Today is the official one year anniversary of the NFL FanHouse. The traditional gift for a first anniversary is paper but we at FanHouse need no stinking paper because this is the internets, baby. Instead, I figured I'd provide a bit of a linkfest retrospective of FanHouse's first year.
I did some looking to see what the most popular NFL FanHouse stories were of the last year, and I am not sure if I should be surprised that the two most popular ones were girly gossip:
"Jean Strahan Holds Yard Sale to Make Ends Meet"
"Bridget Moynahan Expecting, Tom Brady is the Father"
The photo gallery of NFL Wives and Girlfriends is fairly popular too. I am guessing for the visuals being photos and all.
Personally, my favorite non-football NFL post was the "Carson Palmer's FARKed Hot Dog." FanHouser Charles Rich wondered what would happen if the FARK photoshopgeniuses got a hold of Palmer's ill-advised hot dog advertisement. And they, of course, did. I would say the results were predictable, but there is no way I could foretell the precise nature of the ensued hilarity.
Though the gossipy stories have received a lot of the page views, and despite Roger Goodell's protests to the contrary, the biggest NFL news of the past year has been of the personal conduct policy variety. Some of the most emotional comments found at FanHouse have involved the Michael Vick story. On one hand, a lot of folks are really sick of the story, but on the other hand, it is something that people feel compelled to read about and discuss.
I remember listening to sports talk radio and kept hearing the parroted ESPN view that since Mike Vick wasn't named in the initial indictment, he was not likely to be indicted. And because I had been following the coverage of the Vick story at FanHouse and at PFT.com, I thought they were self-delusional.
If Mike Vick is the number 1 example of someone talented throwing it all away over stupid stuff, well then PacMan Jones has to be 1a. It is the modern day Jerry Springer version of a Greek tragedy: athletically gifted honor student gets in trouble with the law, attends strip clubs, makes it rain, shots are fired and a man grievously injured, attends more strip clubs, gets suspended from his job, apologizes to everyone and wants to regain their trust and respect , maybe attends more strip clubs, and then becomes the peculiar sort of wrestler who isn't allowed to be touched. This perfectly illustrates the author John Irving's point that nothing that he writes that is stranger than reality.
Though I like to be able to read the water cooler stories before I hear them on sports talk or see them in newspapers, one part of NFL FanHouse I like the best is the individual team coverage. As a not just a FanHouse observation but in general, I think that some of the best writers about teams are often NFL fans because they pay attention and they care. Not just about the high profile positions like quarterback, but on things you don't read every place else--on assistant coaches, and line play, late round draft picks, and roster cuts. Quirky things about players on the team. NFL fans can never read enough about their favorite teams, and it is nice to get team news with a little flavor.
In any event, I like writing for FanHouse because I really like reading it and the people who write for it, and enjoy participating in how it is evolving. I know I've gone way past the self-congratulatory stuff, into schmaltz, but I have a question for the readers dedicated or speed ready enough to go this far.
What say you about NFL FanHouse? Are you a regular or occasional reader? Do you have any favorite stories from the past year? What do you like or not like so much? Please be thoughtful, kind and specific because well, we are only one year old, and maybe you can help make this part of the internets a better place. Thanks for hanging out with us.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-28-2007 @ 10:51AM
Tom Herrera said...
Cheers and Congrats on 1 year, NFL FanHouse.
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/06/16/redskins-players-make-fun-of-joe-gibbs-old-school-short-shorts/
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8-28-2007 @ 10:56AM
Stephanie Stradley said...
Tom-
As long as you are going to provide that link, I will give (inflict on) you a link to the Chris Cooley short shorts courtesy of Hogs Haven: (be warned: it's safe for work, but once you see the pictures, you won't be able to unsee them)
http://www.hogshaven.com/story/2007/6/15/15583/3606
On behalf of FH, thanks for the nice wishes.
-Steph
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8-28-2007 @ 11:31AM
floridian said...
"...the author John Irving's point that nothing that he writes that is stranger than reality."
As long as we're conspicuously quoting novelists, let me add John Barthes's point that "reality is a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there," as well as Robert Stone's observation about newspapers, which might just as easily apply to blogs: "Since most newspapers are into telling readers what they are used to hearing and think they already know, any suggestion of congruity in the cruelty of desperation would have been the occasion of moral confusion."
Stone was referring to the North Vietnamese Army's atrocities while they were briefly in control of Hue, where they treated the city and its inhabitantrs "the way the special Kommandos of Totenkopf SS treated the average Byelorussian shetl. When evidence of this was unearthed, as they say, the business roughly went a little underreported in Europe and the United States. It roughly coincided with the American massacre of villagers at My Lai."
How does this apply to the scapegoating of Michael Vick by AOL bloggers like Michael David Smith, who on Friday posted 12 anti-Vick blogs and then woke up at 3:55 AM on Saturday to start all over again?
Yesterday, on the very day that the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, Alberto Gonzalez, resigned in a cloud of suspicion over his possibly purjurious testimony, the Gonzalez-appointed U.S. Attorney in the Vick case, Chuck Rosenberg, said in the NY Times that a first-time offender ordinarily might receive no jail time for the dogfighting conspiracy. '"We thought, however, that the conduct in this conspiracy was heinous, cruel and inhumane,'" he said.
When Robert Stone wrote that "any suggestion of congruity in the cruelty of desperation would have been the occasion of moral confusion," he might just as well have been thinking about the fact that there are 6 million to 8 million unwanted cats and dogs in animal shelters in the US and that 3 million to 4 million are put to death ("euthanized" might be a misnomer, since they're perfectly healthy and not being relieved of suffering) every year. See the ASPCA Web site and the USA Today article about this situation.
The pet industry and the puppy mills mass-breed dogs which often have genetic defects and suffer from immediate veterinary problems. But the pet industry has a powerful lobby in Washington which allows this to perpetuate. And across state lines, as they say.
The AOL bloggers can self-congratulate all they want, but I'll save my anniversary wishes for my loved ones.
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8-28-2007 @ 11:34AM
Dan Benton said...
I say hooray. It's been an extremely entertaining year and I, for one, am glad to have been a part of it. Sure, not all people enjoyed everything (see above), but I'd venture to guess that only applies to the minority.
Cheers, NFL Fanhouse. And well done, Stephanie.
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8-28-2007 @ 11:37AM
Marc Nelson Jr. said...
Great job so far.
One thing I'd like to see FanHouse add is writer-specific RSS feeds.
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8-28-2007 @ 11:52AM
Stephanie Stradley said...
floridian-
Scapegoating of Michael Vick? He is a sports figure. He admittedly committed the crimes that MDS has been talking about. A crime that prior to the season, Vick had denied. Most of the mass media prior to the season didn't believe that he would be missing the season, much less go to jail for the crime.
Yeah, there's a lot of injustice in the world that we aren't talking about, but this is a sports blog site. That one of the most talented players the NFL has ever seen did something barbaric and stupid to get thrown out of the league and probably incarcerated is a big NFL story and the top water cooler talk. It has to be.
Some of what you are talking about I struggle with. How much coverage is too much? Personally, I don't have further interest in the story, but given the comments a lot of people do.
Lots of injustice in the world. Thems of us at FanHouse can't do squat about it. It may be that the Vick situation eventually does get people looking at other aspects of animal cruelty (a subject that has been talked about some at FanHouse).
If you have a suggestion or an angle or idea for a story, please go to the resources bar to the left, and send us your tips, corrections, complaints, inquiries, suggestions, etc. Thanks for reading and commenting, even though you won't give us any good cheer.
-Steph
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8-28-2007 @ 3:11PM
Moonshine Mike said...
You brought MJD to the world.
For that I don't know if we should love you or loathe you. We sort of liked him all to ourselves.
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8-28-2007 @ 3:11PM
JCN said...
Writer-specific RSS feeds are supposed to be coming through the pipeline. Thanks for your patience on that, Marc Nelson Jr.
As for favorite posts, I'd have to nominate anything pertaining to 'Eff Da Eagles' Heather.
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/category/nfl/2007/01/17/parents-television-council-chastises-fox-for-saints-fan-f-word/
Because it brought out the best in everyone.
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8-28-2007 @ 3:18PM
Stephanie Stradley said...
Eff Da Eagles Heather is classic. Definitely needs to be a part of the retrospective.
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8-28-2007 @ 5:07PM
GM said...
I for one appreciate Michael Davis Smith's daily articles on the Vick story and his well written honest style.
Smith's forums on Vick seems to attract Vick fans who bring up all sorts of injustices in the world like abortion, pedophiles, the Iraq war, kidknappers, slaughtering of cattle & chickens for food, etc. and compare them to dog fighting saying how much worse they are than convicted felon Michael Vick's dog fighting.
Well, as they are repeatedly told this is a sport column and the subject is Vick & dogfighting. By bringing up other subjects they are making excuses for the animal abuser & murderer's hideous actions.
It does nothing to change or lessen the pain misery & death Vick inflicted on the innocent animals.
If some of you feel that strongly about these other matters find a forum on the subject and comment with others interested in the same thing.
I am an animal advocate working to help abused animals who can not defend or speak for themselves.
Do something and get involved with trying to change the wrongs of the world instead of griping about subjects having nothing to do with sports or Vick's illegal dog fighting operation from 2001 until April 2007.
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8-28-2007 @ 6:33PM
Skin Patrol said...
Stephanie STradley is good people.
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8-28-2007 @ 6:34PM
David Corcoran said...
Congrats to you Stephanie, and all the fanhouse staff on an excellent year of coverage, especially regarding the NFL. As you pointed out, the individual team coverage is top notch, especially of my beloved Cardinals. Best wishes to you all to more of the same for a long time to come.
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8-29-2007 @ 12:14PM
Donna Read said...
Vick should NOT be punished the rest of his life... Because his conscience will do that. Unless he don't have one. After 3 years off the field, you think he could play again? Back-up maybe? Maybe a running back...? Hopefully his attitude changes. As far as him excepting Jesus into his heart??? I don't think so. Only once did he mention Jesus. Nothing about prayers, etc. Maybe.. I don't know and I can't judge. All the best to him and his life.
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8-29-2007 @ 4:52PM
George B Vieto said...
Happy birthday fanhouse. May you have many more years of excellence.
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8-30-2007 @ 3:55PM
Miss Gossip said...
Yay for NFL FanHouse! Bonus points for the crayon-photoshop self-birthday card! :)
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