Purple Row Searches for a New Writer or Two
by Russ Oates on Jan 7, 2009 1:40 PM MST
in Miscellaneous
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PrintJust like the Colorado Rockies, Purple Row is looking to acquire some offseason talent right now. Only we have even less of a budget than the Colorado Rockies (read: zero) and offer no perks (I'm still waiting on the scores of women I was promised when I hopped on board a few years ago). We're looking for two new writers to come on board and help take over some of the duties Rox Girl and I have jealously guarded with our dictatorial powers over the last four seasons.
Baseball is a long season, and while blogging an entire baseball season is not as demanding as playing one, we've both often felt rushed or not been able to provide all the analysis or attention to detail that we've wanted to. Don't let our combined total of over 3000 front-page posts deceive you; we would have more if only we had more time. So, this is a move to help diversify the personalities appearing on the front page and to allow us to write more of the stuff that we've wanted to but haven't been able to.
We want to have the new writers in place before Spring Training games start (they just appeared in my dashboard to be scheduled), but earlier is always better. Today, however, does not mark the start of the search, but it will commence soon. Rox Girl, who should have some thoughts to offer as an addendum to this piece, and I do want to provide some idea as to what we're looking for before we open the search:
- Considering that Rox Girl and I are both East Coasters, we'd like the writer(s) to be Western-based, closer to Denver the better.
- Will be able to cover Rockpiles, Pebble Reports, Game Threads, and 2009's new feature, game wraps. Not all in one day like Rox Girl and I have done each season; there's a mock schedule worked outright now that doles out responsbility each day.
- Will be more MLB-oriented. That should be defined a bit. The current staple of writers covers the minors and the draft quite well. We want someone (or someones) who can focus on what is happening in Denver.
- It's a labor of love, so the commitment must be there to meet quotas.
- Doesn't matter if you want to be humorous, go the SABR route, or offer some other tone. The field is wide open.
So, that's it. We'll come back soon with how we're going to choose the new writers, but use this as a forum to ask questions.
[UPDATE] I've already received several e-mails regarding interest in this. If you are interested and do e-mail me to express your interest in the position, please do provide your Purple Row user name. I do have the ability to find it out, but providing it would save me time.
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Any other resume requirements?
PurpleRow experience or writing samples for example?
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jan 7, 2009 2:13 PM MST reply actions
Comments and fanposts will be taken into consideration,
If somebody that’s interested doesn’t have a lot of those though, they might want to e-mail Russ or me a writing sample. You personally would be strongly considered with just your “Bigger is better…” fanpost and your recent comment history, as that fanpost in particular falls exactly into a kind of well thought out, discussion fostering piece we’d like to regularly see from new writers.
Reference
I’m not too sure how appropriate this is, however I can vouch for Poseidon. I have known him personally for three years now. He definitely knows his stuff about baseball, and sports in general. When I met him, I was a casual fan at best. He turned me into a hard core stat freak. He is one of the most respected posters on the Rockies official message boards. He would be a fantastic choice to supplement your already awesome writing staff.
We're thinking the quota would be four entries, especially if we get two writers
So they’d be assigned a Rockpile or Pebble Report a couple of times a week depending on which they’re most comfortable with and then one Game thread, and one post-game wrap-up.
Plus/Minus Points
For Denver-centric, are you looking for some sort of daily link roundup/summary of player and front office news from the Post/RMN and whatever team the Rockies play, or an in-the-area take on the atmosphere and impressions of the games?
Well,
the Denver-/Western-based thing is really more about being able to monitor the site when I have to sleep. The Rockpile has been and always will be a link dump/news roundup.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
Mock schedule of responsibilities?
Seeing this might help in identifying the amount of responsibility week to week and if it is practical to take on
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jan 7, 2009 3:59 PM MST reply actions
We'll work to fit people's schedules together,
So don’t pay attention to the exact days as this is just a sample, but the mock schedule I worked out for Russ in our e-mail conversations looked like this (with a change on Saturday because in my e-mail to him I put in the wrong new writer):
Monday: Rockpile – Writer X; Pebble Report – Russ; Game Thread – Russ; Postgame – Writer X (Rox Girl, Writer Y off)
Tuesday: Rockpile – Russ; Pebble Report – Rox Girl; Game Thread – Writer Y; Postgame – Russ (Writer X off)
Wednesday: Rockpile – Writer Y; Pebble Report – Rox Girl; Game Thread – Rox Girl; Postgame – Writer Y (Russ, Writer X off)
Thursday: Rockpile – Writer X; Pebble Report – Rox Girl; Game Thread – Writer X; Postgame – Rox Girl (Russ, Writer Y off)
Friday: Rockpile – Rox Girl; Pebble Report – Russ; Game Thread – Russ; Postgame – Rox Girl (Writer X, Writer Y off)
Saturday: Rockpile – Writer Y; Pebble Report – Russ; Game Thread – Russ; Post Game – Russ (Rox Girl, Writer X off)
Sunday: Rox Girl does it all! (Russ, Writer X, Writer Y off)
So that works out to Writer X being asked to do a Rockpile and Postgame thread Monday and a Rockpile and Game discussion thread Thursday.
Writer Y would be asked to write a game thread on Tuesday, Rockpiles on Wednesday and Saturday, and a post game thread on Saturday night. With both of these samples I was working with the assumption that they wouldn’t be familiar with, or comfortable, doing write-ups with the minor leaguers, but if they are, we could substitute a Pebble Report for one of the Rockpiles.
That would be a sample schedule, but again we’d be working around everybody’s calendars to get a good fit. The time commitment for a Rockpile thread depends on how much analysis you wish to put into the link or content you’re providing, if you’re just posting some links without saying much, it will take less than a half hour. If you do have something more to say or analysis you want to get into, it could take quite a bit longer, particularly if you have to look up statistics or other references to support your points.
Game threads don’t take long at all to post, again unless you have something important you really want to get off your chest, but we will ask you to monitor the discussion in them to make sure comments aren’t going out of bounds from the website’s standards.
The post-game wrap.., well I really don’t know how long to estimate for that as I haven’t really done many myself, but you could put your own stamp on it and make it as detailed or brief as you’d like so long as the content’s worthy. If you keep everything to brief or to the bare minimum, we’d probably look for you providing an extra piece of content or two each week outside the scheduled chore posts.
Just as a basic frame of reference...
Recaps at the AZSP usually take me about 30-60 minutes, and Jim somewhere along that range as well. That includes time to put together the regular elements you see there. So you can kind of look at the basic format those follow and at least get a general idea of a length vs. time balance.
Thank you...
I don’t know if we even need to go as far into detail as those, if the individual writers want to include a WPA chart or roll call (thanks to Jim and the clever Pitter that wrote the script we have the link that makes these easy) that’s up to them. I’m probably going to go the Dorothy Parker “brevity is the soul of lingerie” route with them myself, as I won’t be wanting to stay up long after the last out’s recorded.
Just keep it SFW.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
Anybody who's working at that hour probably has a pretty low SFW bar...
Of course, you probably meant for folks opening the site from their desks the following morning…
So...
no investigative pieces into the Dinger orgy scandal that’s scheduled to break in June?
For the record, I have absolutely no reason to know about this.
Blast and botheration.
Well, maybe just one picture.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
And some low life dinosaur that doesn't understand boundaries with it...
I mean.., I don’t know what you’re referring to.
by Rox Girl on Jan 7, 2009 6:36 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
I'll just put a really big blur over the picture.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
They only take you 30-60, Chris?
Mine usually take like 1-2 hrs. Then again, I do most things slowly. Also, I spend a lot of time trying (and failing) to be witty.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
I type really fast.
Helps out tremendously in my line of work. I used to be at like 120 words a minute, and I’m still probably triple digits even though I’ve slowed a bit.
Wish I could offer my services
but grad school is draining me of my spare time – which also led to me ceasing to post on my former blog. Good luck with the search
Same here
Although I still post on my current blog, the next year or so (what with bar review all summer, the bar exam in July, and the possibility I’ll be moving at some point) would cripple my ability to post here.
Excuses, excuses...
Russ is in grad school and he still finds time to post nearly as often as Silver!
Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.
I haven't posted much on here...
…but I’m very interested in one of the positions. Living in Salt Lake City puts me close enough to Denver to qualify (we are an FSN Rocky Mountain market, so I do get regular TV coverage of the Rockies), and judging by the schedule, I should be able to devote enough time on a daily basis to be solid, regular contributor.
Rock rock 'til you drop!
by Bryan Kilpatrick on Jan 7, 2009 5:44 PM MST reply actions
Quite interested.
Been here awhile, not posted a ton, but check up what seems like 10 times a day, and live 30-45 minutes from downtown Denver, and there 3-4 times a week.
I'd definitely offer
but the problem is, I’ll be located about as far from Denver as it is possible to get for half the ‘09 season, and inconvenient things like timezones and schoolwork would probably trip me up. I flatter myself that I am somewhat of an old-timer about these parts, but that doesn’t mean anything, as it may be in the best interests of PR to let the young blood have the reins and leave me as the mumbling degenerate in the corner.
Blast and botheration.
Anyone
who joined before the ’07 season is an old-timer.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
I'm trying to figure how long I've been around here...
but since the switch to the new platform, the join date is off, it seems.
This would actually be fun to see for everyone
Kind of like a badge of honor for the early pioneers.
The data probably exists somewhere, how to get at it is another story
If you look at the Purple Row box on your user page it will show your join date...
You joined in early August, 2007, but I suspect you were lurking before that, so while not technically an old-timer, you aren’t a bandwagoner either.
There it is, thanks
Except that it says April of 2006, not August of 2007.
My first comment was April 5, 2006 – just setting the record straight.
I made the reply to roxintober but it landed under yours,
Sorry about that, I was referring to his joined on date.
Here I am bragging about being an old-timer
And I make a rookie mistake – derrrr
Well, that qualifies me
However I am, to my knowledge, the most prolific poster in the history of the Row, so that might just mean I talk too much.
Blast and botheration.
For now. . . .
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
You're still 1,949 comments short
Does this mean you’re going to resort to insulting me again? I ponder.
Blast and botheration.
No,
I’ll just start randomly deleting your posts from months and months ago.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
Only if you can prove it.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
Hey, I want to pass her fair and square...
well, fair except for the hidden posts i’ll create to comment stuff…
Or maybe you should
get tipsy like you did two seasons ago, reopen closed threads, and starting commenting in them.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
:(
Sadly, sbnation somehow removed all my blogs and I had to re-add them all. So my join date shows up as 2009. I know I joined sometime in 2007 (about 5 seconds after someone pointed out the site to me), but I’m not sure when.
Aren't you
also kosmo99?
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
I wouldn't mind considering you for a front page contributor regardless,
Although we’d be looking for two writers in addition to you anyway due to current geography, but I like your stuff. I know Russ is biased, but we’ll have to discuss this.
I haven't updated my own blog in eons
but I’d be much better about doing it here, with a schedule to follow.
Blast and botheration.
Silver would benefit from an occassional kick in the pants...
It improves her performance.
Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.
Fine. I'll do it.
And I’ll be really really unbiased. I swear……
(What? Whaddaya mean being an admin for the SnakePit is a conflict of interest??)
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Only if you plan to ban yourself
after you get those powers here. Wait, I don’t even know if you can ban yourself. Never tried it.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
I'm sure you can try it
Be a shame if it erased all your comments, though. You’d have to start over from scratch.
That is, I’m sure that wouldn’t happen.
Blast and botheration.
You're just asking
me to click the “Delete Comments” check box on your profile, right?
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
Hey,
I didn’t offer myself to the SnakePit for an entire month.
[checks blogs he’s part of]
Uh, but maybe I should get checked out for a virtual VD.
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
If I were you
I would look to see if it had anything to do with the Red Sox or Lions.
Yes, it’s almost 2AM here and I have nothing better to do, instead of going to bed. I swear I will stop hijacking the thread now.
Blast and botheration.
I am interested...please keep me informed
I am very interested in the positions that are opening up. Please keep me in mind. I live in Colorado Springs and go to 25+ Rox games per year and watch the rest on TV. I would love the opportunity to earn this position.
Thanks,
David Martin
So How Much does this job pay?
Lenny: Nothing
Homer: DOH!
Lenny:….Unless you’re crooked.
Homer: WHOOO HOOO!
Reasons why I can’t: I’m a bad writter and a terable spellar, I’m too negative, Sarcastic, snarky comments only go so far. My post game recaps may be heavily influenced by Coors Light.and general bad attitude. Did I mention I’m lazy and undependable.
But if I can get press credentials….I’m all over it like a fat man at the all-u-can-eat-buffet!
Also most recaps would be: Rockies won by scoring more runs then the bad guys, or the Rockies lost, because the other guys scored more runs. (seriously, I could do that far less time than an hour)
Thought Clint Hurdle should be fired before it was cool.
+1
For the Simpsons reference… you’re hired!
Apu: Yes! I am a citizen! Now which way to the welfare office? I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I work, I work.
…..and the Coor’s light reference.
Homer: Here’s to alcohol, the cause of — and solution to — all life’s problems.
Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.
There isn't an apostrophe
in Coors.
The family’s name is Coors, not Coor.
NOW GET IT RIGHT OR PAY THE PRICE
Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum
by Andrew Martin on Jan 8, 2009 9:17 AM MST up reply actions
Put on my english cap...
Actually there could be an apostrophy in Coors because it shows possession of the reference, but I should have placed it behind the s, such as Coors’.
http://www.write101.com/W.Tips137.htm
Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.
Ugh
While this is very tempting, I don’t have the time to commit to doing such a position justice (that, and I don’t think I have enough Row cred :P ). Congrats to whomever makes it, though – an awesome opportunity!
PR Writer Requirements...
These are the requirements that a would-be writer must pass before being accepted by the peanut gallery at the Row:
1. Sexy avatar pic (not the one of Russ in the dBacks tshirt)
2. Someone finally cagey enough to beat the Pit’s admins in a friendly wager
3. A dedicated person, aka caffeine addiction, who will stay up and participate for all 21 innings of a Rocks-Padres game
4. Someone willing to write hard hitting baseball pieces on Scott Podsednik’s wife, with included pics
5. Must have access to a thesaurus in order to explain Silver’s posts to the rest of us
These are the major issues, other things like free donuts for reading your work would help too. Not that me or any other poster could help you get a job here, we just don’t have the clout. But it could help your readership numbers, I’m just sayin’.
Keepin' warm by the hot stove season.
Whoever
is chosen keep up the good work. I do not post on here very often but I do read the articles and comments. I think the articles are the key because they strike up excellent conversations and topics that I wouldn’t normally think of. Keep it up.
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." ~Rogers Hornsby
JFK
Could be interested
I’ve been reading Rox girl ever since she was on Blogger as well… so I’ve been here a while even though I don’t post much.
That could change as I just got my degree this december and am finding that I have more free time on my hands
Eh, perhaps
I could be a fill in writer or something. I tend to write best when I’m on a rampage about something, or just really interested in one thing, but I used to do postgame wraps on a regular basis. I’m also in grad school and not sure what kind of time I could guarantee to it.
Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum
Also
I’m engaged (have been for like 4 months, at Coors Field, 7th inning stretch, during “Hey Baby” after “Take me…”, said yes, tears, peanuts raining down on us) and that takes up a good amount of my time.
Follow me on Twitter! http://www.twitter.com/rockiesmagicnum
by Andrew Martin on Jan 8, 2009 9:14 AM MST up reply actions
Russ...
I’m still waiting on the scores of women I was promised when I hopped on board a few years ago
Rox Girl and I are both East Coasters
Perhaps B causes A. I doubt there’s too many people on the East Coast, let alone women, that love Rockies baseball.
I hold out hope for those of us residing in the forgotten time zone….
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jan 8, 2009 3:38 PM MST reply actions
Somebody should set up a Rockies matchmaking service
They could test for “favorite blake street bomber” compatibilities and the like
I am in my early twenties
My favorite players are Chris Iannetta and Troy Tulowitzki. I enjoy long walks on the warning track, romantic dinners of beer and oversized bratwursts by stadium lighting and the late night reading together of box scores.
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jan 9, 2009 8:49 AM MST up reply actions
I know only of two on the East Coast (when they're there).
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
I don't know
many girls who actually give a crap about baseball in NY let alone like the Rockies. Actually, it seems like a lot of Mets and Yankees fans don’t even know the Rockies are a team…
Indeed
Find a girl that loves baseball, esp the Rockies, like RMN, and you’re golden.
by Andrew T. Fisher on Jan 9, 2009 8:50 AM MST up reply actions
I am a girl who loves baseball, especially the Rockies
Although currently off the continent, I am in my early twenties. My favorite players are Troy Tulowitzki and Greg Reynolds (do not ask). I enjoy lying on the outfield grass to watch fireworks, shuffling through the bleachers to find seats, long afternoons and evenings at the ballpark, abhorring the Wave, and making sarcastic comments on Purple Row.
Blast and botheration.
You seem more dreamy than Chris Iannetta.
Any chance you’re one of those two girls I know who spends time on the East Coast and loves Rockies baseball?
"If we never try, we shall never succeed." - Abraham Lincoln
Purple Row - Covering all your Rockies needs!
What's
the “wave?” Is that when people stand up in front of me as I’m trying to watch my favorite sport?
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." ~Rogers Hornsby
JFK
I believe, rather,
that Silverblood was referring to an infamous social experiment undertaken during the 1960s.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
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