Once I had said my goodbyes to John and Dmitry, it turned out I had one more surprise in store for the weekend. I'm sure many of you will recall I stopped by a blogger get-together in Columbus on the night of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft where I got to say hello to a number of bloggers including Tapeleg of Jerseys and Hockey Love.
Though Tapeleg is a Colorado native, he and his girlfriend Meg live something of a nomadic existence working on a crew for a touring theater company -- not a place I'd normally think of as a hotbed of hockey fandom. In any case, Tapeleg is only working part time on this stretch of the tour, which left him with an open weekend while the tour was stopped in Charlotte.
So he gave me a call: He was thinking of taking a road trip to D.C. and was wondering if I was going to be around. I said sure, and before you knew it, another hockey blogger landed on my suburban doorstep on Saturday night.
After grabbing some chow and catching the latest iteration of Die Hard -- thanks to Greg Wyshynski for the recommendation -- we hit a local dive to shoot pool for a couple of hours and talk some puck.
On the widescreen above our table was the ESPN coverage of David Beckham's abbreviated American debut against Chelsea in Los Angeles. Though Beckham would play only the final 13 minutes of the second half in a snoozer of a match, the broadcast was predictably all about him, his wife, and their planned conquest of America.
As I'm sure many of you have already read, the debut was something of a fizzle, with the sole highlight coming late in the game when Beckham was taken down sprinting on to the attack.
Predictably, Beckham's tumble to the turf was dissected expertly by the ESPN cameras, as they grabbed a closeup of the midfielder wincing in pain as he paused before rising to his feet. Interestingly enough, somehow that clip was omitted from the SportsCenter highlight reel on the match that would air less than 20 minutes later.
In between the moments of 'Waiting for Becks', Tapeleg and I started talking again about the Hockey Bloggers Group on Facebook and how things ought to shape up from here on in.
Essentially, the latest idea is to keep membership in the organization open to anyone who would like to join, while putting a process in place for bloggers who would like to develop a relationship with a particular team or the league as a whole. For some, that won't mean more than getting some advice on how to establish a relationship with a team. For others, it might go the whole nine yards all the way to applying for some sort of media credential -- be that as a blogger, podcaster or freelance photographer.
In addition, using the guidelines I already developed with the Caps, the group can issue something of a seal of approval that lets a team know that the individual has been vetted, and is somebody they can deal with professionally. To get an idea of what might be required, go back into the Off Wing archives and take another look at the Media Credential Guidelines I published last year.
As I've said before, a lot of this stuff is awfully preliminary, and I 'm anxious to hear what other bloggers and indie media types think about it. Please stop by Facebook and join the group. I really want to hear what you have to say.
By now I'm sure many of you are wondering what the point of these three posts has been, and I don't blame you. Hockey news is thin these days, and I have to admit I've been at something of a loss as to what to do to fill these pages.
So the idea I came up with was this: The next time you get the chance, figure out a way to get together with the folks on your blogroll. I know I've written it before, but it bears repeating: The most rewarding aspect of blogging for me has always been the new friendships it has allowed me to develop.
Get on the phone and grab a beer with a hockey blogger. For now, it might be nothing more than a pleasant evening. But sooner than you might think, it may very well turn into something far more important.
So keep blogging. In the meantime, this brother has got your back.
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