With how many people are interested we should consider adding a post game article from outside of portland. You could get some great fan takes on the team. Imagine reading about that 1 point win from a fan on the other side of the world who stayed up at 3 am just to see the game.
For starters, what if we added a game preview to our game threads? A 5-10 paragraph article by our own writers. We could have a post game thread with a recap in post 1. There's 82+ x2 assignments right there. Fwiw, I can write a preview in a few minutes, so it won't be a time killer.
Those things are glue, though, for the rest we'd write. We also would get a sense of who is reliable if we need something written. Plus it adds a lot, IMO, to the awesome game threads started by Darkwebs.
Game preview is actually the fun part. You learn an awful lot about what you don't know. It takes time and some research but as long as you don't mind being wrong some of the time (because it will happen trust me) then it's all good. You just got to have a knack for it and put in the work.
I think you can work on some of the stuff in advance (as someone said, divvying up league pass if you need to get some "advance scouting") and then tweaking for injuries, etc.
Been doing game previews on my own for a bit. the first 20 games are the tough ones. After that you get a feel for the season and how things are running in the NBA as a whole.
I have a different view/opinion. Leave it up to the person covering the game. I remember in years past Ben Golliver would show up to the shoot around and would take pictures of the shoes that the players were wearing that night. It was different but original. If the person covering the game gets there early enough and wants to ask Dwight Jaynes or Casey a few questions make that the pregame write up. I don't think it has to be the standard preview. Take it, make it your own, make it something you want to write about. Don't embarrass the forum.
This is what I think would make this good, having different ideas then what standard writers come with regularly.
In the next couple of days. We have to make the argument that we're a press pass worthy organization.
If we want to be considered a legit news organization, we have to have some legit news. Including away games
Here are some of the reasons I came up with: 1. We're the official fan forum of the Blazers. 2. We're the largest fan forum covering the Blazers. 3. Our members generate original content every day. 4. Our members have written for ESPN, USA Today, True Hoop and the Blazers very own game program. 5. The very few opportunities that we were given last season on press row resulted in content that was viewed by 10s of thousands outside of the forum. 6. Our live game threads draw more posts and views than Oregonlive and BlazersEdge. 7. Our original content gets more views on the internet than the Blazer content from Willamette Week and the Portland Mercury. 8. With a permanent place on press row we can deliver better content not for just our members but for Trailblazers.com.
You are going to have to change some of the language and response rules to do this you know? At least on the Press and Game threads. That will sink you quicker than Lillard can get rid of a 3 pointer to win a series. Just sayin....
I want to add that doing the game previews are not specific to the guy who gets the press pass for the game. It's part of the writing team ... writing. I see guys who write the assignments qualifying to go to the games using the press passes. Those aren't for fans to go see the game from press row, they're for someone to go and get material to write about for this site and potentially for the blazers' (blazers.com/nba.com) and for the game programs, etc. I also think it's a good idea for the guy that goes to post from press row in the game thread.
