Special thanks to Pleasant Dreams: An Atlanta Dream Blog for doing a better job tracking down other WNBA fan blogs on the net than I have done. Blogging is a "hobby" which garners much more enthusiasm when you begin than when you do it for a long time, and it is inspiring to see a new blogger really doing some of the things I have thought about before but never gotten around to doing. My blogroll has been updated with some of the blogs I found over at this site.
It has been really exciting watching the growth of WNBA coverage via the fan blogging community over the past four years. Many of my old favorites have fallen into neglect (I miss your insights into the Australian leagues and the Opals, Keegan!) but some real bright spots have moved in to take their place. Bloggers write mostly for themselves, but I think we all are inspired when we know that our work is being read and, hopefully, enjoyed by others. I know that for the first few years I had little to no comment/interaction with readers, and that I do appreciate the feedback and questions that I get. I have also made the electronic acquaintance of some people for whom I have developed a great respect with regards to their knowledge of and passion for the sport. I encourage everyone to traverse the blogrolls of this and other blogs and interact with the writers, it keeps us thinking and inspires new ideas for us.
As a niche sport, the internet offers a unique way to build and grow fandom which the WNBA has wisely chosen to nurture. It offers a way to build even more devoted, enthusiastic current fans and a way to nurture new fans that come along. Forum sites like Stormfans.org and Rebkell's Junkie Boards offer great places for fans to congregate, bicker, rejoice and commiserate with a large international community that exceeds the local fan bases and enriches our enjoyment of the sport.
So in addition to thanking the other bloggers, I want to take a moment to thank people like Crow, Norwester, TDAO, pd_swanson, shesgotgame, everyone at Women's Hoop Blog and others who have take the time to say hi in person at Storm games, drop an email to chat about the league or general statistical analysis or just to toss out constructive commentary, ideas and/or questions.
Of course, most importantly, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this blog entry, whether you are a regular reader picking it up by RSS feed or a browser bookmark or a new reader who got here from a Google search (the majority of unique hits to this site come straight from Google.)
6 comments:
I have always been impressed by the WNBA's fans.
I have watched and followed it a bit off and on over the years. My interest probably isn't going to get a high sustained level and I not going to oversell or fake it and disrespect the truly devoted. But I will engage a little and see where it goes.
I see Swanny's +/- data.
Swoopes "on" has lowest team offense of main rotation while Gerald's is highest.
Long way to playoffs. Hope Coach sorts out some of the issues and maxs their potential. I'd like to see them get another title. Jackson and Bird are champions I respect and wish well. Good luck to all the Storm and Storm fans.
Thanks for the shout-out, psheehy. It's nice to get your take on the stats, since I'm purely a biased-observations type of poster over at Stormfans. I like having another blog I can visit to regularly get commenting on the WNBA and the Storm (and the Sonics/OKC debacle). Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the note of thanks. :)
My biggest fear is that my work won't let me keep up the blog as much as I like to. My seasonal job just got "seasonal" again and I've not posted much on Wednesday or Thursday.
I'm glad you made good use of the links. See? I knew it was a good idea to put you on my blog roll! (::grin::)
BTW: Your link for the Women's Hoops Blog is broken. Not that Swanny will mind.
The WHB link works for me...it is maintained by an RSS feed controlled by Blogger.
ah, you meant the link in the post...fixed, thanks.
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