Hockey's Taliban Defeated

In what is sure to be marked as a victory for free speech in North America, CBC has announced that Don Cherry won't be subject to tape delay during his Coach's Corner segments on Hockey Night in Canada. For unfortunate Americans who haven't seen HNIC, it's only the greatest sports show on television. Strike that, it's just the best damn thing on TV, period. When I got married and moved to Indiana, my sole condition was getting a satellite dish so I could still get my Saturday night hockey fix.

Cherry's ability to command real-time television stands in stark contrast to many American TV shows which are going to tape-delay in light of pressure from the FCC and advocacy groups. His trademark off-the-cuff commentary and interaction with Ron McLean make for great theater during hockey's biggest weekly showcase, and the fact that it will be truly live is a benefit to the CBC and audiences alike.

Unless, of course, Cherry's nipple pops out, in which case I'll probably claw my own eyes out and be done with it...

Celebrating a milestone month

I've been remiss in providing regular updates on my quest to turn this whole sports-blogging hobby into at least something of a significant side income, if not a career, but good news has a way of prompting action. That, and I've been heads-down busy working on a few different fronts to push things forward...

Social Media, Internet Marketing, and Real, Paying Customers - it really works!

Applying the basic tenets of internet marketing (SEO best practices and social media network building) have helped me grow the readership and engagement over at On The Forecheck tremendously in recent years, but lately I've been wondering if those same techniques could be applied to small- or medium-sized local businesses, to help them drive real, tangible business results. I'm talking about not just drawing idle hockey fans looking to a blog so they can muse over line combinations, but helping businesses connect with potential customers in ways that otherwise wouldn't occur. Recently, I was able to help make just such a thing happen, and it shows just how great the opportunities are for small, local businesses which may not have the resources or skills available to extend their brand effectively on the internet.

NHL Fake Trades, an idea worth pursuing further in 2013

As I wrote about a month ago , I decided to jump upon a short-term opportunity and set up a "hot topic" website for the 2012 NHL Trade Deadline. NHLFakeTrades.com was inspired by a column by Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail, who looked at the frenzy with which hockey fans jump on even the sketchiest of information about potential hockey trades, and wondered if some cash could be made by simply and forthrightly writing about fictitious trade scenarios. This meshed nicely with an exercise I went through a few years ago to create a Random Trade Generator, so in the course of a few hours I went ahead and registered the domain, set up a WordPress site using ( as I do at Hockey Gear HQ ) the wonderful Genesis framework with the News theme , and freshened up the Trade Generator for 2012. So how did it do, in terms of traffic, revenue, and accuracy of the trade projections? Let's take a look...

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