Shots Heard is proudly celebrating our 100th blog entry. We got together all the boys from marketing, editing, printing, in one room and threw one wing ding of a party. Oh that's right, we are just a contemporary blog with a staff of one and even less readership than the staff at times.Our celebration looks more like the old lady (pictured) using her cake's '100' candles to light her cigarette than Red Auerbach lighting up his cigar in a routine championship celebration. But like that lady we are just happy to be alive and enjoying modest pleasures even if we are not looking so special.
While the blog has not taken off to be one of those coveted $30,000 a month blogs (or any money a month blogs), we are still proud of what Shots Heard has accomplished. We have became an unfiltered media outlet that is a part of the body. Even if we are a simple cell, going unnoticed. We are not a major artery, but we are proud to be that our powerful mitochondria is as remarkable as ever.
There is an element of subdued realism that has hit at our lofty ideals. It is entirely possible that Shots Heard will have to restructure. We likely will not be able to dedicate the same amount of time that we have given to it over the 14 months.
And speaking of the use of the term 'we.' While, Shots Heard has only utilized one blogger, there is no rule against posting the works of other writers. So although it has been an individual effort to date, Shots Heard as an entity is considered to be a pluralistic entity (In case anyone wondered about that little caveat).
Shots Heard: If not a revolution, an evolution
The original dream was to simply write insightful perspective regarding sports happenings ranging from hot button issues all the way down to the benign items of the day. But this being the start of the 'multimedia' era, Shots Heard added fresh music play lists, Youtube videos, a Hot Shots list (to help people easily navigate through the most highly regarded material).
The music play lists have been fun to put together. The lists have followed different themes (70's, techno, rock, new gems, etc) and the list have been 'top shelf!' We have put together lists that beat the drudgery coming through your local radio waves.
Some thought was given to only posting sports Youtube videos, but that seemed to place a limit on creativity. The Youtube videos posted on Shots Heard have covered sports, comedy, music, animation and have allowed the readers to remember that sports is not the be all and end all in life.
The Hot Shots list was added to the site to give Shots Heard entries a longer shelf life. Unlike many sports sites, if an article is not bookmarked, that article is pretty much long gone. Notable entries in the first 100 posts that can be found on the Hot Shots list include:
- And much more, such as hot shots covering corruption found in the major sports.
The six part series that analyzed Game 6 of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals is unprecedented and how the corruption evolved since that time is an unprecedented series. Such coverage has not been found on corporate websites or blogs. It is a wonderful read and should be given the amount of work we put into it.
Shots Heard added the spin-off site, PSH. To broaden our horizons, we may add other sites to the network of Shots Heard network. We may broach politics, travel, or lesser known niche subjects.
Originally we made a conscious decision not to write about politics. We wanted to be mainly a positive and celebratory outlet for people. We were hoping to create that type of niche that never came to fruition. So maybe we will decide to get our hands in the mud after all. But that is not a given as of yet.
On the level; for reals - 'Come Together'
We never needed anybody to be a 'clone' or 'in the herd.' If you are an goon or tool that's on you. But there has not been satire gimmicks designed to give a shallow sense of belonging. That said, we know that those large scale money machines have all the bragging rights in the world. By no means is this a front to our predecessors' successes. But it is a shot at their snide sense of being and as such is one reason we took our shot for the stars in the face of such long odds.
'Three hours a day,' is not all we ask. We appreciate anybody that takes five or ten minutes to enjoy the fruits of our efforts. We take pride in putting forth a product that is worth the reader's time. There is no doubt that the insight has been unique and the writing (without the benefit of an editor or much time to dedicate towards self editing) has been solid.
Shots Heard will now take a shot at the tools on the various sports forums that continually flagged our efforts to market sports enlightenment to the specific audiences that put a value on what we are doing. We know that those 'trolls' cannot stand someone else having a constructive influence on the world.
Shots Heard has aspired to be community. That has yet to come to fruition, but 'never say never' would be a tired little idiom we can take some solace from. In that spirit, we just added a 'followers list' to compliment the 'subscribe tool.' added a followers section so that readers can interact with each other more freely. As of yet there are ZERO followers, officially. Unofficially, the number is scarcely higher.
On a tangent, regarding 'followers', Shots Heard does need to give a shout out to Utah Jazz followers. The only two notes on an entry were by Utah Jazz fans who agreed with Shots Heard's summation that the refs were in the tank for the Lakers. Those followers must have searched hundreds of Google results to have even found the entry (We were very hard to find in Google searches at that time). Then they took the time to opine.
The type of commitment showed by those Jazz fans illustrated to me first hand how intense Jazz fans are. When you hear about how Jazz fans at the Delta Center are intense or how during the 1997-1998 Finals, Jazz fans played loud rock n' roll music at four in the morning to disrupt the sleep of the Bulls players, know their is something to those reports.
Into the Unknown
It was hoped that Shots Heard would garner enough support and cover plethora of sports news and opinions. We have severe doubts that such a format is likely in the amaturish blogspot format. So should we will likely need to reinvent ourselves under a new link name that offers more features and creative control. Essentially we would need to become more elitist.
But should we continue as your corner store blogspot and just continue leisurely write about sports then we understand the likelihood that we will suffer in obscurity; and we will suffer well. A fan base would be nice, but it was never a requiem for success. Maybe we're too uncool and too gumshoe, but we are what we say we are, superstars!
Creating Shots Heard has been fun even if the spotlight was not bright. It has been great to shout out from the mountain tops into the chasms. But we do not mind if people gather to hear our great message and we thank anybody who cares for their support!
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