I am not the best writer in the world. You can print that. However, I do love to write and I especially love to write about basketball. Basketball is my passion and I may make completely disillusioned statements because I love the game so much. That is part of the fun. Anybody can write about how Kobe is good and the Lakers won the Finals. Everybody who watches and cares about basketball knows certain things, but it's guys who can make these grand statements (myself included to a FAR LESSER extent) that make basketball blogging that much better. A guy that really cares about what he's covering to the extent that it seems more maniacal than biased is the type of blogging I want to read. Everybody should, actually, because isn't our favorite blogger an extension of us, the fan? Nobody who doesn't care is going to read anyway.
ESPN has something called the "TrueHoop Network." It is a collection of guys who independently cover respective teams whether being just free press or just rabid fans. Some guys, like Cleveland Cavaliers blogger John Krolik and Sacramento Kings blogger Zach Harper, have become extremely entertaining and truly credible writers that have massive followings. These guys still keep in the spirit of blogging. They are passionate about what they cover and in most cases (if not all) they don't receive a dime from ESPN. These guys are part of the reason I write; similar passion for the game and teams they blog about, little guys (at one point) and they just want to have fun discussing all things basketball. It's been a dream of mine to be one of these guys and it continues to be.
However, ESPN has proven that it doesn't care about it's TrueHoop Network. TrueHoop was the fan, it was the little guy, it was all the crazy passionate opinions you had in your head in blog form, with your particular TrueHoop team affiliate (all former bloggers for their respective teams with no ESPN affiliation) as the searchlight that made your ideas shine. It was a great thing for fans and NBA nuts...until LeBron went to Miami.
Now, the same fun that NBA fans had reading about their teams from guys just like us, is no longer. LeBron is in Miami and it's a big story. You won't be able to find Matthew Bunch and Surya Fernandez on TrueHoop anymore because they had to find sexier names in Brian Windhorst (LeBron's teet-suckler since high school) and Michael Wallace (a guy already employed as the Miami Heat's beat writer). Instead of a community of bloggers just like us that want the real deal and the raw emotions that go with it, we have to start settling for guys with established names. TrueHoop used to be about no-namers who loved talking basketball, not guys who have the latest juicy gossip. Keep those guys on the front page and leave our TrueHoop Network alone! It was fine as it was! I know money wins at the end of the day (since there will be more hits for a Windhorst article than a Fernandez article, therefore more advertising interest) but why take this small, beautiful place from actual fans who want it so badly?
Most of you probably don't know TrueHoop and all the nights it filled for me when I got home from work at 3 am with nobody to talk to. I got a chance to read articles and blogs from guys just like me. Regular dudes that love basketball and go out of their way to talk about it. Matthew and Surya will still be MY Miami Heat bloggers because they do things the same way I do; without just chasing a dollar but actually giving a crap.
Check out Hot Hot Hoops and read this:
http://www.hothothoops.com/2010/10/04/hot-hot-hoops-will-not-be-affiliated-with-espn-as-of-oct-11/
Long live Matthew and Surya! Long live giving a damn about the NBA, even if it isn't the sexy topic of the hour!
No comments:
Post a Comment