Welcome (Part 2, From Chris)

By Chris Hanneke

It was a late-night Facebook message from Joey Shoen that started this thing. 3 a.m. to be exact. He was almost certainly drunk, so even though I agreed to contribute, I assumed he would never actually go through with it. This was two weeks ago, and I was still trying to find a summer job, so the thought of writing anything wasn’t exactly at the top of my list. I somehow got a job, and I thought that would make me even less interested in writing for a measly little blog. Hell, just about everyone has blogs these days, what would make ours special? But there was a part in Shoen’s message that stuck with me.

“I think it would be a fun way to keep in touch,” he wrote, “keep our writing skizzizzils (Note: The use of “skizzizzils” should be the most obvious example that he was intoxicated while writing the message) up over summer, and at least make each other laugh. Let me know what you think.”

I really liked that. Like the blog’s name suggests, we’re all just a bunch of wannabes. Still, this was, and now that Shoen actually went through with it and created the damn thing, this IS a chance for us to mostly do what we all enjoy doing: write about sports. These other guys on here entertain the hell out of me, so my hope is to entertain them right back.

But that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t love everyone else to read what we have to say. More than that, we encourage comments. By all means, if you think we sound like idiots (which, let’s be honest, will probably be the case at least 73% of the time), make a comment in the comments section. Oftentimes, the comments can be more entertaining than the piece itself, especially if it’s a T-Wils piece in which he goes on and on about how he fantasizes about Tim Duncan’s postgame showers. The more interactive you are with the comments, the more fun it is for everyone.

The comments aren’t there just to pat the writer on the back. For example, I enjoyed Shoen’s first article, thought it blended humor and insight nicely. But I wouldn’t dare put that in the comments section, that would be way too cordial of me. Instead, I’d probably make a comment something along the lines of: “You do realize it’s 2011, not 2008, right? Twitter isn’t lame anymore and no one still plays NBA Live.”

Anyway, I just spent almost 400 words making a suggestion that probably no one will use, but I mean it. We will have fun doing this even if it is just the five of us (or however many contributors we have) telling inside jokes to one other. But the more our audience gets involved, the more fun, and (wait for it…) the more fulfilling (awww) this whole process will be.

Having said all of that, my first story will be posted sometime later today. By all means, please rip me in the comments section.