The Big Shoutdown

Yesterday, good friend, fellow blogger, and all around good human, Andy posted a link to Scott Adams's (Dilbert creator) blog. Adams posited that by writing something, and then not posting it was a form of self censorship.

So why do we writers do that? Are we afraid of the backlash? Or are we just too fed up to deal with defending our own position, no matter how much evidence and facts we have to prove we're right?

It's a little of both, I imagine. And I say that based on my own experiences as a sports blogger for the last two years.

If you've paid any attention to my sports blog sight (http://www.thesportsrockers.com), you'll know that I haven't written much as of late. There are a few reasons.

When you have a full-time job that doesn't lend itself to much leisure time, and you're primary income from said job is commission based (sales), you start seeing what is really going to pay the bills. Along with the time constraints, something happened with Yardbarker that I just started getting a lot less traffic, and I mean a lot. I went from about a 150 pageview minimum per article to less than 50 overnight. And Yardbarker just tells me it's related to my article titles not being long enough or something. Sure. Whatever.

Another reason, and I swear I'm going to tie this into a neat little bow, is that I felt like I was fighting a losing battle, much like Adams. There are a few things in the blogosphere people feel very strongly about, and two of those are sports and politics. When you start dissing on a group's favorite team or favorite player, the hate comes out. And it's not just hate, it's just pure unadulterated bashing for no reason other than that you said something bad about their team.

Example 1: I wrote before the 2012 college football season that Michigan State wouldn't be as good as they were the previous season. Michigan State finished the season at 7-6, solidly backing up my claims. Here are the comments that followed when the article was originally posted.

"Two yrs in a row with 11 wins, many of those close; last years schedule was worse."

"The Original Rocker is an idiot. Try learning what MSU does have vs. who they lost. The only threat on their schedule is Wisconsin. MSU will be 11-1 or 10-2 at worst and in the BIG Championship vs. Wiscy again. People like you need to start getting used ot it. UofM brings nothing to the table agian this year, Nebraska is a possible stumbling block for MSU, that's all there is to it."

"Michigan is the most over ranked team in the Legends Division. Bringing nothing new to the season. Had the most home games in the Big last season, barely pulled out wins against ND and OSU, got dominated by MSU (again) lost to a lasckluster Iowa team. And with a worse regular season record and head to head loss, went on to a BCS bowl that had the worse ratings in BCS history against a sub-par VT team. U of M WILL lose to Alabama,Notredame,Nebraska,MSU and OSU this year. 7-5, 8-4 at best. (Luckily UM skates by without having to face Wiscy again, or it would get worse.)"
* In the piece, I said MSU would have a tough time playing at Michigan. Michigan won.

"What an idiot. Five losses to whom? UM? The over-hype on the Wolverines is only more idiodic because of the GIGANTIC holes on the team. The UM depth chart is full of true freshmen and walk-ons... Oops!, Hoke gave 7 of those completely unrecruited players schollies yesterday just so the 2 deep chart wouldn't look so obviously weak! UM can't rotate linemen and are onw injury from having every D in the BigTen having free reign on their backfield... But; Don't worry you say... Shoelace will run! You're right... He will be running for his life from Gholston and the Spartan D...


Maxwell gets things straightened out and its MSU 11-3 and UM 7-5 after a 45-7 pummeling by MSU in A2."* For the record, Michigan finished the season 8-5. MSU finished 7-6.

Example 2. On January 22, I wrote that Alex Smith's best option would be to be traded to the Chiefs. The official announcement was made on February 27. The Chiefs keep their #1 pick, as I said they should, and send the 49ers a 2nd round pick and another conditional pick, 2nd or 3rd round from the 2014 draft, depending on performance.

My exact words from my article in January:
"With the Niners on the hook for a nice sum of money, I wouldn't be surprised to see them let him walk for maybe a combination of 2nd or 3rd round picks, or maybe a first rounder for next year or 2015. "

Example 3. On September 24, I wrote that Mark Sanchez was not the problem with the Jets offense. As much as he was getting lambasted in the media, and Jets fans wanting to see Tim Tebow under center, the Jets had bigger problems than Sanchez. I even went as specific to say new offensive coordinator Tony Sparano was to blame more than anyone.

On Tuesday, January 8, the Jets finally fired him.

Those are just a few examples of things I've written that turned out to be very true, but were generally lost in the wasteland of sports blog noise. I made a decision when I started writing that I wouldn't sensationalize rumor, and generally keep to analysis. I don't have the time, nor the connections, to be concerned with breaking news. For the most part, I've held true to that. But what has it gotten me? Not much. A few dollars here and there. Sure, I would have loved to have seen it turn into something bigger, but I have to do what pays the bills. And continue to self-censor in favor of not drowning in the unstoppable tide of fervor.