hlog {Hockey's Ladies of Greatness}

I just did this yesterday morning... loved reading everyone's responses

1. What was your motivation for starting blogging? Has that changed at all in the time you’ve been blogging?

My motivation was simply to entertain myself. I am a writer and observer by nature, always have been. I started over at Yahoo 360 and just recapped games mostly cause no one else was doing it for the Yotes (if you missed a game you were pretty much SOL and stuck with the 3 lines of AP copy) or (even worse stuck with the negativity of Bickley and Co on the AZ Republic) . I never really expected anyone to actually read the things I wrote (I didn’t post the link anywhere… so who would know? even my kids didn’t read it) But things changed. I met other bloggers, I made a group of like minded Yotie friends and suddenly I was rackin up hits from the most unlikely places. So I combined my love of the Yotes w/ another couple of fans’ semi-expertise at web site making and photography to create this place. I still write for me but I try to be a bit more PC, much more responsible, a little less Ebonic, (yeah I know I still swear and turn Boneshequa every now and then, but I’m workin on it) much like our beloved team, I am still a work in progress.

2. What do you think your blog contributes to the hockey conversation?

Well, people miss stuff. Players come and go, the AP copy doesn’t describe what happened just before THE fight, people can’t attend a fan event, so I provide those small offerings when I can. Or I may be the cause of an interesting conversation simply because my take of events doesn’t coincide with other fans. Sometimes I contribute nothing, I just provide another source that rehashes an event. But Hip Shot Blog gives another avenue, hopefully less dry and curt and certainly not fluffy, for Coyote information to get out to the fans.

3. What do you want to get out of the blogs you read?

I want to be entertained. Sometimes I just want to feel what has happened from another perspective. I want to see if others have a different point of view (sometimes more valid ones) I hate looking up stats and stuff so I often dig around blogs/sites that I trust for that information.

4. What determines which blogs you read and which you don’t?
The blogs that I read have personality. See Blog Roll for some favorites. PB over at OneFan or Tracey over at TCL provide two totally different takes on the Yotes, one is quite introspective with interesting facts or specualtion and the other is pure fun and opinions like no other. BOC is always humorous and all of them provide facts or fun without malice.
I hate dry rehashes. I’ve read the paper and the “official” sites most likely, so why do I need some Cronkite telling it to me again? I want somebody who knows some weird stat, has a story about meeting a player somewhere, personal encounters of the hockey kind or even just an opinion peppered with the writer’s own flavor.

5. How important is the issue of gaining press access to you as a blogger?

It’s not. I don’t wanna stop being a fan. During press access to games, you can’t wear your raggedy jersey (beloved, slightly stained, autographs a wee bit faded, raggedy jersey), you can’t cheer when something good happens, you can’t groan out loud … or cuss when its a bad thing. I can do that… for small amounts of time (hell I’m politically correct 8 to 10 hours a day as a manager, another 3 hours won’t kill me) but why would I do it every game? I would love to attend the post game pressers and Q and A events though. I would sit in a corner and listen to everything that got said. I know damn good and well all those journalists ask more than the 4 or 5 questions that we peons get to read in the AP or see on the local news.
Of course if I got invited to those kinds of events I would definately submit those entries for a first look from the team’s public watch dogs. C’mon its only fair to give them a quick perusal… they gave the access and should have some say so in what comes out of it. But everything else that I come up with on my own they get no say so over my content. (ok if Mossie or Mal asked me not to talk about something I was inadvertantly privvy to, that was detrimental to the team…I’d keep my yap shut) I love my Dawgs and would not cause the team harm on purpose.

6. To what extent do you feel accountable for the content of your blog?

I feel very accountable. My blog is me. I stand behind whatever I write. I try never to do harm, everyone can read the thing and know instantly I am not purporting to be an expert, I don’t claim to be anything other than a fan with a computer and enuff pennies to buy space on the web.
If its a rumor or opinion, I make it pretty clear, if I read it somewhere else, I tell where, if I grab a pic from somewhere I also give credit. I know there are consequences for putting up content and if I need to retract something I will. I never lie (on the blog… lil white ones in my private life? yeah there have been a few… ummm no Dinah that doesn’t mean your pink streaked hair isn’t becoming on a 40 year old! it looked good! I swear!) and I would never steal anyone’s stuff on purpose. My word is my bond, I believe in honor, I manage people for a multinational corporation…so yeah accountability is big in my world, not just on the blog.

7. How concerned are you about the authority and accountability of the blogs you read? Do you find it difficult to judge the authority and accountability of the blogs you read?

It’s not a big concern because I subscribe to the theory that everyone has an opinion and to take it ALL with a grain of salt. Big name writers and journalists are not god-like beings and neither are bloggers. We are all human with the foibles and personal baggage that comes with the territory. That baggage colors our writing. I don’t read blogs that have an axe to grind or have a heavy negative vibe, I can catch the 11 o’clock news if I want high drama and human ugliness.

8. What value, if any, do you think blogging brings to the NHL?

A fresh view, they add popularity or sometimes noteriety to the game, extra tidbits of information and humor (as Bryz has said in the past “it’s only a game, why you have to get mad?” check youtube, that interview is really fun) Bloggers are all around us, they see and hear things that have value to the sport, they pass those tidbits along. They add that certain je nais ce qoi, a dash of flavoring if you will, that is often missing in the sometimes cookie cutter clutter of source material.
Bloggers add to the NHL by giving the fans a little something…more… and often a place to meet or chat with other like minded folks. The internet is here to stay…like it or not, so too is blogging.