Charlie Chilkoot joins WatchDog for gala birthday bash
WatchDog debuted one year ago Friday, back when Newsday's blog empire was in its formative stages and I apparently had too much time on my hands.
The ensuing 366 days (including Feb. 29) have changed my professional life more than anything I've done since flying to Anchorage in 1982 to pay my dues covering University of Alaska-Anchorage hockey and exploring the watering holes of the 49th State.
To thank WatchDog Nation and celebrate our gala first anniversary, I will post 52 times today, once for each week of the blog's history.
It could have been much worse. My wife talked me down from my original idea of 24 consecutive hours of blogging. Maybe next year.
To increase the degree of difficulty, I'll also write my Friday newspaper column, demonstrating the print version of my career is not quite dead yet.
On hand for the big day is a living reminder of my Alaska days: frequent commenter Charlie Chilkoot himself. Seriously. He's here, all the way from San Diego. (Actually, it's because of his son's lacrosse tournament upstate. Whatever. He's here.)
Last night we went out for wings and fermented malt beverages, then played foosball.
(Disclaimer: Other commenters should not expect free accommodations at WatchDog headquarters. Especially Glauber.)
Click below to read the first WatchDog post ever.
Welcome to WatchDog. It's my blog.
You are a pioneer if you are reading this, because it's May 2 and we are not formally announcing its existence until May 4.
I write a three-times-a-week column in Newsday that you might have heard of called SportsWatch. When that column launched in the fall of 2005, I wanted to call it WatchDog, a name suggested by a friend from another New York tabloid.
The idea got nixed by my boss at the time, which was his right. And now that I have a blog I have a right to call it WatchDog. That's the story behind the name.
It's about "watching'' as in being a media observer/critic and it's about being a "watchdog'' in the sense of consumer advocacy for the endlessly dumped-on sports fan of the 21st century.
I will try to post at least once a day, and offer you some of the mountains of stuff I come across that you might find interesting but that didn't find its way into the newspaper.
It's a win-win-win: You get more information, the company gets more production from me without having to pay me extra and I get to write self-indulgent stuff like all of the above whenever the mood strikes me.
Pretty amazing for a toy (the Internet) that I was convinced was a fad in the mid-90s. Yikes.
Welcome. And, as always, thanks for reading. (Be the first to respond to this post and go down in WatchDog history!)
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Comments (5)
Bow Wow!, a whole year of the Dawg Blawg. I've enjoyed adding a comment or two over the past 12 months, though I haven't had much to say lately. Since I subscribe to the RSS feed and get each post delivered to my Outlook Inbox, I am always up-to-date on the latest musings of Mr. Best. (Unless it is the weekend and I don't start Outlook....)
As always, Best, I stand in awe.
Congratulations Neil, on the one year anniversary. Since stumbling across this site not too long ago, you've made life a whole lot more enjoyable and challenging for me, trying to keep up with a Cornellian Wordsmith.
Here's hoping Charlie Chilkoot "pulled the chord" last night...or in Bird House vernacular..."timbered up", and hit the buzzer.
Happy Blog-aversary!
Remember the Islanders! (The 1975 Isles, who beat the Penguins after trailing 3-0, as opposed to the 1975 Isles, who beat the Rangers before that. I'll remember them both! :) )
Happy Anniversary.
Here's my contribution to the celebration:
http://media.switchpod.com/users/patchyfogg/NeilBest041707.mp3
Behold our interview with Neil on 4/17/07, a scant 2 weeks before the launch of the Blog. At the 44-minute mark, Neil begins to break the news that there will be a Blog.
The rest of the interview was Neil in the immediate wake of le affaire Imus.