Benjamin Sumner's Blog

Changing Sites Again

Ben — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 19:51:00 +0000

For the second time, I’m moving this blog, this time to a fully-hosted address and not this free wordpress.com one that limits what I put on this site.

So direct yourself to benjaminsumner.com (very original, I know) where I have an in-progress site that is much improved. Sure, I’m stealing the same template from my other sites, but it’s a great template. I also pay to maintain the new site but it will allow me to do a lot more than what I currently can do.

I won’t be updating this blog on this url anymore, so please go to the new site and subscribe there.

No Longer Anonymous

Ben — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:44:18 +0000

After nearly two years of writing, Gunaxin has decided that anonymity in its authors is no longer necessary, if it ever was to begin with. Therefore, I am now known as Ben Sumner in my byline instead of the very mysterious ‘Ben.’

But wait! There’s more. My Twitter handle is also next to my byline.

What does this mean? It means that when I write something extremely controversial, or when someone doesn’t get my sense of humor, they will have an easier time discovering who I am and sending me hate mail, which has happened in the past.But since we know that most people on the Internet only talk tough but can’t back it up, I am not the least bit concerned.

My Take on Bloggers

Ben — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 05:43:39 +0000

Since I became what’s been called a ‘professional blogger’ (not my words), I actually realized that by getting paid (well enough) to write content, that I am indeed a professional blogger just as much as a minor league hockey player is a professional athlete.

Having been told that I’ve been anchoring the most successful NHL site on Fansided’s network, I’ve been asked for advice. The only advice I had to give was to network. Bloggers need to be linked and referenced on other sites. That’s how Gunaxin works and that’s how Capitals Outsider works.

Some bloggers, however, don’t care about that. They just go out and write content but do little to nothing to promote their stuff. It’s like they’re playing a game of make-believe. They’re essentially kids playing ‘reporter’ and showing their article to their parents. Why would bloggers spend so much time writing content that no one reads?

Now, I’m not talking about diary blogs, or unleash-the-thoughts blogs, like this one. I’m talking about blogs that have a theme, particularly sports blogs.

I’ve counted approximately 50 Capitals-themed blogs. There are likely more, but it’s hard to keep up when all it really takes to create a blog is to open a free WordPress or Blogger account. But when I started looking at the Alexa site rankings of these blogs, not only did I realize that very few people read them, but some of the higher quality ones were lacking in readers, too. I’m not entirely sure what drives people to write content that no one reads, but perhaps it’s the same thing that drives me to write short stories though I know they aren’t going to be published. It’s a hobby.

Bloggers have been getting a ton of praise lately for the hard work they’re doing, but the reality is that many of them don’t have a consistent audience and don’t generate any revenue. These are the people who think 50 pages views are ‘a ton.’ If an article of mine on Gunaxin only got 50 page views, I wouldn’t be able to afford to eat. And to think, I used to work at a place that spent upwards of a grand on an article that very few people read. Seems like a waste of money, to me.

All I can say is, I’m glad I ‘made it’ as a blogger, and it’s all thanks to Gunaxin and Capitals Outsider, which are sites that get page views and generate revenue, something that bloggers should strive for if they’re actually serious about what they do. Otherwise, they might as well be kids playing make-believe.

Back on the Radio

Ben — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 06:52:54 +0000

Back when I was in college at University of Maryland, I loved working at the campus radio station. I even majored in broadcast journalism, though I wound up in online journalism. But really, it wasn’t radio or television news reporting that I was into, it was yapping on the airwaves. I’ve already participated in the Gunaxin podcast, and though that is fun, it’s not live and is edited down a bit.

Today, a Capitals media colleague, Michael Hoffman, invited me to call in to his radio show an an AM station in the Shenandoah Valley. I discussed my recent Gunaxin article, Ten Reasons Why Beer League Hockey Is Harder Than the NHL. Having done similar segments on the Gunaxin podcast, it came fairly natural to me, though I had to work with the time limits. Not a problem. Looking forward to doing it more.

Anyway, here is the audio. Sorry for the quality, it’s the best we could get.

Rally for Sanity

Ben — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 16:45:13 +0000

As usual when I go to Washington DC for a big event, it was a pain. Way too many people, didn’t even come close to getting a clear view of the main event and had a hard time getting out. But unlike just about every event I ever went to down there, the photos came out very well.

Check them out.

Halloween at Gunaxin

Ben — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:27:44 +0000

I found myself writing some Halloween content this year. Typically I try to stay clear of this because so many writers across the web do this and there are very few original ideas. But if not Halloween, what else am I going to write about this week? Other random things that pop into my head that have absolutely no relevance to what’s going on in the world? I’ve got plenty of time to do that. Here are some articles I wrote that only sort of relate to Halloween:

My New Hockey Column

Ben — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:52:01 +0000

As if I don’t have enough websites to write for, I recently added another. For Fansided’s main NHL blog, Too Many Men on the Site, I’ll be writing a column called ‘Hitting the Post’ on Mondays.

Why would I do this? It’ll give me an outlet to write about hockey that isn’t Caps-specific meant for Capitals Outsider, and isn’t goofy like for Gunaxin.

The name, “Hitting the Post,” actually has several meanings. Most obvious is when the puck hits the side of the goal. But it’s also the DJ term for talking through the intro of a song and stopping less than a second before the lyrics start (an homage to my DJ days in college). Lastly, it means I’m hitting the Washington Post for continuing to not pay much attention to hockey in terms of columnists. Sure, they send a writer to a game every now and then, but it’s hardly enough.

Anyway, this week, I’m politely asking everyone to stop calling it the Gordie Howe Hat Trick and to rename it the Brendan Shanahan Hat Trick. Why? Just read.

Capitals!

Ben — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:18:25 +0000

I’m sure if I did the math to find out how much of my life is consumed by the Washington Capitals, it would be a relatively high number in proportion to just about everything else I do, including sleeping.

In the past week, I’ve seen all four Capitals games while attending two of them. In the past two days I read the book The Ovechkin Project, which the publisher sent me for review. Then I spent much of today, including the time during the Caps game, to write the review (I didn’t attend – my press partner Phil was there).

I got some great coverage the other night at the game, including a photo of Yi Jianlian of the Washington Wizards attending his first Caps game, and a quick article on Eric Fehr getting the player of the game but virtually being ignored by reporters after the game (though the Post made up for it with an article about him a day later). These and a couple of other quick articles got 2,000 page views on Wednesday, thanks to links by The Post, Japers’ Rink, a few basketball sites and others.

By the way, I was told that Capitals Outsider was the No. 1 hockey blog on the Fansided network for page views last month. That was flattering, but what’s scary is that it only took about 10 days for us to surpass last month’s total, so who knows what we’ll end up with. Even better, the compliments have been rolling in.

Boudreau’s Curse

Ben — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 03:23:09 +0000

Whenever I plan on asking an offbeat question at a press conference after the Capitals game, I have to be really careful, especially with the timing and tone.

This time, I asked permission, and was told to wait toward the end of the press conference.

After the Caps’ 5-3 preseason win, the coach had a big smile on his face when I saw him downstairs. The press conference was a breeze, no hard questions, and Bruce was in a good mood.

When there was a break in the questions, I made my move.

“Coach, there’s been a lot of new commercials lately,” I began.

“Oh, shit,” he said, and the journalists started laughing (this isn’t the first time I’ve asked a question that led to an interruption of laughter).

I asked whose commercials were funnier and he sheepishly said Ovechkin is better at everything than him.

“But he hasn’t done bird calls,” Jill Sorenson of CSN said (I think it was her).

I thought it was hilarious, and I did get what I needed for my article. The photo is a screengrab from the video at the exact moment I mentioned ‘commercial.’

Sorry, Bruce, but if you’re going to make bird calls for Mercedes and dance on stage in sweats with Ryan Zimmerman, I’m going to ask you about it.

So long as you’re in a good mood.

What a Day

Ben — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 22:28:58 +0000

Sometimes in the life of a blogger, you’ve gotta just sit back and see if the Internet likes what you’ve done. Today was one of those days. I did very little but a lot happened.

On Gunaxin, A Tribute to the Banjo Player in Deliverance made the front page of the new Digg.
My article on the eBay user who is selling sports-themed toilet seat covers was teased on the front page of SportsIllustrated.com, and also their Extra Mustard Hot Clicks.
Today, Japers’ Rink, Ted Leonsis and The Post linked to a simple post I put up with a video of a new Capitals Rap (thanks to Michael Hoffman of the Examiner who tipped me off about it.)
And late yesterday, Yahoo’s Puck Daddy linked to my predictions for Alex Ovechkin.
Not a bad day after suffering my first loss as a goaltender in hockey last night (I was an emergency sub).