Today, the inevitable happened. After tirelessly covering the Flyers for Broad Street Hockey, Charlie O’Connor will be making the jump to The Athletic, where he will be covering our beloved team full-time.
Charlie himself announced the news earlier this morning on Twitter:
I am proud to announce that I am joining The Athletic as well, heading up the Flyers section of the site & covering the team full-time.
— Charlie O’Connor (@BSH_Charlie) August 23, 2017
Those of you who have read my work in recent years know I tend to stick to more satirical and goofy stuff. I can say with absolute certainty that this is directly due to Charlie’s work. I quickly learned that he was so good at writing about hockey that anything I could attempt would pale in comparison. So it was dick and fart jokes for me, and actual work for Charles.
Charlie joined BSH a few years ago shortly after I began writing for the site. After a few short posts, it was clear that he was destined for greater things. His ability to make dry statistical analysis interesting while not losing sight of the more nuanced aspects of the game was simply unmatched. Analytics has recently become more accepted in the hockey community, and I really think Charlie’s ability to make them exciting and applicable to a broader audience played a not-insignificant role in that.
Not to keep laying it on, but Charlie truly embodies what I think the ideal of this website is — reasoned, engaging, and intelligent content from the fan’s perspective. Simply no one does it better.
From his columns on BSH to his analysis and commentary on BSH Radio, Charlie has given his absolute all when covering the Flyers. I don’t know how many times I can recall him staying up late or working all weekend just to make sure his work was the best it could possibly be.
And while his absence will leave an unfillable void at Broad Street Hockey, none of us could be any happier with this result. In a world where so many people seem to stumble into success, it is an absolute pleasure to see someone so talented and hard working get what they want.
I hope you’ll all join me in following Charlie’s future work. As he mentioned on Twitter, all of his work on this website was done while maintaining a full-time job. Now that he will be able to focus all of his time on covering the Flyers, his work will undoubtedly be even better, which is both exciting and hard to imagine given the high bar he set while writing here.
Charlie is hands down the best Flyers writer, and one of the best sports writers in general out there. Further, he is an incredibly nice and engaging guy, and a great friend.
So let’s raise a glass and celebrate the success of the guy who has helped us all understand the game a little better. You deserve this, buddy, and we’re all looking forward to what will undoubtedly be a long and successful career in hockey media.
To Charlie!
