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Due to a severe lack of spare time, and my contractual obligation to keep Mile High Hockey up-to-date and as active as possible, Dear Lord Stanley will be taking a week two days or so off---not that it hasn't kind of done that already.
Bear with me while I pull my head out of my ass and get things together. Thanks.
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Barry Melrose Rocks posted "A Handy Guide For Beginners: Hockey Blogging" on Monday and it's definitely worth a read. I have to admit that DLS is guilty of at least three of the things snidely listed as common themes among hockey blogs. The Ballhype links, the funny captions (or word bubbles, in my case) and the random chicks. What can I say? Guilty as charged.
I must say I'm honored to be indirectly called out by a blog whose name pays homage to Mr. Melrose's testicles. That is what the word "rocks" means, right?
Things are going to change a little bit around here, kiddos. With the launch of Mile High Hockey and the relocation of my primary blogging focus to that site, Dear Lord Stanley is going to become a bit more general.
Whereas before I focused on the Avalanche first and the rest of the NHL second, from now on the majority of my posts here will deal with the NHL as a whole (or other teams) and the Avs will be shifted to the background just a little. I'll still make Avalanche-related posts, of course, but you'll see a lot more stuff about the rest of the league.
The same brilliant and insightful commentary that you've come to expect from DLS, like "ESPN blows goats," will not be changing at all, however. So you've got that going for you.
SportsBlogs Nation, in case you aren't aware, is the largest network of sports-related blogs on the entire Internets. There are NFL blogs, blogs for the NBA, MLB blogs and blogs for many college sports programs. Until recently, however, there weren't any blogs dedicated to the National Hockey League.
Not any more, kiddos.
I have been given the privilege of creating a new Colorado Avalanche blog as part of the SB Nation network. This brand new site joins the only other existing NHL site so far, Die By The Blade---a Sabres blog.
Introducing Mile High Hockey.
Make no mistake, this new blog won't be a carbon copy of Dear Lord Stanley. Nothing could possibly be the same as this amazing blog. Not even close. But Mile High Hockey will be the most thorough, in-depth Avalanche fan community on the web.
Did I say "community?" That's right. SB Nation runs on the same technology as the liberal political blog DailyKos, a technology called Scoop that allows readers to create their own user accounts and post their own blog entries, called diaries. These diary posts are linked directly to the front page of the blog, and other users are free to comment on them. In other words, I, the main blogger, am not the only game in town. Everyone is free to chime in and contribute, and build their own following of readers. Even better, diary posts I really like can be promoted to the front page of the blog. This is especially useful when I'm low on my own content or it's a slow news day.
I'm also not alone in this endeavor. I'm being joined in this project by none other than Avalanche blogger Draft Dodger, he of In The Cheap Seats fame. He will be contributing periodic stats-related informational posts to the front page to add depth and substance to my hollow and biased ranting. I'm excited to have him on board.
So, if you love the Avalanche, or at least like to talk about them, head over to Mile High Hockey today and sign up for a free user account. Start posting diary entries. Get the conversation started!
And fellow Avalanche bloggers (you know who you are), start spreading the news! Help me promote this new site, since it's not just my work, but a community of fans dedicated to the team and the Stanley Cups they're still sure to win. I expect to see everyone over there.
Go Avs!
Several weeks ago I made a post about hockey's once-cool perception in American pop culture during the early 1990s. I posted the video for Snoop Dogg's famous song "Gin And Juice" in which he wore a Penguins jersey throughout. I submit to you another example---A Tribe Called Quest's video for the song "Oh My God" from 1993. In it, Phife Dawg wears a Devils jersey customized with his own name.
Side Note: I'll be at the US Grand Prix in Indianapolis this weekend, so DLS will be quiet for a couple of days. Try not to miss me too much.
"Vernon and Roy!! Mike Vernon with a great left!! Follows up with the right!"Though the numerous right-handers thrown by St. Patrick were completely ignored, the call of that fight is one of my favorites in all of hockey. I wish the show had included that small bit. Overall a good job, though.
I've decided to significantly upgrade the layout of DLS. I have also totally sold out, having signed up for Google AdSense, which should will start displaying ads in the left-hand column within a few days today. While I may now be a corporate shill, I will be a shill with an appreciation for fine blogging aesthetics, and will never allow ads to be displayed within the actual content column in the center of the screen. I hate blogs that do that.
One cool new feature I've added in the brand-spanking-new column on the left is a news ticker that feeds Avalanche- and NHL-related stories via Google News. How about that? Fancy, huh?
Anyway, hope you enjoy.
I think I'm going to go with a larger font size from now on, as it finally dawned on me how hard it can be to read undersized arial font on a white background. So from now on, no need to break out the bifocals just to enjoy your daily dose of DLS.
Dear Lord Stanley is a new blog. We've only been posting since the middle of last month, and not surprisingly, our average traffic counts are pretty low. We've got a few regular readers and the occasional Google image search, but that's about it. If we manage to top 30 unique visitors we feel "bigger" all day long, ifyouknowwhatwemean.
But, lo and behold, the ever-snarky, ever-hilarious sports blog With Leather graced us with a link mention today, and things just haven't been the same since.
It's just now 1:30 PM EDT, and we've already topped 110 unique visitors for the day, with no signs of slowing down. Holy Hockey Jesus, Batman!
While we're enjoying the spotlight today, we know full-well that by tomorrow we'll be back down where we belong, in total and complete obscurity. At least we'll still have our five regular readers, those horny chicks searching for pictures of naked hockey players, and a "sympathy click" from our moms. Thanks, Mom.
