How a blog got me to pay $60
Steve Safran August 23rd, 2007
The LR Faithful know I’m a sports nut. Specifically, I’m a Red Sox and Patriots nut. My only paid subscriptions go to ESPN Insider and MLB.TV (gotta keep an eye on the Yankees). It was through ESPN that I discovered UniWatch, a blog about sports uniforms. That, my friends, is a niche. How many people are obsessed with sports uniform trivia? Quite a few as it turns out. Paul Lukas recognized this. He has been writing about sports uniforms since 1999, and started UniWatch last year. It is “The Obsessive Study of Athletics Aesthetics,” as its tagline puts it. And for those of us with a curious interest in this sub-sub-culture, it’s a goldmine. I like it so much that I voluntarily supported it with a $60 membership. Hell - I don’t even give that to public radio.
Why give $60 to a blog that doesn’t have a spec of “insider” content? That’s just plain nuts, right? Probably. On the other hand, it’s about $1.15 a week for a guy that does a lot of work in a field that I find fascinating. I give Dunkin’ Donuts more than that in tips.
There are some perks. I get a membership card, customized with my own “jersey” design on the back. I asked for a design based upon the late USFL’s Boston Breakers. I chose number 4, a sentimental choice in honor of a friend who died on 9/11. (The Sox and the Pats have won a combined 4 championships since then.) Oh, and I get a T-shirt. (Cory - take note.) I am listed on the site’s membership roster.
None of this makes the membership “worth” $60. Except to me, it does.
There are many models to be had online. Some are ad-supported. Some are subscription-based. Most blogs are there because they reflect a passion of the bloggers. (See: Lost Remote.) I chose to fork over some cash for a blog that informs me, makes me laugh, and gives me membership in a club I’m proud to join.
Seems worth 16 cents a day, doesn’t it?
8 Comments Add your own
1. Anon | August 23rd, 2007 at 10:34 am
No…it doesn’t
2. Safran | August 23rd, 2007 at 11:14 am
That does it: you can’t join.
3. Chris Rooney | August 23rd, 2007 at 11:30 am
That reminds me…what ever happened to the Lost Remote T-shirts?
4. Nick Geidner | August 23rd, 2007 at 12:01 pm
I couldn’t agree more. I think one of the main values of the Internet is in its ability to create communities. Being able to monotize on that community building is a huge potential moneymaker.
5. Mitch | August 23rd, 2007 at 12:08 pm
straightcashhomey[dot]net just changed over to being a picture blog of people on the street wearing awesome jerseys. Best one so far: an old black guy wearing a Wesley Walls jersey.
6. Joe G | August 23rd, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Funny, I discovered this blog last night while searching for the Hall of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines online exhibit. It’s not a bad site.
As for paying $60, hey, what ever makes you happy! FYI, I do give that to public radio, sometimes.
7. jeff | August 24th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Well Steve, what are your top ten uniforms of all time? Does the Tel Noar Bogrim Jersey make it?
8. Steve Safran | August 27th, 2007 at 11:10 am
Lolo (who else would it be?):
Excellent question. I don’t think I could do a top ten of all time, but I can tell you the Tel Noar Bogrim shirts’ pluses and minuses. The “T superimposed on the N” logo is smart, and the color choice (blue and red, suprisingly) worked well, especially in the patriotic ’70s.
On the minus side, I am morally opposed to pullover jerseys, so that’s a point against. And I would have had stitching instead of silkscreen.
But overall, it would make my list of sentimental favorites.
Just below the Bogrot volleyball outfits, that is…
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