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Mergers and Acquisitions

Wednesday, December 1, 2004

For readers of the various 'Cubs Blog Army' sites this winter, there has been more activity among the writers than for the Cubs. Most notably Derek Smart moved from 'The Big Red C' to The Cub Reporter. In our little cottage industry, thats about on par with a hypothetical Coca-Cola/Pepsi merger... frankly I'm wondering why the SEC wasn't out here enforcing anti-trust laws :)

In another acquisition, Transplanted Cubs Fan was acquired by the Most Valuable Network. We have also had a few retirements, such as Brian Gunn from Red-Bird Nation. Although he wasn't an official member of the CBA, he was a tremendous help to me. At one point in October, Brian's site sent me more traffic than TCR... and I'm not exactly a Cardinals blog... that goes to show you the kind of traffic and influence Brian had... and rightly so, his posts were excellent.

Well, TheCubdom.com has its own M&A news to announce as well. Starting today, I have begun posting on "The Goat Riders of the Apocalypse." I am not leaving TheCubdom I am just adding some extra work on the side.

Joining me at goatriders.org will be Kurt Evans of "Cub Fan Nation," Bill Kelly of "Rooftop Report," and Rob Letterly formerly of "The Uncouth Sloth."

To my knowledge, Rob is the only one leaving his current blog, and that decision was made before he came on board for goat riders.

A brief history: On October 15, Kurt posted his idea for the Goat Riders on his site. I read the idea and really liked it, and told him I was in. We kicked around some names for people within the Cubs Blog Army we wanted to join us... and a month later the final roster was set.

After some discussion, we chose a URL: http://www.goatriders.org, and figured out the hosting packages. The design was drawn up by yours truly... and we are set to work. I for one am pretty excited about this great opportunity.

A Mission Statement: We don't have anything too formal, but the main goal is to provide thoughtful, impassioned, and funny insights and analysis of the Cubs. We are by no means the second coming of baseball prospectus... but we've all read Moneyball... and taken the Sabermetric principals to heart.

A Methodology for Byron: A significant amount of thought on my behalf has gone into deciding what 'my voice' will be on each blog. Lots has been written about writers developing 'their own voice,' and I pretty much think thats hogwash (then again... I'm hardly a writer.) So, anyhow, I have analyzed my previous posts and they fall roughly into four categories.

• Baseball Business research, news, and analysis.
• Statistical analysis, conventional, and unconventional.
• Journalizing... posts which essentially mirror the news of the day.
• Mindless Drivel

My new plan is to keep the Business and Mindless Drivel pieces here at TheCubdom, and sprinkle in some journalizing (the win/loss flags are staying.) Then, I will try to keep most of my posts at Goat Riders as the Statistical analysis pieces, with the requisite journalizing that will need to be written.

Well, thats pretty much what I have to say for now. I just wanted to get in a good plug for "The Goat Riders of the Apocalypse," and to let you know what I am doing.

Briefly in site news: TheCubdom.com is nearly at the 10,000 visit mark since it began in March! Wow and Thanks!

Posted by Byron at December 1, 2004 7:05 AM | | |

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