Cubs Fans, Don’t Instigate White Sox Fans
First and foremost, blogging is a difficult thing. Bloggers balance the line of being a journalist and being a fan with every article they write. Where journalists tend to be careful in a message they put out to the world, there is a huge lack of checks and balances when it comes to the blogging community.
Bloggers are useful and necessary in today’s media landscape, as they are catering to a certain need within an audience that main stream media has yet to really capture. To paraphrase one successful Chicago sports blog owner, the mainstream media is great at telling us what happened in the game, but blogs tell the emotional side of the story that resonates with today’s sports fans. Maybe you dont have time to read a full wrap-up of a game, but you certainly want to see Kyle Schwarber’s ridiculous home run, or find out about Starlin Castro’s secret weapon.
You might read a great David Haugh article about how the NLCS was a letdown but the arrow is pointing up for the Cubs, or you can read a blog piece on how the NLCS loss has fueled the fire to catapult the Cubs to future success. Both good, and touching on a similar tune, but the blog post has a way to connect with the fan in ways a columnist for a local paper cannot.
It’s that emotional side that can be felt when connecting to a fan that shares your passion, thoughts, and of course love for your favorite team.
Now to the ‘No Hustle Blog’ and their post titled, “Dear White Sox fans…”
The fan reaction certainly sparked emotion, and it definitely isn’t a post you would see Rick Telander writing for the Chicago Sun-Times. I’ve seen Michael Ryne’s post everywhere over social media in the past 24-hours, and that isn’t typical of a mainstream media post, even harder to do as a blog post, and its toeing the line of being viral.
While I agree that Michael Ryne, if so chooses, should be able to voice his ideas, opinions, thoughts, and feelings, I don’t exactly agree with the message.
Full disclosure, I am a Cubs fan. An unwavering, card holding, cut me and I bleed blue, Cubs fan. I am definitely in the group of fans that are more consumed with what the Cardinals, Pirates, Brewers, and Reds are doing than worrying about the Chicago White Sox. While I get the cross-town rivalry, and the mostly playful bickering amongst Chicago fans, it ultimately doesn’t matter.
Sure I had White Sox fans in my personal Facebook feed that were bashing the Cubs at the conclusion of the NLCS, but that was the vast minority. I saw more White Sox fans congratulating Cubs fans in social media than bash them. I saw diehard White Sox fans actually enjoy watching the way the Cubs played the game.
I’m certain that the post Michael wrote was only meant to be seen by some friends and maybe a couple others as it was shared on some fan sites, but it took off. As of this post it had been shared more than 35,000 times, and read by who knows how many more.
The largest problem I’ve personally had with his story is, he’s writing in the sense that he’s taking the high road, but has dipped below the few White Sox fans that he was targeting, level. While he mentions the piece was written for White Sox fans that think of the mouse when they hear the name Minnie Minoso, the article really only resonated with diehard White Sox fans, that are extremely knowledgable, or Cubs fans that break out their mouseketeer ears when they hear Minnie’s name.
While I’m not the mister advice man, or warlord of what is right or wrong to write about, I do think Michael should have followed his own words before scribing this article.
“Outside of the heralded Crosstown Classic, I barely noticed the Chicago White Sox or cared what they were doing.”
Probably should have kept it that way, instead of showing a White Sox fans that their words struck a nerve.
Good article, I enjoyed reading it. I don’t really ever write controversial topics, and the one time I did, it blew up. Kind of crazy, but oh well.
“While I agree that Michael Ryne, if so chooses, should be able to voice his ideas, opinions, thoughts, and feelings, I don’t exactly agree with the message.”
The beauty of blogging and the Internet, anyone can write anything and we all get to decide if we like it or not.
Some White Sox fans struck a nerve with me and I felt the need to taunt them back. It appears I have, in return, struck a nerve back. Vicious chain of events, huh?
Certainly. Outside of the 700 words in the article, if there were a tip I’d give you for the next piece, make sure it’s good. You’ve built a seemingly 10’s of thousands of reader audience from one piece, give them a reason to stick with your work.
Good article, I enjoyed reading it. I don’t really ever write controversial topics, and the one time I did, it blew up. Kind of crazy, but oh well.
“While I agree that Michael Ryne, if so chooses, should be able to voice his ideas, opinions, thoughts, and feelings, I don’t exactly agree with the message.”
The beauty of blogging and the Internet, anyone can write anything and we all get to decide if we like it or not.
Some White Sox fans struck a nerve with me and I felt the need to taunt them back. It appears I have, in return, struck a nerve back. Vicious chain of events, huh?
Certainly. Outside of the 700 words in the article, if there were a tip I’d give you for the next piece, make sure it’s good. You’ve built a seemingly 10’s of thousands of reader audience from one piece, give them a reason to stick with your work.