School’s Out For Summer…Almost…But, First, There’s That Issue Of A Final Paper…

Two WasWatching.com readers – one from the University of Delaware and the other from Syracuse University – recently contacted me regarding a final paper/assignment that they’re both doing on sports blogs – asking some questions on the subject matter for my input. Since their questions were interesting, I thought that I would share them here, along with my answers. Here they are:

Why did you start your blog, what is your aim or mission statement?

Steve Lombardi: I had been providing baseball analysis on the internet, through various websites, for close to eight years before I starting blogging in 2005. And, the driver for me has been the same. I love baseball and I enjoy writing. If not for the internet, blogging, etc., I’m probably be doing what I’m doing in some diary or journal or something. Blogging on baseball is a way to exercise my passion. Some men raise goldfish. Others build birdhouses. Many more collect odd things that the majority of the population view as nonsensical. For me, I enjoy writing about baseball. And, blogging allows me to do it with administrative ease – as well as share it with anyone else who may be interested. Why the Yankees? Simple, I’ve been a diehard Yankees fan since 1973.

How has the blog and its community evolved since it has started?

Steve Lombardi: I got lucky. Very quickly, some of the other, more established, blogs and other baseball websites starting citing my work. This brought cause for some heavy traffic to my blog soon after it was launched. It’s been interesting to see the reader patterns since that time. Some have been with me for years. Others were around quite a bit and then moved on – to other blogs, I suppose. And, yet, still, I have readers finding me now, for the first time, and becoming “regulars.” So, my blog’s community is diverse in terms of tenure. However, the banter among those leaving comments at the blog is always entertaining.

What is it like to provide a community for Yankees fans to interact with each other?

Steve Lombardi: There’s always good and bad with providing a watering hole on the Internet. I’ve met some wonderful people through the site – and I know that others have met each other and established friendships from those meetings. However, there are also people who surf the ‘net who have severe mental or emotional issues. And, when you open up your cyber-doors, you’re going to have to deal with them at times as well. And, that’s something that rarely brings joy into one’s life.

How do you think blogging has changed how baseball is covered?

Steve Lombardi: It has changed coverage in two ways. First, blogging has provided an outlet for many entertaining and informative baseball fans to share insights with fellow fans of the game. And, this outlet is just as vast as any mainstream media outlet. Of course, prior to the blog format, it was possible for fans to create a website and use that as a vehicle to impart their opinion, commentary, analysis, etc. However, the creation and utilization of the blog format has made it much easier for the interested fan, etc. Secondly, blogging has enabled the mainstream media to also get information out there on a real-time basis – whereas, in the past, they had to wait for their paper to “publish,” albeit as hardcopy or online. With blogs, the baseball media can have reports “out there” within seconds after they type up their copy.

What direction do you see the blogging movement headed?

Steve Lombardi: With the advent and interest around services like Twitter, I could see blogs evolving towards that format – where the content becomes shorter and delivered quicker in terms of posting frequency. It would not shock me when the day comes where bloggers “blog” and readers “read” all via some remote WIFI device and the content and reader commentary is concise and quick. We live in a microwave society and it seems that everyone wants things faster, etc.

How do you think it has changed the way fans take in the game?

Steve Lombardi: As a blogger, it’s changed the way in which I take in the game, for sure. The biggest thing, for me, is that I now tend to pay more attention to detail – as I may want to include that detail in my blog entry that day. This includes attempting to harvest something from a game event that’s unique and noteworthy. As a fan, I know that many have woven the blog reader experience into their daily game watching habits – checking blogs before the game for intell, checking them during the game to share thoughts/comments with other blog readers, and checking them after the game to find some expert analysis and see if they agree with it or not, etc.

More specifically, how has the expansive statistical analysis now available to the everyday fan changed the way fans perceive the game and certain players? (Similar to the idea of placing more importance on OBP over AVG.)

Steve Lombardi: I believe that the expanse has brought cause for fans to fall in love with players who they may have dismissed in the past – and vice versa. For example, in 1975, a player who was batting .240 may have been seen as an inferior batter – based on batting average alone. However, today, if we have a .240 hitter with an OPS of ..875, many fans see that player as a jewel of a batter. That said, while many believe that today we’re in a much better place of understanding baseball performance via statistical analysis, I have a hunch that, say, thirty years from now we’ll be looking at OPS they way we look at batting average now – because of some future, yet to be determined, metric that’s even better at determining a quality batter. Someone is always building a better mouse trap…that never stops.

The minor league coverage also has expanded, how has that affected the ability of fans to follow players through the system and what does that mean?

Steve Lombardi: Thirty years ago, it was very unique for any fan to know more that one or two prospects within the organization of his favorite team. With the enhanced coverage of minor leagues games, etc., I would suggest that the run-of-the-mill fan now probably knows at least five of his team’s top prospects, the engaged fan now knows at least ten of his team’s prospects, and, today, the zealous fan knows at least fifteen (or more of those prospects). There are down-sides to this – in my opinion. Increased access to minor league data and reports has enabled some people to use that information to falsely pitch themselves as some prospect expert. And, the increased exposure of prospects has led to increased expectations on prospects right out of the chute – placing extra pressure on them to perform well.

Has WasWatching led you to other writing opportunities?

Steve Lombardi: Yes, without question, starting the blog has opened up a few other writing opportunities for me. I’ve done “guest” blog entries on other sites and have been interviewed, for opinion, on other sites as well. In addition, having the blog has put me in a position where other authors have come to me, looking for my to review or comment on their work. And, that’s always an honor.

My thanks to Jonathan B. from the University of Delaware and Maxwell W. from Syracuse University for reaching out to me on this – it was fun. I hope you guys ace your assignments!

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