I promised myself at the beginning of this season that I'd pack things up if the number of hits the posts get fell below a certain number.
They have.
I don't know what happened - e.g., did people lose interest in what I do (probably), did the community of people who used to frequent this site get wise and/or the hell of twitter (almost certainly)?
None of that matters, at least not to me. I'm certainly not offended if this site went stale for people, never mind disappointed or hurt. Things come to an end, no matter how good, bad or average. Conifers & Citrus just became the next one....that said, just humor me and tell me it was slightly above average.
Now feels like a good time to acknowledge, yes, I have shuttered this blog a couple times, maybe even several. And that feels like a good thing to lump in with the possible causes of decline and death.
It has been fun kicking thoughts about the Portland Timbers, FC Cincinnati and Major League Soccer for all these seasons. I'm looking forward to watching games like a normal person and....don't tell anyone this, but bouncing around games as the spirit moves instead of in service of Content.
Take care, y'all.
Promise I'll just say I'm taking a break going forward.
Any of us who write/post on the internet wonder if anybody reads our Great Thoughts. Well, Jeff, in your case I always have. You set a high literary bar; I can think of no one else local that I read who puts more analytic time in for each match - and I mean the old-fashioned kind of theory + game knowledge analysis. You have a great writing style using a ton of funny cultural references.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents- People are lazy and increasingly just drift to the mega sites with Reddit-style sports sub-communities. When you're on your own blogsite, casual googling of the Timbers will only bring a certain number of new eyeballs to you. Even the "big" local sites like STF are trying to find a way forward after the implosion of their SBNation blog home. And podcasting has peeled off its own significant part of the audience
And- it's a low point in overall Timbers interest. Not to say there's no interest, but the non-sport issues have fractured the fan base a little. Our city itself is dealing with a sort of bad self-image problem at the moment. So, even a live attendance at ProvPk is not the community-gathering moment it used to be. And, hey, it matters if the team is any good - which we only are on occasion, and always late in every season. Now we all have to pray for that new, never-saw-him-coming player; that unpredictable team hive-mind moment; that new cohort of fans who don't carry all of the old Timbers fan resentments in their heads.
So please leave the door slightly ajar. For totally selfish reasons I hope to read your C&C blog for at least ten years more - minimum.
I've always been happy that anyone liked reading this site. And I've always enjoyed and valued your comments - even the rare contentious ones (and I valued those too) - not least because they read so considered and well.
ReplyDeleteI tend to operate on a never-say-never basis with this blog, so I may get back to it one day (the flesh is weak, etc.), but something in me demanded a break. As such, it didn't take much to give in.
Thanks again for reading - and for commenting, especially. The direct, long-form dialogue was always more satisfying than 260 characters. With that, it's time to tune in to tonight's game and, if all goes as expected, struggle to stay awake. Cheers!