[I’ve edited out mention of what network I am joining. I was told I could make the announcement but then they reversed course. You’ll find out Monday if you don’t already know.]
Hey guys,
Some pretty exciting news. Fire Brand will be affiliating with a certain sports network. The affiliation won’t happen until Monday, but I hope to make the move to the new look, which will use WordPress, tomorrow. Running into some technical difficulties as we speak, so I’m trying to get them resolved. Who knows when, but certainly by Monday.
Unfortunately, as part of the affiliation, I’ll have to move out from under the MVN umbrella. A tough move since Fire Brand has been part of MVN since Day One, and… well, I run MVN.
Right now, however, MVN is not a paying job. We’ve been able to bring on other full-time and part-time people and I’ve been hoping that MVN could develop into something for me. I still think it can. I think MVN has a lot going for it and what MVN offers beats every other blog network in what they offer.
Ah, but the new network. This one offers one crucial thing MVN doesn’t, and that’s, well, the name being attached to the blog. I’ve had other offers and chances to make a move to other places in the past, and I’ve resisted them all because these offers didn’t offer me anything that MVN couldn’t.
But right now, I am in a position with no steady, full-time job because I’ve committed myself to MVN. My work on MVN has been and will continue to be enjoyable (except on those days where I want to tear my hair out). However, I’ve had to backburner my desire to become a significant voice in both Red Sox and baseball blogging circles. I’ve lost significant ground in that area, and that’s okay. I’m happy with the choices I’ve made. I can’t backburner it anymore, which is why I’m making the move.
MVN has been around for almost six years now and it’s become a platform of promotion: we have a great history of people who started blogging for us rising to bigger and better things. And we have a couple things cooking at MVN — some short-term, some long-term — that is going to make some noise. Given where I am in my life and where MVN is in its history, though, this was an offer I could not turn down.
With all that out of the way, I am tremendously excited to be affiliating said network. It’s a significant occurrence to happen to myself, and during a period of time where I’m trying to figure out where to go in my life and career, this will do wonders.
I’ve always strived to bring well-reasoned, analytic opinion to the site and the commenters are what make this blog fun. I appreciate the compliments you guys pay Fire Brand and in keeping people in line — for example, trolls aren’t welcome here. It’s not the Fire Brand way. You can root for whatever team you want, but if you don’t show some brains, you won’t be long for the site. I’ll be relying on you guys to help the newcomers understand what makes us Firebranders tick.
Alright, enough with this stuff. Let’s get back to what really matters — Red Sox baseball.
