On Writing a Cubs Blog
Chris Yarbrough of the Yarbage Cub Review has sent around an email questionnaire to the Cubs Blogger Army seekings responses for a story he is doing for class. Here were my responses to him:
1.) I would like a little background about why you became a Cubs Fan (growing up in Chicago or family etc etc….)?
Grandpa and WGN (i.e., the Cubs were always on).
2.) How much time during the season would you say that you spend on your site? Second part, how much time reading the other Cub blog sites?
This has changed since I exited law school and became a practicing attorney. I now have a lot less time during the day to read blogs.
3.) With the numerous Cub Blog sites, what do you think makes one site better the other?
To slightly change your question, here’s what I think makes a good blog: 1) regularly updated; 2) insightful commentary that I can’t get elsewhere; and 3) civil commentary. For that reason, I tend not to read blogs that just repeat the news (unless it’s news that isn’t receiving national coverage or coverage in the Chicago papers) or just post game recaps, because I can get those things elsewhere. It also helps that a blogger is occassionally funny. I also don’t read blogs with lots of swearing and/or have poor grammar. (I also think it’s important to keep in my mind that blogs are very individual. Different people like to write different things and different people like to read different things. So my list of what makes a good blog is merely what I like to read.)
4.) Why did you start publishing and writing your own site?
I like the Cubs and I like to write. Blogging satisfied both of those. Additionally, I like to talk to others about the Cubs. Whether through the comments on my site or through others’ blogs, I’ve been able to have a lot of good conversations with other Cubs fans.
5.) In regards to the major coverage (Trib and the Sun-Times), do you think the quality of writing is better on-line? What advantages do the Blog writers have that newspaper reporters do not?
6.) Over the past months I have seen that many more Cub Blogs have popped up(which could be a cause of the playoff run), but overall do you see a bigger trend this kind of coverage is more preferable than regular coverage? Do you think at some point a newspaper will have to make changes to keep the readers refreshed?
Generally, newspapers and blogs serve different purposes. Newspapers report news. Bloggers comment on that news, and on other things they observe (though we are starting to see some elements of traditional reporting within the larger blogger community). I personally would have a lot less to write about were it not for the newspapers. Other Cubs bloggers, though, rely less on newspapers than I do.
7.) What are some goals for your site?
I really don’t have any goals for the site. Given the time flexibility I had this past spring and summer, I don’t think I’ll ever be as prolific as I was then, which means my readership won’t ever be as high as it was then. I guess my only goal for The Clark & Addison Chronicle is to occasionally write something that some people consider worth reading.