writing a football blog

Rufus Branch the Blog was suppose to be the place that I was going to exercise my thoughts on football. I tried this, posted several entries, even got some praise for my writing ideas but it did not last very long (have not posted in over a year because I post here now). What is so hard about it you might ask. For me, personally, it is a chore to come up with good material, original ideas and something that flows when it comes to football writing. I think that I could write an everyday kind of blog that basically summarizes the weekend or weekday events that happen in the Football World, sure I could, but its not enough. As I started the journey I was reading articles off a half dozen web sites daily, countless other blogs and listening to every podcast/radio show I could listen too collecting data. I was even reading biographies of footballers to fully understand life growing up in the UK. I wrote a few entries and then I just stopped, I had burned out. It is too much work I think in part to living in Memphis, TN. What I need is  more exposure on television, news papers, venues and people to talk to.

 I don't know anybody in town that has an in depth knowledge of the game.  There are people in the city, I know it, there has to be. Hey, Tim Howard lives here in the off season, maybe I should call  him up and see if wants to shoot the bull. I actually met him in a bar here one time. Another idea that I had is to coordinate a meet up group. MEETUP.com  has this nifty site that allows you to create a social event which then allows people in that area to view your event and finally join the event. So my event would be watching footy at one of the local Irish Bars. The best one is Celtic Crossing, they already support watching games and are always willing to accommodate you the best they can. They also sponsor my buddies rugby team as well. The only draw back is space. The Celtic is not huge so it could get crowed easily. There is another Irish bar called Dan McGuinness that is more ideal. Dan McGuinness have a separate restaurant with a good sized bar next door to the restaurant. The only problem is when I have approached Dan McGuinness about watching games they have not been responsive or interested which is foolish in my opinion (loosing money). Also they are located in a central spot of town that is more accessible to wider range of people. If you look at Celtic's web site you will see that they verbally support football and if you look at Dan McG's site you will see nothing. Dan McGuinness also owns another lot of Irish Bars in Memphis called TJ Mulligans. Nothing, Dan McGuiness nor Tj Mulligans does not show any support to the game.

So what should they do?? First off  we create an event on meetup.com, its free and it finds people. Create an organization of some sorts, tell friends to tell friends, put up fliers, tweet about it, create a FB page, just market it the best you can. People have got to respond and show up, they are out there hiding away I know it.  Then once you have a bunch of people and a bar to house them in, get the bar to post a schedule of events on their web site like Ginger Ale's in St Louis does. So maybe you up the traffic to your bar on a Saturday or Sunday morning (when English Premiere Games are on in US) by 25 or greater, would be the goal at least. And lets say that that each person spends an average of $7.00, then you have made a whopping $175 dollars plus a waiter or bartender's tips. I bet you could make a lot more. Then once you have those people hooked the big events like FA Cup, Champions League, Europa, World Cup, even Rugby will bring in packed houses. Think of the profit now. The Tour De France is starting Sunday, I know if the 30 people on the Sunday group ride knew that a awesome bar was showing the Tour after their ride they would show for a couple of pints and lunch at least. I know, the market in Memphis for the big European sports watching might be small but it does exist. These bars in this city don't get they are loosing money. Just take a look around the other big cities in the United States, they have bars with web sites that have events calendars, big screen TVs and a willingness to take money. Hmmm...I know what you are thinking. Weren't you talking about why you started writing, I do digress.

I write some what frequently here - http://rufusskates.blogspot.com/ - it is a THIS IS MY LIFE BLOG. Much easier to write but we'll see what the future holds. later.