Michigan blogger career trajectories

Submitted by Magnus on

I'm sort of interested in where some people in the Michigan blogosphere have started/ended up in recent years. There was recently a discussion on the Marlon Mack post about The M Block potentially shutting down because Brandon Brown is here at MGoBlog and Eric just went to Maize 'n' Brew. For example...

I beleve Tom Van Haaren got his start at MGoBlog, did his URecruit thing on the side, and then got picked up by Wolverine Nation/ESPN.

Brandon Brown started off at The M Block and moved here to MGoBlog.

Steve Lorenz started at Tremendous and moved to 247 Sports.

Ace started off at The Wolverine Blog and moved to MGoBlog.

Tim Sullivan started at Varsity Blue, moved to MGoBlog, and now works for The Wolverine.

Any corrections/additions to the list?

MGoBoard
Football

JHendo

January 16th, 2014 at 4:14 PM ^

...and criticizing the joker's comedic timing/delivery.  I was doing the latter.

"...a factual comment about the health of some of the coaches in the Big 10"

That right there is what made it feel uncomfortable.  It was coming off as just a factual, humorless, emotionless statement.  Ben Stein's dry, monotous voice is what I heard in my head when reading your coment, so speaking of "life of the party," learn to spruce it up a little bit so it doesn't come off so awkward next time.

Joined: 10/25/2008

MGoPoints: 13993

An Angelo's Addict

January 16th, 2014 at 12:42 PM ^

I haven't seen him write about something in like 2 years but Ronald Bellamy's underachieving all-starts blog had a couple of the best blog write ups ever. His recap about Denard in 2010 was fantastic, and his UTL 1 game recap was one of the best things I've ever read on the interwebz. Wish he would come back and write some more stuff

Joined: 07/12/2011

MGoPoints: 7982

Seth

January 16th, 2014 at 1:28 PM ^

Every year I bug Johnny to write for HTTV, every year he agrees then never sends me anything. We're facebook friends but his posts on there are all depressing. Half of the people who read his stuff loved it, the other half hated it, and he isn't the kind of guy who can take half his comments being negative.

Joined: 10/14/2008

MGoPoints: 149216

JamieH

January 16th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^

If you can get 50% of people to love you and 50% to hate you that is golden.  Most people can't get 20% of people to even care what you think.  If you can get a large % of people to have an opinion on what you are saying, positive OR negative, you are set.  Why do you think so many negative all the time guys like Sharp exist? 

Joined: 09/05/2009

MGoPoints: 28331

03 Blue 07

January 16th, 2014 at 4:09 PM ^

That's a bummer. He is excellent. It's always seemed like he's a tortured guy, or at least that was something I'd always thought. Also, I think his deep emotions have something to do with why his stuff is so great...like a lot of great writers and artists, really. 

Joined: 07/01/2008

MGoPoints: 3427

BiSB

January 16th, 2014 at 12:43 PM ^

Has Brian's blogging tree expanded far enough? Does his system produce future Head Bloggers, or just a bunch of Assistant Bloggers and the occasional Blogger Coordinators?

Joined: 08/15/2009

MGoPoints: 46071

jmblue

January 16th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^

I'm definitely of the mind that we need to hire an outsider when Brian retires.  Hiring another guy from the hippie hair/hockey jersey/Muppet-posting/U.S. soccer team fetish mold is just going to be a disaster.  Other blogs will pass us by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102794

jmblue

January 16th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^

IIRC, Tom VH was just an ordinary poster at first, before being drafted into service by Brian.  He was sort of the Jordan Kovacs of the blogosphere.

 

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102794

bronxblue

January 16th, 2014 at 1:03 PM ^

I just realized reading this that I've been at this site and posting for over 5 years.  And in that time, I have not seen one bit of the beveled guilt that Brian speaks of.  I'm starting to think that this "internship" isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171613

Erik_in_Dayton

January 16th, 2014 at 1:08 PM ^

I've been the Ohio high school football reporter for the London Evening Standard since 2003.  My report "Whither is bound the Massillon side?" won an award in 2005.  

Joined: 12/03/2008

MGoPoints: 59144

LSAClassOf2000

January 16th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^

I started as a regular poster (as opposed to a lurker / reader) during The Search in 2011 rose through the ranks from "some guy" to "some guy who can edit / delete content", a post which I have held here since March of 2013. In real life, I began at my company as a distribution designer and now supervise people who do that work, so it is sort of a similar path - "some guy" to "some guy who can edit / delete content", except different content. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130623

MGoShoe

January 17th, 2014 at 11:22 AM ^

...Nick Baumgardner, that's what the graphic depicts. Yes, Meinke moved on from the MLive Michigan football beat and is now covering the Lions for them. Baumgardner has the MLive Michigan football beat and they hired Brendan Quinn for the Michigan men's basketball beat. He previously covered Tennesse men's basketball. 

Joined: 04/23/2009

MGoPoints: 20734

AFMich

January 16th, 2014 at 1:39 PM ^

He stopped blogging once real life started to interfere with his blogging. 

I do remeber the blog well though because it's what vectored me to MGoBlog.

LINK 

He really did cover recruiting well, but I don't think he had any original content, if I remember correctly.

Joined: 03/24/2011

MGoPoints: 860

Magnus

January 16th, 2014 at 6:37 PM ^

I didn't know that blog existed for a long time, but then for whatever reason, it started funneling a lot of traffic to Touch the Banner. I don't think he ever linked to me; there was just a blog roll in the sidebar. Either way, he must have had a decent amount of traffic.

Joined: 07/17/2008

MGoPoints: 166007

bdsisme

January 16th, 2014 at 2:17 PM ^

A fake blogger, but Kyle Meinke is now a fake blogger for mlive with the Lions.  You could talk about where all the Michigan Daily writers have gone -- USA Today, ESPN, NYT, Pitt PG, Dallas MN, etc

Joined: 09/19/2010

MGoPoints: 9061

bdsisme

January 16th, 2014 at 2:21 PM ^

What about the other Brian from Genuinely Sarcastic?  Amazing writer; I know he went through a tough period a while back.  Wish he was still writing weekly.

Joined: 09/19/2010

MGoPoints: 9061