This isn’t false modesty or any humblebragging. I’m really, truly shocked I won the “People’s Choice” portion of CBS San Francisco’s Most Valuable Blogger contest. When my wife and I started this site almost four years ago and were excited to get 100 pageviews a day, I never would have envisioned something like this would happen.
This doesn’t mean I have the best blog, the funniest blog, the most readers or the most important posts. What it means is I have a ridiculous amount of cool people supporting me. My family absolutely went above and beyond on Facebook. Sometimes their daily reminders to vote reminded me that, “Oh yeah, I forgot to go vote for myself today, because it’s there’s nothing wrong with voting for yourself when it’s anonymous!” My friends also came through, both people I’ve known for years and friends I’ve never met — people I talk to on Twitter every day or those who simply read the site and decided to help me out with a vote or two.
BASG has gone through a bunch of changes over the last four years. I used to just write about stuff I watched on TV. Now I write about stuff I watch on TV and stuff I listen to on the radio. Progress! There’s also been a lot of pressbox infiltration, where I’ve seen a lot of Andy “Extra Baggs” Baggarly, the preeminent San Francisco Giants beat writer who I considered maybe my toughest competition for this award. Well, him along with McCovey Chronicles, which boasts a veritable army of commenters and is written by the ridiculously talented Grant Brisbee. And NewBallpark.org, which breaks down the Oakland A’s, their stadium situation and ballpark politics in general better than anybody.
Hell, all the nominees are fantastic, including the “Editor’s Choice” winner, San Fran Preps. As someone who’s spent many Friday nights manning sidelines and manually adding up rushing yards gained by 17-year-old tailbacks, I appreciate the service they provide — especially with what’s happened to newspapers over the past decade.
I don’t know what the future holds for BASG. But as long as traffic keeps growing and there are sports (and media personalities) to cover, I’ll keep writing and continue to work as hard as I can to cover events, break stories, celebrate the great times and make fun of the not-so-great times. I know this award doesn’t mean I’m better than anyone else, but I couldn’t have a better audience.