In case you were out of that particular loop. Ryan Davis, Giant Bomb’s co-founder and Bombcast main host has passed away. The sad news has been posted all around the web as I write this.

I’d like to say, podcasts have become a huge part of many people’s lives. They accompany us on the bus, throughout our shitty day at the office, when we come back home. Sometimes when I’m playing a game, anything that doesn’t involve reading or someone talking, I’ll fit a podcast in there. I love the company.

Unless you’re some kind of entertainment consumption monster, you find like, 3-4 good ones that you enjoy, and you stick with them forever. The Giant Bombcast was one of those for me. When Jeff Gerstmann got fired in 2007, I was pissed off and really curious about where he’d end up. It seemed like a big stupid move on his then-employer’s part, and so when he came back with the Giant Bomb website and the podcasts, I was thrilled. In the old days, they would taste test all kinds of weird drinks and rant and I think for a while it was called arrow pointing down. Good times.

But yeah, just like Final Score and Retronauts and Weekend Confirmed, the Giant Bombcast became part of my weekly podcast listening ritual. We always underestimate how important those guys become. For example, when 1UP got bought by UGO and they let go a bunch of people, I was sad. In a selfish way, I was worried the podcasts I loved would die and never come back. Some did come back, some of the guys I liked regrouped elsewhere and started new stuff (Robert Ashley, I’m still subscribed to A Life Well Wasted by the way), it was chaotic but it kinda ended well for the most part.

Now. Ryan Davis. “Hey everyone it’s tuuuueeessday” Ryan Davis. Gets married. Passes away. The internet learns about it on monday. I’m telling you, in the past few weeks, a train explosion destroyed parts of a small town up north here in Quebec, a plane crashed in San Francisco, there were floods and forest fires, yet the only thing that seriously fucked me up, was reading about Ryan on monday. I almost went home from work. Right away. Almost did. Fucking Ryan Davis passed away man. And of course, no one, NO ONE around me understood just how awful the news was.

I really don’t want to get into shit like “he would’ve wanted us to do this or not do that” or like “he was my best friend even though we never met”. But his work, in the Gamespot days, at Giant Bomb and on the Bombcast, those things did make a difference in people’s lives. It’s all just, you know, game journalism and entertainment and jokes on a web radio show. But it fucked me up when the news hit. It fucked me up and that’s got to account for something. Reading the thousands of comments on forums everywhere, I’m definitely not the only one mourning this week.

As usual, I’m not sure what I’m trying to say here. It’s a fucked up week.

We will miss you Ryan Davis, you beautiful son of a bitch.

Important links:

they’re all on here already