A couple of the diaries this week have gotten all personal-chatty as XarXar and DrDave have done their best Oprah impressions, sitting me down on the couch and asking me questions.
XarXar's question was simple: What is my vision for this site?
I suppose I should say something like to have the biggest fan site ever or to become a nationally-recognized writer but I've always believed that quality and integrity were more important than popularity or acclaim and that if you did the daily things well the rest would come. So here's my vision in a nutshell:
--To have a place where any Blazer fan of any age, background, or experience can come and talk about the team and feel welcome and heard.
--To be honestly supportive of the team we all love but also to allow for honest criticism which in the long run can be just as helpful.
--To have the standard of conversation be high enough that people from the entire Blazer community--from the most casual fan to the professionals in the organization and the media--can find something meaningful and intriguing here even if they don't agree with every opinion offered.
--To provide a link to the fan tradition of the past that gave us the love for this team and also a springboard for the fans of the future so they have a chance to be real fans, loving the experience and not just wins and losses.
--To demonstrate the following:
- Fans do have something to contribute that's meaningful, important, and occasionally enlightening.
- Blazer fandom in particular is something wonderful to treasure and aspire to.
- The loss of coversational civility in our society is neither complete nor desirable. People really can disagree and still be on the same team and even like each other.
- Even in this splintered, detached, and often confusing day and age if you give people a chance they will come together to create something good.
--To have an ENORMOUS amount of fun. AND...
--To just have people around to share the ups and downs of this weird passion with.
If we can have even modest success with these things I will be as happy as a clam. I wouldn't be surprised if as interest in the Blazers grows the site grows also, but really if it's a dozen people doing these things then that's nifty too.
As far as tangible goals with numbers and such I only have one: to someday generate enough advertising revenue to cover the costs of the contests. And by the way, thank you AGAIN to Max and Bestwheel.com...great friends of this site. The Jersey Contests are an enormous amount of fun for me and my way of saying, "Thank You" to all of you. My only wish is that I could give a jersey (or at least a t-shirt) to everyone. That's a ton of ad revenue though!
As far as DrDave's diary...well...he asked some questions about me personally and invited everyone else to join in. I do get a fair amount of e-mail questions about myself so I suppose he's not alone. I have always been hesitant to make the site very much about me (one of the complaints I have with modern sportscasting is that it's a lot about the sportscasters and not very much about the sport) but to sate the curiosity I've agreed in principle to DrDave's request. If you have a burning question you've always wanted to ask put it in his diary to the right. If there's enough interest by Friday to make a post I'll do it.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)