Exactly one year ago, I decided to start the Sports Opinionated blog over on Blogger.com. The goal was to give myself a creative outlet to express my many views on sports, whether misguided or fact-based.
My goal when I started was to write 2-3 posts per week on anything that I was passionate about and to keep it up for at least a year. That way, I could find my writing niche and ensure I still liked writing after committing to it for that long. Obviously I wanted to pick up some readers and contacts with other writers along the way, which has turned out better than I had hoped for.
We didn’t exactly celebrate with cake and champagne here at S-O headquarters (aka my house) but we did hit up a beer and barbeque some sausage, which is much more appropriate anyway.
At this point, I can honestly say that writing about sports is something that feels natural to me. Maybe it’s because I’m just a loud-mouthed former jock who needs to feel like a couch-GM or possibly I’m such a sports-obsessed fan that it further fuels my biggest hobby. It’s probably both.
Regardless, I can say at this point that writing about hockey, football and soccer are all in my wheelhouse and I’ll definitely keep it up. That said, there may be a few changes coming here at S-O to help the readers find only the genre of sports they like most, since I realize that it’s a bit of a scattered approach right now.
At the end of this post, I’ve listed my favorite articles from each month the blog has been running. Hopefully you enjoy reading them as much as I liked writing them.
I also wanted to thank a couple people that have really helped me out in the last year.
Peter Aiello – an author on S-O at times and my co-caster on the Pink Shirt Wise Guys: Italian Soccer podcast. He’s also the guy I text back and forth with on every major sporting event and helps shape a lot of my sports opinions for better or worse. Plus, he’s great at ranting, just tune in to the podcast to hear!
Timo Seppa – an author on Puck Prospectus who has personally helped me with articles, understanding hockey stats and has given me some great recommendations to help get my work seen. Thanks for all the help Timo, especially since our correspondence started just by me liking one of your articles, and emailing you out of the blue. Timo also has his own blog called Ice Hockey Metrics.
Giancarlo Rinaldi - another established writer who has helped me out and been open to new, less-established contacts. Giancarlo writes for Football Italia and has his own blog as well. Hopefully we can have him on as a guest podcaster soon.
Andrew Rothstein - the main editor over at Puck Prospectus. He was kind enough to accept Timo’s advice and let me post on PP. He’s let me pick my own topics and has thankfully published everything I’ve sent his way. Puck Prospectus is the hockey site I most wanted to write for from Day 1 and now I’m getting the chance, which is absolutely awesome.
Gabe Desjardins - runs the statistical hockey blog Behind The Net. Gabe has been kind enough to answer every email I’ve ever thrown his way about some of the stats tables on BehindTheNet.ca and even posted one of my articles (about Nicklas Backstrom’s contract) on his main blog several months ago.
FOF Crew – The team of guys over at Front Office Fans and Project Franchise has been really fun for me. I love that they’re trying to get a fan-owned team and support them all the way. They have a great group of authors and Grant Cohen was gracious enough to let me write over at FOF, even if I haven’t posted much lately. I better get my butt in gear!
Marty Borotsik - Marty has been a fantastic NFL author hear on S-O and co-hosts the Ultimate Football Talk podcast covering all kinds of NFL-related subjects. He’s let me join a few times which has been a blast.
My Favorite Articles from the past year on S-O
July 2009 – Part 1 of my NFL Season Preview Series
August 2009 – Part 3 of my NFL Season Preview Series (go ahead, laugh at some of those predictions) and a post about why I’m a soccer fan
September 2009 – My thoughts on the NFL’s Wildcat Offense and also a premature rant about Ronaldinho’s Demise
October 2009 – Liverpool’s use of a 3-man defense and one of my weekly NFL posts.
November 2009 - I thought the Colts should Cut Bob Sanders , Pete writes about Placenta Cures and my post about Thierry Henry’s Hand Ball that knocked Ireland out of the World Cup.
December 2009 – Jason Campbell Love, Frank Gore, NFL Rookie-of-the-Year picks and When Hockey Season Starts for me as a fan.
January 2010 - Marty wrote a great column about the Phaneuf Trade and I wrote a letter to Jim Caldwell and we kicked off the Dignity Bowl where me, Pete and Marty picked NFL games vs our moms….
February 2010 – My Superbowl Analysis, a rant about “O Canada” and The IOC Being Sexist.
March 2010 – Hockey Gold for Canada and a Statistical Look at the Calgary Flames
April 2010 – Did the Caps Choke or the Habs Step It Up, an in-depth look at Darryl Sutter as Flames GM and Inter Milan’s importance to Italian Soccer
May 2010 – My stat on Attack Rate for Soccer Players, a Tribute to An Italian World Cup Hero and my evaluation of Nicklas Backstrom’s contract extension
June 2010 – My praise for Tim Howard in USA vs Algeria, my (eventually correct) point that Defoe was better than Heskey for England, Tomas Plekanec’s contract and The Most Intriguing NHL Free Agents
July 2010 – Flames Free Agent Moves and The Potential Departure of Ronaldinho from Milan
Keep visiting and definitely let me know if there are topics you’d like me to write about, suggestions for changes to the site or any other correspondence. Just email me Ryan@Sports-Opinionated.com or leave a comment on this post.
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