Park in Boston. I've stood on the sidelines at Parker-Gray Stadium in Alexandria with T.C. Williams' 1971 state champions, and I've sat in Heinz Field in Pittsburgh for the 2011 NHL Winter Classic. To top it all off, most recently, I was given a front-row seat to one of the most dramatic games in the chronicles of March Madness.

But that run will have to end for the time being, as today is my last official day at TBD. To be honest, my future is very much unwritten at the moment. I hope to stay in D.C. and it is my resolution to continue writing about sports in the near future whether I get paid for it or not, though what form that resolution might take is very much to be determined (no pun intended).

As the risk of boring you to tears and/or insanity, there are many, many people I have to thank for various courtesies shown to me over the past few months. Naturally the list begins with thanks to Erik Wemple and Paul Volpe -- who initially interviewed me and brought me on board here -- and Jim Brady, TBD's original auteur.

Foremost among current and former colleagues who gave me advice, assistance, guidance, nicknames, and/or a good laugh, I must thank Mike Jones, Dan Rowinski, Dan Daly, David Aldridge, Alex Parker, Britt McHenry, Daniel Victor, Julie Westfall, Steve Buttry, Nathasha Lim, Jeff Sonderman, Sommer Mathis, Mandy Jenkins, Lisa Rowan, Andrew Beaujon, Maura Judkis, Elahe Izadi, Sarah Godfrey, Jenny Rodgers, Sara Kenigsberg, Steve Chaggaris, Amanda Hess, Sarah Larimer, Rebecca Cooper, Heather Farrell, Jay Westcott, Ally Schweitzer, Mitchell Schuler, Dave Jamieson, Ryan Kearney, Kevin Robillard, Justin Karp, Elliot Kort, and Nicole Young.

Special thanks also to Bruce DePuyt, Morris Jones, Glenn Harris and Tim Brant, as well as their various producers, who were perfectly willing to overlook my radio-friendly face and print-friendly voice to have me on TV every so often.

The sports media fraternity is a wonderful thing to be a part of in any city, and I was lucky enough to ride alongside some of the best, friendliest, most intelligent, and hardest-working people in the business. On the print side, my thanks to Jason Reid, Rick Maese, Barry Svrluga, Adam Kilgore, Tom Boswell, Tarik El-Bashir, Katie Carrera, Dan Steinberg, Gene Wang, Michael Lee, Mike Wise, and Cindy Boren of the Washington Post; John Keim, Brian McNally, and Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner; Patrick Stevens of the Washington Times and Reed Albers of Washington Post Express. I must also single out Joseph White of the AP -- whose baking skills and passion for cricket and Dr. Who is second to none -- and Ben Standig, a hard-working member of the freelance brigade. 

Of my brothers and sisters in the Internet-only world, I thank John Taylor, Mike Prada, Sean Fagan, Jack Anderson III, and Adam Vingan of SB Nation, Bullets Forever, and Kings of Leonsis; Rachel Levitin of We Love DC, among others; Jenn and Rachel of Nationals Fangirls; John Keeley, Elisabeth Meinecke, and the rest of the merry band at On Frozen Blog; Dave and Cheryl Nichols of Capitals News Network and Nationals News Network; Kyle Weidie and Rashad Mobley of Truth About It; Tom and Tiffany Bridge of We Love DC; Jim Iovino of NBCWashington.com; Matt Terl of Redskins.com; Bill Ladson of Nationals.com; Ed Frankovic of WNST.net and, of course, Ted Starkey, Caps tweeter extraordinaire.

As for the TV and radio division, which includes Internet affiliates: Sky Kerstein and Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan; Chris Russell of ESPN 980; Jonathan Warner, Craig Heist, and Bobby Oler of WTOP and Kelli Johnson, Jill Sorenson, and Chris Miller of CSN, as well as Ryan O'Halloran and Mark Zuckerman of CSNWashington.com, will never have to pay for a meal or drink as long as I'm in their vicinity. (Of course, that offer applies to anyone on this list, but I'm running out of ways to say thank you at this point).

Neither, for that matter, will Gemma Hooley and Chris Nelson of NPR, who are in the midst of putting together one of their brilliant sound-rich documentaries about the current Capitals season. Can't wait to hear it.

For various measures of assistance, I want to thank the following members of the various team PR departments, who, whether journalists wish to admit it or not, play a vital role in the making of the news. In particular: John Dever, Mike Gazda and Bill Gluvna of the Washington Nationals; Tony Wyllie, Matt Taylor, Michael Pehanich and Zack Bolno (former) of the Washington Redskins; Nate Ewell (former), Sergey Kocharov and Kelly Murray of the Washington Capitals; Scott Hall, Daren Jenkins, Brian Sereno and Ketsia Colimon of the Washington Wizards; and Alex Caulfield, Doug Hicks, and Kyle Sheldon of D.C. United. At the college level, hats off to Rose DiPaula at the University of Maryland, Maureen Nasser and Dan Reisig at George Mason University, Mex Carey at Georgetown University, Brad Bower at George Washington University and Nancy Yasharof at American University. Special thanks as well to the players and coaches (they know who they are) who were unfailingly generous with their time and wisdom.

Finally, a brief note of thanks to you, the readers and fans. My main mission at the outset of this enterprise was to bring you as much news and insight as one sportswriter possibly could. Whether I accomplished that is up to you. My other mission was to try and be as responsive to your e-mails, tweets, etc, as I possibly could. That part, I admit, I wasn't nearly as successful at, but I hope you all know that your messages were read and acted on to the best of my ability.

Right, I think that's everything. And would you look at that? It seems I'm all out of pith. In that case, I'll leave you in the very capable hands of Edward Woodward as Breaker Morant. I'd recommend watching the whole thing, but if you're in the mood for straight-up verse, skip to 1:56.

See you soon, hopefully.

Samuel Douglas Chamberlain