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Practice Rules

I finally made it out to Kettler Iceplex in Arlington, Va. for a Washington Capitals practice. I’ve gotta say, it’s a much better experience than going to a game for a reporter. We’re much closer to the ice for photos, the players come out and hang around longer in the locker room, the coaches all hang out. Not sure why I didn’t do this before, other than logistical reasons. It’s far easier to go to a game than driving out to Arlington in awful Beltway traffic during the day.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get one of the interviews I wanted because the player had gotten sick. In fact, six of them were sick, so I went to the Capitals shop to look for a Capitals surgical mask.

I also got to watch the beat reporters work, which was far more amusing than educational. These reporters spend so much time talking about hockey that they get sick of it and move onto other things.

I got a few photos and some offbeat information, but more is to come.

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Vandalism on My Car

I’m fairly certain that this wasn’t a ‘hate crime’ and it was likely my car was targeted at random considering my neighbor’s car was also scratched. But $378.08 worth of damage, not to mention the side which I didn’t even notice, is what it cost to clean this off.

Thanks to State Farm for covering the cost to fix this.

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King of the Morgul Lord Sellers

Quick question. How much would you be willing to pay for this ToyBiz figure?

Over the past 10 month or so, my customers have been paying me an average of $45. This, for an item that once sold for $5.99 at KB Toys.

Since I firmly believe that toys are for kids to play with, and not for adult collectors to drool over, I hope each one of these goes to a child. But I seriously doubt it, considering the price people are paying. So why don’t I lower the price, you ask? Well, I’m already undercutting everyone else. That’s right. Most others are selling this for more than I am. That’s why I’ve sold so many. And this isn’t even the rare version – there’s another out there selling for much more with a fiery sword. Regardless, I declare myself: King of the Witch-King of Angmar figure.

All this for a character who got killed by a woman dressed as a man on a battlefield in Lord of the Rings.

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Another New Site

As I mentioned on my now unused blog on wordpress.com, I’ve started this site, benjaminsumner.com, only because it’s fully hosted and I have complete control over it. That means instead of being limited to free features, I can do what I want. The first thing I did was use the same template I’ve used on my Screaming Squirrels Hockey site, because it’s a great template which has a built-in slideshow on the front page.

So, for now on, I’ll be updating this blog instead of the last one, and I’ll be migrating things from my free lousy Google Sites to this one.

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My Take on Bloggers

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.