WE DID IT!

The first (second, if you count last year’s Wachtel-Fest) annual Cartilage Free Captain / The Short Fuse Charity Challenge is over as of midnight ET/9 pm PDT. What started out as a day of me chewing off my fingernails because we were so close to The Short Fuse’s fundraising, turned into one amazing evening.

Spurs fans really came through in a big way here on the last day of the campaign. An absolute rash of donations came in this afternoon and evening, including a bid of £250, the largest single donation of the campaign. I’m beyond delighted to say that our final haul of donations to Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice amounts to £3138.58. Or, in ‘Merican money:

$4084.02

The Short Fuse managed to raise $2411 for their chosen charity, the National Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. This is not to be discounted. CFC enjoys a significant increase in blog readership over our Arsenal friends, and I am gratified beyond words that the contest was as close as it was for so long. In fact, a part of me wishes it had ended up closer. (Next year we’ll give ‘em a handicap, amirite?)

But who cares? All together, our two American SB Nation EPL blogs managed, in a single week, to raise $6496.02.

SIX. AND A HALF. THOUSAND. DOLLARS. FOR CHARITY.

There are many reasons why I love running this blog for you. Sure, the writing is fun, and I’ve gotten to get to know so many good and awesome Tottenham fans as part of my work. But this right here just might be the best thing I feel like I’ve ever helped accomplish on this site.

Give yourselves a big hand, Carty-Free Nation. This is because of you.

The good news is that The Short Fuse Takeover 2: Carty-Free Boogaloo is ON, the date of which will be set later. There’s time to plan that. You’ll have a big part of that.

But for now, here’s a big virtual hug for each and every one of you. I love you all. And if you’re still feeling generous, consider giving a post-contest donation to TSF’s charity, the link to which you can find here.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.