Jun 04 2008
Calling all Old Style Sports fans!
Alright.. I’ve been spinning stuff up here for you for the past couple of months, and now it’s time for you to give me some feedback! I need to do a business model for this Web site - so you have to tell me what you want!
As self-serving running your own blog is, it doesn’t matter unless it’s actually being read. So I would be greatly appreciative if you, my loyal audience, would leave some information about yourself, and what you would like to see in this blog. I included a couple of items below for you to answer - feel free to add what you will!
- Joshua Pollock
Owner & operator of oldstylesports.com
1. Tell me about yourself - How old are you? Where do you work? Do you work? How hard do you work? Bahahahaha…. But seriously, anything about yourself that will help me determine who my audience is… I only know where you’re coming from!
2. Besides me, where do you go to get information/reaction & feedback on Chicago sports, or sports in general? This includes blogs and news sources.
3. How do you communicate with others about sports? This includes social networks (virtual and physical), message boards, other blogs, etc.
4. Tell me what you want to see from a Chicago sports blog. Any and all ideas are welcome, and are definitely valued. Consider the guy writing here - he’s crazy. We’re talking new additions to the site - content, contributors, etc.
5. Anything else you want to add!
I am a 28 year old graduate student at the Medill School of Journalism. I am a sports junkie, devotedly following the Cubs, Bears, Bulls and Fighting Irish.
I read all of the Chicago Sports papers, including their websites and go to chicagosports.com and chicagocubsonline.com.
I communicate with others about sports through face-to-face conversation. I don’t really talk in the virtual world. Just the real world. I guess I do communicate through posting on Chicagocubsonline.com.
Adding another voice can always help a blog, giving it another viewpoint and more credibility.
It is a good read, but always look for the different angle.
1. I’m a 24-year-old grad student at Medill. I love sports, especially football, basketball and track & field. I played college football. I’m originally from Mississauga, Ontario, but I’m not a hockey fan. I currently live in Chicago. I play fantasy sports, including football and basketball. I participated in an internship where I worked as a sports reporter for a mid-sized North Carolina newspaper covering baseball and high school football. I’m an avid media consumer of political, business and sports news. I used to upkeep a sports blog, but since I started grad school I’ve abandoned it. I like Toronto and New York-based teams — Knicks, Raptors, Maple Leafs, Mets, Jets, Giants, Blue Jays and Toronto FC. I don’t really like the Yankees, Islanders, Liberty or Rangers.
2. I get most of my sports news online now. Last year, when I had cable, by far the majority of my news came from ESPN. I was an avid PTI and Around the Horn watcher. I probably read ESPN.com columnist Scoop Jackson’s column as much as any other reporter/writer. I also like ESPN radio, which I listen to before I go to sleep.
Though I love newspapers and plan to be a newspaper reporter, the sports section isn’t the first thing I pull out of the paper cause I don’t find game recaps interesting and they don’t do enough analysis.
Now, I get most of my information from ESPN.com and ESPN radio, TV broadcasts or the seldom occasion when a sports story will appear on the chicagotribune.com front page, which is my Internet homepage.
Here are a few newspaper Web sites that I check out randomly. I think the New York Daily News does a good job with sports coverage. I often compare the ‘back pages’ of the Daily News and the New York Post, which also had decent sports coverage. Although, I don’t visit often, the Orlando Sentinel covers sports well. I also particulairly like the sports section in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Whenever it get a chance I’ll buy the AJC or the Daily News because of their sports section. I’ll also read Jason Whitlock columns because he’s always writing stuff I wholeheartedly disagree with and I believe that in his heart he disagrees too. I consider him somewhat of a Judas.
3. I talk trash on my friend’s facebook walls, but I don’t start it. I only reply once someone eggs me on. I have face-to-face convos with people. On rare occasions I talk over IM or the phone. And I’ll chat about sports if I’m watching them at a bar or social gathering.
4. Hmmm. I guess the thing I’d like to see from a Chicago sports blog is credible analysis. I don’t care about scores, wins, or losses. I can go elsewhere for that. But I’m immensely interested in the evaluation and comparison of athletes as well as social/political issues that seep into sports à la Outside the Lines. I want to see good short writing, of course. I think there are different types of sports blogs, but I think if a sports blog broke news then I would be more apt to visit it more often. I’d also like to see a sports blog point to other news sources and comment about them. I especially like hoopshype.com’s rumors section. I always read the rumors section, which is basically an aggregator of news, but I never read the columnists on the site because they’re aren’t entertaining and they don’t offer much insight. I think if a Chicago blog could work as a chicago sports news aggregrator, then I would visit it often. There aren’t any blogs that I’ve seen that do that.
5. I should add that I like Gilbert’s blog — it’s very popular. Also, I would say that ESPN.com’s stable of columnists — Scoop, Adande, Simmons, Hill and others — all do a pretty good job.
1. I’m 24 years old and an avid Boston sports fan. I haven’t slept for the past few days; up worrying about the Celtics final. I’m from Boston, lived in New York for a year, and am now a graduate broadcast-journalism student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.
2. ESPN is pretty much my first and last source. It’s incredibly comprehensive. To get more in-depth information on Boston sports, I will occasionally visit the Web sites of the Sox, Celts or Pats.
3. I communicate almost entirely through e-mail and almost exclusively with Boston sports fans. I plan on broadening that approach soon. I’ve begun posting comments on espn.com, for instance, but I’d like to find something more exclusive.
4. I can’t say I’ve ever visited Chicago sports blogs, so I confess ignorance on this particular issue. In general, I’d like to see bloggers give more numbers and useful information, and less qualitative fluff. This comes from my bias for sabermetric sports reporting.
1. I am 24 years old. Die hard Boston sports fan! Wouldn’t trade it for the world. I am a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and am a 2d LT stationed in Alaska for the time being.
2. My sports sources….good question! If it is during work hours, my dam government firewall on the network restricts my access to any decent sports websites. CBSSPORTS.com is my saving grave even though its not that great. Outside of work….bostondirtdogs.com and espn.com are my main sources!
3. I communicate through cell phone, gmail messenger, and email mostly. Actually facebook is pretty good to communicate to friends and trash talk about how there sports teams blow. I like that.
4. I am not a big blogger at all, but i like to give some feedback for my friends! Something to consider, more stats, your thoughts on players, especially break out players and or who might have a great night. Possibly upcomers who you believe could help the team in the long run.
5. Rock on bro…you da man!!!
1. 31, journalism student at Medill. I used to read a lot of stuff online, but not anymore, but I am into sports a lot. A lot a lot. If you can be into something that much. I run (ran, given the number of recent posts) MRISports.com, so I know all about trying to work through some of the morass of the internet and sports blogs.
2. ESPN, some blogs, chicagosports.com is usually pretty good. I keep a news feed going and try to keep an eye on the stories of the day. I get scores when I need them.
3. Usually in person. When the blog runs, I try to have a conversation with my commenters, which is difficult because sports fan may be some of the hardest people in the world to have a rational argument with. Most of my sports stuff talk is with my friends, or at the bar.
4. How to make something great? Good question and one that is hard to get through. I think making a good network within the Chicago sports blog community is a big step. You need people to read your stuff and you need to read theirs. It is mui importante, because that way you get some traffic and every once in a while, when you break something, some good links to build your google rank.
I think you need sources. I am not saying you have to have access to a player, or need to be in the locker room. Although if you are, all props. I think you need to start small. Cultivate something with smaller teams, smaller schools. Get their coaches to talk with you and have interviews on your site with them. They can be invaluable sources to help generate traffic and get you in with someone a little higher up the source food chain.
Definitely have a bit of stats analysis, recurring features. I think that Brian brings up a good point in that having a second writer can help immensely. If you can have more than that, even better. Having just yourself not only puts a lot of pressure on you for all the content, and we all know how busy people can get, but it also means that everything could sound the same after a while.
I think you also have to goo way in depth. Get into the drafts, get into the minor leagues. People who are deep into teams want to know about the next players, the next thing. Go to some of the minor league games if you can (Iowa, Peoria). Learn the orgs.
5. Oh no, I said too much.
1. I am a 24-year-old graduate student with no job and no kids, which means ample time to watch sports. I’m lifelong Chicago guy, so it’s White Sox, Bulls, and Bears, with a touch of college and high school sports.
2. ESPN, Local TV news, Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, some blogs (blogabull.com, southsidesox.com, deadspin.com), and any magazine I find in the barbershop.
3. Mostly in person. I’ll text or instant message someone about sports if it’s a huge story.
4. I would be interested in seeing a little “hyperlocal” fare. With sports I think it can work in Chicago because of the diversity and intense year-round love with sports. So maybe a little original reporting on unusual sports traditions in some neighborhoods, checking out the best sports bars in town and hanging out with fans, and looking local institutions like super 16 inch softball. Make it as crazy and unique as possible.
5. Ozzie Guillen Proverbs
1-My name is Kris Sweeknee. I am a 25 year old, white, handsome god-like creature. I work in advertising and also take some graduate classes on the side. I live in Chicago but hate old style beer and hockey.
2-Most of my sports news comes from ESPN.com. Your blog is one of the few blogs I read. I enjoy page2 of espn.com and PTI when I have access to a television. I never read the sports pages of a newspaper probably because I don’t read any newspaper.
3-Most of my communications about sports takes place at bars, with co-workers, or with classmates. Whenever a Boston team is doing something special I tend to get a lot of phone calls and texts from obnoxious mass-holes I lived with prior to coming to Chicago.
4-I would like to see more Jordan highlights. Maybe more highligts of Chicago stars in any sport would be interesting. More history I guess. I would also like to see the blogger be more critical of players and coaches. Benson arressted 2x in a month– you should be all over that.
5- Maybe some WNBA coverage? Looking at the responses above this blog is a total dude-fest. If you cover the WNBA maybe you can increase your female readership. Do people blog about the WNBA?