Can Sully Ride to the Predators Rescue?

Updates on the progress (or lack thereof) on the Steve Sullivan injury front are few and far between, but this morning's Toronto Sun includes a note from Timmins, Ontario, Sully's hometown, where the Predators sniper is co-hosting a charity golf tournament. Based on the comments he's giving, there's no certainly no cause for optimism that we'll see him playing hockey anytime soon:

Sullivan's back problems -- which forced him to miss the entire 2007-08 National Hockey League season -- have limited his efforts on the links to only chipping and putting.

"My back can't handle a full swing yet," he said yesterday.

Sullivan suffered a back injury during the overtime period of game against the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 22, 2007.

In January, Predators general manager David Poile said the hope was for his star winger to return for the '08-09 season. But Sullivan concedes that his back hasn't been responding as well to treatment as team officials would like.

Ugh. With Alexander Radulov the leading contender for the Benedict Arnold Trophy, that leaves Nashville with only four proven top-six forwards, and most of the free agent market dried up. In order to fill out the Arnott and Legwand lines, one possibility might be to see if Jan Hlavac could be brought back; he seemed to mesh very well with Legwand and Erat, and that would leave the last spot on the Arnott line open to Vern Fiddler, Jordin Tootoo, or perhaps Jonas (err... Patric) Hornqvist if he's as ready for prime-time NHL action as is hoped...

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.

New directions for OTF

While my writings about the Nashville Predators are being posted over at OnTheForecheck.com, rather than this old site, I thought it might be worth touching base here every now and again to touch on "meta" issues, related to blogging in general. In particular, these days I'm very much interested in how I can turn this time-consuming hobby into a bit of a revenue generator. Since I receive a small stipend from SB Nation to run OTF, I declared that income on my taxes last year, and realized that I should also be recording my expenses (for example, parking fees downtown when I go to cover a practice or press conference, mileage, etc.). It was a bit of a reality slap to see exactly how much I was spending on this endeavor, and with 3 kids heading off to college in 9-10 years, there's a bit of a financial imperative to turn the tables there. So here's a few ideas I'm considering/pursuing: A website devoted to hockey gear and accessories, HockeyGearHQ.com . The idea...

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