I knew the end was near. I wrote about last year, the golden age was on life support and the plug was about to be pulled.
Sports blogging has been around for a long time, but similar to hip-hop it took awhile before it really crossed over into a viable and respected form of media. There are a couple of reasons I say the golden age started in 2009, some you can figure out (we will discuss those shortly), but one person who doesn’t get enough credit is………..
You are probably wondering what does Shaq have to do with this? Shaq was the first athlete to prominently use Twitter. I will never forget the first time I really care about Twitter was when Shaq was tweeting from some restaurant about fans he met there. Here is snippet from the fan that wrote the blog about the Twitter experience way back in February of 2009.
I had joined Twitter in January of 2009 and thought it was the stupidest thing of all-time. After signing up I had forgotten about until this exchange between Shaq and these guys. I am sure I wasn’t the only one at the time who thought it was cool that you could meet and communicate with someone like Shaq in real-time. That was something you simply couldn’t do anywhere else. Those two guys wrote about their experience on Blogspot, a free blogging platform from Google. It became a news story, but a different type of news story, it became a social media and viral one before we were even using the terms social media and viral.
To me this is the beginning of social media and sports becoming connected in the world of media and it was perfect for sports blogging because it allowed bloggers to do stories that at the time mainstream media wouldn’t touch. It also allowed bloggers to get information out faster to a bigger group of people before mainstream media.
It gave bloggers an advantage they never had before in their fight against mainstream media. They didn’t just have this new source of content, but they had the ability to get it out to an audience who was hungry for something new and different (just like hip-hop back in the day).
The second part that put it all together was the WordPress interface. I am someone who started on Yahoo Geocities, so I understand how difficult it was to create a website and manually put in content. Sites like the aforementioned Blogspot and Blogger help, but they were limited in what you could design wise and the ownership was still run by Google.
WordPress changed all that, by allowing its interface to be used by bloggers who owned their domain and purchased a hosting package. Furthermore, by not limiting the plugins and design themes, you could pretty much create whatever type of site you wanted and more importantly you could connect it to your social media spaces.
In the past you would post a story and then physically go online and promote your link. Back in 2007 I was a member of at least 100 forums, message boards, chat rooms or any place I could put a link. If I wrote about the Cowboys, I’d post that story on 5 Cowboys forums. That is what you had to do to promote and get people to your site. By 2009, when you hit published things had advance to the point where the story would hit your Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and others pages all at the same time. This was important (and frankly still is important today) because it allows Bloggers to get their stories out faster and more efficiently.
If you are a boxer and you are fighting someone bigger than you, what do you do?
STICK AND MOVE
While Mainstream media was slow to adapt to the technology and what the audience wanted, sports blogs thrived. It lead to the great flood of sports blogs. From around 2008-2011 it seemed like everyone had a sports blog. They were easy to start and easy to get an initial push if you had a social media following. Media changed during this time and it was specifically because of independent sports blogging. Just like Hip-Hop we started the trends, we broke the stories, we decided what went viral and it was a beautiful thing.
The years of 2009-2012 will probably always go down as the best years of my life. The perception of bloggers being fat white guys living in their mother’s basement was gone and blogs were becoming the movers and shakers in the industry. Sites were being bought, personalities were getting opportunities and the independent sports industry was growing and then………….
Nothing personal against Adam and he has been on Twitter since 2009, but Schefter (and then later WOJO) was one of the first mainstream media guys to really get how to use Twitter to break news. For a long time, Twitter was just seen as something Bloggers could drop their stories on, it was considering a niche social media space. But eventually mainstream media caught up and realized how powerful the platform could be. Back in 2009 there was only a few media people on Twitter, but in 2015 almost every single media person not named Charles Barkley is on. What they did was take a good part of the audience from the independent blogger and put it back onto the mainstream media reporter. Before a blogger could take a story, put it on social media and their link would be the only one out there, but now besides all the other bloggers mainstream media has caught up and that has driven the traffic down.
Back in July 2012, I went to a USA Today blogging summit. At the time I was on their blogging network and they wanted to talk about how to improve their network and site. I remember during a presentation, they asked if anyone had any suggestions. I raised my hand and said what they should do is take the publishers, make a site outside of USA Today and feature those unique stories from those publishers (which at the time were just getting popular). They thought it was a great idea.
In April of 2013, they debuted For The Win, which is an awesome site and I am sure something they were thinking of before I put my 2 cent in, but the one thing they did which I think started the downfall of blogging was they decided not to use the publishers in their blogging network for stories, they just hired writers. That was the beginning of the end for sports blogging as we knew it.
From that point the battles weren’t over, but the war was essentially lost and like most battles the people with the most money won.
Slowly but surely all the mainstream sites starting looking like, you guessed it blogs. USA Today, SI, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, NBC Sports and almost every local and national sports site in the country. Simply put who depends on the bloggers for content when they could just reproduce it with their own in-house hires?
It is extremely difficult to make money in the blogging industry. The standard way is through an ad network where they pay you a set amount per 1000 pageviews (called a CPM). CPMs are based off the amount and quality of advertisers the ad network has. CPMs were strong at the beginning of 2010s because it was a growing digital market, but now that the market is saturated and mainstream media has caught up those CPMs has fallen. Add in the traffic mainstream is now taking away from sports bloggers by doing stories they would have never done in the past, it has driven a good number of blogs out of business.
I am not sure people realize this, but I am the originator of the phrase Struggleface. I started it in 2009 when I did an article on Chris Webber’s face in response to something Charles Barkley said on Inside the NBA. I continued it with the Jason Terry face, Daffy face and then random faces that I would use under the hashtag #struggleface. There were rules to the Struggleface. The main was you only dropped it at the end of a game. I loved doing it, until mainstream media picked it up and started just started doing them randomly throughout the game. I wasn’t upset about it, but it was something that was cool and unique, but they were using it all wrong and so I just stop using it.
Around that time is when things stop being as fun as they use to be in the golden age. It isn’t fun to see friends of mine have to shut down their sites or being forced to get other jobs because the money isn’t coming in like it use it. It isn’t fun to see people giving up on their dreams. It isn’t fun to get those emails, calls, texts, DMs asking what should they do. It isn’t fun watching talented independent voices continually get passed over for opportunities while the next “pretty face” are giving multiple chances to succeed.
I am extremely blessed to still be here after 10 years, but to be able to compete, stay financially secure and relevant I’ve had to adapt and make some decisions that I wish I didn’t have to make. While for many it was nothing but hobby, for a lot of us it was our only way to get into the industry and for me specifically it literally saved my life. It isn’t just about me, it is about wanting better for my daughter, to take care of my family and be in a position to help people as best I can. Life isn’t black and white, there are a lot of gray area. I made a choice rightfully or wrongfully to do whatever needed to be done to succeed, because as Jay Z said, how can I help the poor if I am one of them, so I got rich and gave back, to me that is the win-win. While I am not rich in terms of money, I am rich with experience and the ability to give opportunities, so if that means taking a little flack and some Twitter slander, I’ll take those shots.
As I said in the first paragraph I saw the end coming and I noticed ESPN lately doing more stories that they would never have done a year ago, they ever added a section called “Instant Awesome”, which might as well be called, what cool thing we saw bloggers post today. They changed over ESPN.com and it is basically a blog now. It was the final nail in the coffin of The Golden Age of Independent Sports Blogging. There is no going back now, mainstream media has successfully appropriated our culture and absorbed into their world.
I was doing Twitter stories way before I blew up Meet me in Temecula, but that is the interesting thing. I knew it would blow up, I knew it would crossover, because even today we kickstart all the stories that become viral 24 hours after we post them.
Just using today as an example. Chris Paul being put on skates by Steph Curry years ago would be something blogs could eat off of for weeks. I just saw the NY Daily News post a link about the memes. THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS are doing memes posts. The sad thing is like most things that are lifted, they creativity is being lost, because they didn’t grow up in this cultural, they are just using it because they see it is popular.
We were doing MEMES before anyone even called them MEMES.
It’s business or as we use to say in my hood BIG BANK TAKE LITTLE BANK, so I am not mad or anything, it was expected. There are still great independent sites out there like Nextimpulsesports.com, LarryBrownSports.com and JocksandStilettoJill.com, just to name a few. But, it will never be the same and that makes me sad, because I was a part of that and just when you are part of any great movement when it is over, it makes you feel some sort of way. Regardless of whatever else happens in my life, those years will be the ones I will look back on and say that was pretty freakin awesome. I have assimilated myself, I used to be a lone wolf dropping stories about Darth Kobe. Now, I have a staff that I have to manage, I have an accountant for goodness sakes. If you told me in 2009 when I was having to buy $5 Little Caesars pizza just to feed my family, I’d have an accountant 2015 I would have RKOed just for being silly.
What does it all mean for the future?
Honestly, I am not sure.
When I started doing all this I was just a young guy who was a couple of years out of college, broke, unemployed, with a small child and needed something to keep my sanity. Now I am older guy, not as broke, with a Tween (that is what they call them now) and wondering what will be my next challenge. After over a decade in the business and specifically the online media industry, I have pretty much seen it all, so if you are reading this and I have pretty much scared you to death, first let me apologize, but then give you some advice.
1- Don’t be scared, you have to take risks.
Underdogs don’t win just trading baskets, you have to do things out of the box, you can’t be overly concerned with what people who have no idea what they are talking about think. If you are going to fail go out on your shield. Especially if you are a smaller site, if you screw up no one is going to notice any way, so the reward is bigger than the risk to do just go for it.
2- Content will forever be King, but it has to be content people will actually read.
This is why it is EXTREMELY important you have real-time reporting to see what people are actually responding to. A lot of times what they say they hate they actually love the most. The numbers will not lie. Whatever is clicking with your audience keep feeding them that. People like to says terms they don’t understand like “Hot Takes” & “Click Baits”. Well here is the thing, if no one is clicking, you aren’t going to be around very long, so you have to figure out ways to keep people wanting to come to your site. If all things are created equal and they can get the information from ESPN, that is where they are going to go, you have to give them things they aren’t seeing elsewhere.
3- Use everything at your disposal.
As I mentioned before I use to have to go to message boards to get my stories out, it is so much easier now. If there is a social media space or APP that you can promote your material on use it. Do video, audio and whatever you can do to get your name out there.
4- Build a Brand
You would have to be following BSO a long time to remember when I use to go by BonaFide Sports Expert Robert Littal. Cheesy yes, but people remember it. Building a brand doesn’t happen overnight, it is an everyday thing you have to live and breathe. For many years no one even knew I had a regular job before doing BSO full-time. The reason was simple when you thought of Robert Littal I wanted you to think of BSO. I love it when people say “I hate that BSO dude”, they literally only connect me to the brand which is what you want.I don’t know these people, they don’t know me, we would probably have a good time at Hooters, but in the world of business I just care they know BSO. You want to be a journalist, act like one 24/7 365 and you will be seen as one. Nothing worse than have people be indifferent towards you, generate conversation and you will generate a brand.
5- Have a plan
Way back in 2005, I wanted to create a site that focused on sports from a different perspective while giving opportunities to other people to build their own brand while covering events. Just over the last 7 days BSO Staff members have covered Sweet 16, Boxing, NBA, MMA , Black Girls Rock, AFL, McDonald’s HS All-American and I am on my way to the Final Four. I had a clear vision back in 2005 and even in 2015 while adjusting over time, the plan is still basically the same. Figure out what you want to do specifically before jumping into anything.
6- You have to outwork, out hustle & outthink everyone
I would get these email alerts from TMZ at like 2am for stories they just put on the site. I asked the TMZ guy, why did they do that and he was like it is midnight on West Coast and people on the East Coast will be getting up soon, so we get traffic from the late night people and early risers, before you even have morning coffee. I thought that was brilliant, so I stole the idea lol. This isn’t a 9-5 job, this isn’t a Monday-Friday job. If you want to be successful it is 24/7, 365 days a year job. It literally never stops, when you are independent you have to hustle, you have to work harder and be more creativity. You have to study and be smart. It isn’t just make a post and admire your work. People on the outside think it is easy, but it is hard, brutal work that can literally fry your brain. You have to have a passion or you simply won’t make it.
7- Get Lucky
I got lucky. I made SO MANY MISTAKES, I wish I had a hot tub time machine, when I look back at some things and realize how stupid I was. I wish I could hit the reset button at times. This is what happens when you doing everything on the fly, it is a lot of trial and error. But, I can honestly say I learned from my mistakes and made changes based off those mistakes. After that you just need some things to break your way and then your dog can be more famous that you (EL has slept through my entire writing of this).
So yes the Golden Age of Sports Blogging maybe over, doesn’t mean we are going away. People thought Hip-Hop would die because of Hammer and Vanilla Ice. They thought it would never recover from Pac and Biggie murders, but there is always a Jay Z lurking. No matter what happens in the future, I am always going to be here to fight the good fight (I got you Wrestling Fan).
Speaking of 2Pac, anytime I feeling a little defeated because this is a daily battle, I listen to “Against All Odds” specifically the last part which are officially his last words from the last real album he recorded before his death and it always helps me to fight another day, maybe it will help you.
One love to my true thug n***s (Outlaw! Outlaw! Outlaw!)
Twenty-one gun salute to my n***s that die in the line of duty
Representin to the fullest being soldiers with military minds
that play the rules of the game, twenty-one gun salute
I salute you my n***s, stay strong
I ride for you, I rhyme for you, I roll for you, it’s all for you
To all you b*tch made n***s, I’m comin for you
Against all odds, I don’t care who the f**k you is
You touch me I’m at you
I know you motherf***rs think that I forgot
Hell no I ain’t forgot
I just remember what you told me
You said don’t go to war unless I got my money behind me
Aight, I got my money right here, now I want war