Here I am again, sitting in my front of my laptop, getting ready to say farewell to yet another important person in my life from the wonderful website that is ScrewAttack. Even though I would love to do another tribute video like how I did with Destin, I simply don't have the time at the moment so I'll do the same thing I did when Jose left and express my feelings through a written blog.

Jared Knabenbauer, Professional Jared, Pro Jared or just Jared, whatever you may refer to him by, is not only an exceptional member of ScrewAttack, he's an exceptional human being. It's not often you come across a person that you can honestly admit you would be worse without. Jared is one of these few people. Rarely have I seen a person so devoted to his work like Jared, able to deliver top notch comedy along with professional, down to earth performance. His honest nature made him one of, if not the most relatable person in ScrewAttack's history. No matter if he was upset or happy, he showed it and it's this honesty which led many people to gravitate towards him.

I will never forget the first time I ”met” Jared. I had been watching AVGN and the other ScrewAttack content over on Gametrailers for a long while and thought it was time to check out their website more regularly. Along with the launch of version 3, there was a new show on the site and I can still remember when I read ”Nametags” in the thumbnail. The first thing that happens is that a random guy wakes up from bed and a voice over comes on. Already at that moment, I recognized it as an homage to ”Scrubs”, one of my favorite shows of all time so I got interested. Who would've known I would watch the same episodes over and over again until the next one would come out?

This was a huge reason I came to ScrewAttack every day. Without Jared, I can't imagine how long it would've taken for me to visit ScrewAttack regularly. Then to my dismay, the last episode of ”Nametags” was released and needless to say, I got really sad. My memories of this Wisconsin boy faded away slowly with time even though I would remember such great memories like seeing him arm wrestle with Ben at the Iron Man of Gaming 2008. Then, something wonderful happened. ScrewAttack got its own game store and who better to become game manager than the person who had both been it in real life and in ”Nametags”. The man had arrived in Texas and to many people's joy, he would appear in many ScrewAttack videos to come. Cameos in Clip of the Week, Random Awesomeness and Control Issues.

After working at GameAttack for a long time though, they decided not to renew the lease which got me concerned since I thought Jared was going to move back home. To my pleasantly surprise, he went on to create more original content for ScrewAttack by becoming a true member of the HQ. At the same time though, sadly, Destin left the company but this led to many great things for Jared. He became the new host of Hard News, co-host of Sidescrollers, Reviews Editor and the creator of the oh so missed, Newsroom. We were all skeptical of how Jared would fill in for Destin on Hard News but he really succeeded in making the show unique in his own way without copying Destin's style.

Jared soon became one of the most beloved and most productive people on the site. At the same time though, I personally found him the most controversial. I could sometimes feel he was being too serious and boring when he constantly were contradicting other people but that made me realize something important. It's the amount of respect I have for this person that makes me able to feel such a big variety of emotions when I agree and/or disagree with him. Me and Jared might be very different people but what he says truly gets to me and inspire me.

And so we come to this, his departure. To be honest, I wasn't too shocked. I had a feeling for a long time that he would one day leave the company and focus on his own work. While I would've loved him to ease us all into the announcement, I still found his farewell on Hard News so touching. I would be lying if I said tears didn't run down my cheeks.

So Jared, if you're reading this, I want you to know the following. You're on of the most devoted, professional and relatable persons I have ever had the pleasure to meet. The amount of respect I have for you is almost impossible to describe. Without you, I would not be the g1 I am today and ScrewAttack would've never been the same. Why, my life wouldn't have been the same without you. I'm going to miss you so much on the site it's unbearable and while I'm devastated to see you leave, I'm also really happy for you now that you will start following your dreams. I've seen your Pro Reviews Jared, and I know you'll one day get the recognition you deserve. Never forget that all of us will always be behind you, supporting you however we can no matter if it's on Twitter, Facebook or anywhere. We're a family and you'll always be a part of it. Hopefully we can all see each other at SGC 2013.

I love you like a brother Jared and I hope the best for you in the future. Good luck with everything.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Adam

g1 TheSwedishGamer