A couple of friends asked me about my blog. I am someone who needs to explain things, so here’s how and why I write this blog. Typing out things helps me figure out what I think and how I feel about things. Not long after I got email at work in 2000, I started swapping emails with my friend Reid Whitaker every day. He’d always talk about where and what they are, so that’s been an ongoing topic of discussion. We’ll hit on sports and church and family, sometimes on personal matters.
In 2005, I read about blogs, and decided to start one – mostly to have a record of family activities and what was going on in my life: https://sacrificefly.blogspot.com/ I liked how the concept of baseball’s sacrifice fly had connotations to real like, so I stuck with the title. Probably not a good idea to share so much on line, but I try to edit out any personal information. Back then I was emailing our parents the recaps of our kid’s games and other activities. These also became blog posts. What used to be little league and ballet have become weddings and grandchildren.
If there’s something on my mind, perhaps on sports or work or politics, I’ll often share them with Reid. At the end of each day I’d edit these emails into a daily blog post. I’ll organize them with the most interesting as the lead paragraphs. It’s become a daily habit. I try to not be too political, but in an election year like 2024 I may have posted more political content that usual.
For me this is a creative activity. For 13 of the past 14 years I have been able to post most every day. A typical post will usually be a mish mash of various topics, from mundane details of my day to thoughts on various world events. For sure it is heavy on whatever sport is in season. With my busy job and things to do at night, I try to not let the blog take up too much of my time. For this reason the quality of the content isn’t as great as it could be. I try to keep posts between 500-800 words. By the end of the week I may split up extra content into posts of equal length for Friday Saturday and Sunday. If I’m too busy or have nothing to share, I can always post several photos and memes I have saved.
I won’t say that I’m always on the lookout for content, but quite often there will be a subject that I’ll want to write about. If I come across an interesting article or tweet, I’ll share it on a post. When I have time, I may take notes on the article to share the details. Most are things that I want to remind myself of. Occasionally my kids will check the blog history to check details on something that happened years ago, which thrills me.
A few years ago I started back taking sermon notes. I’ll peck out the notes as an email on my phone, and at the end of the sermon email them to Reid, who loves sermon notes (he’s got a collection of hundreds, if not thousands). So these sermon notes get turned into blog posts. Our Sunday School lessons are so good, that often I will take notes on them as well. Also some notes from what we’re learning in small group. I receive a daily email devotion for former SPdL pastor Jim Denison, who often gives his Biblical take on current word events. I’ll often share a key paragraph and link to his devotional.
I’d like to think that this whole blog thing is a record of me: what I’m thinking and feeling and experiencing. It may not be pretty or polished and certainly not perfect, but that’s okay. Neither am I. I’d like to think that over the years I have become a better writer, though it’s easy to read what others write to see that I still have a long way to go.
Most of my posts only receive 10-20 views. I could share my posts on social media, but rarely do. Only when a topic is being discussed that I have written about (like football’s rare fair catch kick) or the monthly list of bobblehead giveaways, will I share on Twitter. Then the views might crack triple digits. My list of Augusta National members seems to receive views every month, but it has yet to click the top ten (it’s #11).
It took well over 15 years to crack one million views. Not many, considering I’ve published over 6800 posts. Of course that’s not why I do this. I probably should be worried that 345,000 views have come from China (more than from the US) and 150,000 from Hong Kong, but I haven’t been hacked. Yet. I don’t think.
My friend Reid turns 90 in March. Sometimes I wonder what I will do when he’s not around to share things with. I recently shared this with my young nephew Joe, and his reply was something I’d already been thinking: play it forward with someone younger. Perhaps one of my kids, or at some point, my grandkids. When I retire I hope to be spending less time in front of a keyboard. Not sure what that means for this blog.
Most days I receive an email quiz from SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research. I’m not a member – while interesting, it’s not something I want to devote such a large chunk of time to. But I edit the quiz into a paraqraph for my blog, to share info about various ballplayers. Such as…
RALPH KINER [SABR Bio] is the only Pittsburgh Pirate slugger to lead the National League in home runs in consecutive seasons. Kiner led the NL for 7 consecutive seasons: from 1946-1952. He led the majors from 1947-52. His yearly totals were 23, 51, 40, 54, 47, 32, 47, in the first 8 seasons of his career. On 13-Oct-1951, he married California tennis star Nancy Chafee. They had three children, but they divorced in 1968. Following his retirement, Kiner served from 1956-1960 as general manager of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres.
My top eleven blog posts. Some were shared on social media or a website like Uni Watch, others had catchy titles. Once in my top ten, it’s easier for them to receive extra views.
1. 8.07K Nike Roshe Run, a sneaker
2. 6.87K Braves uniform history
3. 3.14K SunTrust Park Open House
4. 3.06K May 2017 bobbleheads
5. 3.05K April 2017 bobbleheads
6. 3.02K Better Than the Ted (SunTrust Park)
7. 2.82K June 2017 bobbleheads
8. 2.75K Banana Smash, a game played by my youth group
9. 2.72K recap of a UGA, GT, & Clemson game
10. 2.58K highest pail athletes
11. 2.09K Augusta National Members
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