When I worked at FanHouse, we all started comparing our ages in the NFL department. It really threw me for a loop that I was one of the oldest cats there. That's a first for me.
I turn 34 on Sunday and in some aspects I do feel a bit old. I'm older than my wife and her siblings. I'm older than my sister. But I've always kinda held that perspective during my life.
To feel old on the internets is some other beast. I've been blogging for about six years now. I started with SportzAssassin.com in 2004. I then contributed to PigskinBloggers.com, Sports Bloggers Live and AOL FanHouse. Now I'm back with a new and improved SportzAssassin.com site and working with Yardbarker. All this is great!
But I get lost in the shuffle a bit. Unlike most sports bloggers (or any bloggers), I'm not filled with snark. I also don't really care about the salacious items in the sports world. Yeah, some of it ungulfs me ... but I don't need to see Erin Andrews undressing through a peep hole. I don't need to put some chick in lingerie on my site everyday so I feel like a real man. I don't like using blog buzzwords like "fail" (even though I did in my last post to make a point) nor am I big on Twitter. Also, I don't care about having my face on this blog or television. I don't need to have videos of myself acting like a tool just so people look at me.
One of things that bothers me was while at FanHouse, I had to turn into someone who cared about those things. Forget posting about what actually happens on the field of play! Blog about the guy who punched out a cabbie outside a restaurant! Don't write about what this athlete does in a game! Write about the hot chick he's screwing!
I don't like that, which is why I'm glad I'm back doing my site the way I want. And thanks to Yardbarker for actually seeing the stuff I write and putting in on the front page from time-to-time.
What makes me also feel old is the fact that I've seen this whole thing build up. I remember when AOL recruited me to write a "journal" for them in 2004. I never heard of the world "blog" before. I never went to one. For any sports news, you had to go to the MSM or their offshoot rumor sites.
I was there as sports blogs took off. I was there when podcasting started to get popular. I was there when YouTube launched and gave all of us a huge tool to make our blogs zing. I was there when AOL stepped up to the front and became the first mega-corporation to support a blogger-based blog. I was also there when AOL and other mega-corporations started their own blogs ... then just moved their columnists over to write editorials there. I've been through the MSM-Blog Wars. It's amazing how this has exploded over the past six years.
In 2004, I just started blogging because I had a lot to say and typing it up made it look cool. I never in my wildest dreams thought that anyone would read it or that it would take me anywhere. I'm thankful to all the people that helped me along the way. My blogging isn't seen as much as it once was, but maybe that's a good thing.
Age is nothing but a number, but it does bring perspective. If you turn 34 in the sports world, you are considered a senior citizen. I was born the same day as the NBA's Joe Smith. How do you view him? Guys I remember getting drafted are now retiring. I'm usually about 10-15 years older than guys getting drafted now. These cats were born in years I remember!!!!
I don't think that older means smarter, better or wiser. It usually does mean more experienced and usually holds a better view of the landscape. I'm not saying I don't blog about Erin Andrews nekked because I'm against it! I'm saying that I don't care about it so I'm not going to blog about it. There are plenty of 20-somethings that will.
I'm not a traditionalist by any means. If you've read my blog over the years, you'd know that I'm all for all kinds of radical changes. I want to have the NBA in two 15-team conferences (no divisions). I'm open to the idea that baseball should have full blown interleague play. I'm the one who said basketball should abolish free throws and just have the player take an uncontested shot from where he was fouled ... or from the FT lane if it is easier.
However, I still long for the majesty that sports used to bring. Remember being a kid and thinking these athletes were bulletproof? That they were role models that we should emulate? We didn't really think about salary caps, contract disputes, sign-and-trades, recruiting violations, salary dumps, steroids, luxury seats or corporate ownership groups. It was there, I just didn't care. Heck, when I was a kid, athletes in all the sports were snorting the nose candy and I didn't really notice. Cocaine nearly destroyed the NBA and is one of the lasting images on one of my most memorable sports moments in my young life (the 1986 Mets winning the World Series).
Now I see all of that. I see NBA players fighting over contracts, NFL veterans getting cut due to salary cap issues, MLB stars getting caught with steroids or PEDs, teams holding cities hostage for new venues, etc.
That's the sad part of getting old and cranky. Perspective is a double edged sword.
No comments:
Post a Comment