Fresh New Creatures: Part Two
You want more creature profiles?
I don’t blame you…you haven’t had anything in months, which on the internet seems like a lifetime.
However the good thing about the infrequency of this series is that when I do spotlight the network’s top contributors, I’m forced to choose the best of the best.
Often times, we see “rising stars” on the site who never quite pan out. They’ll write 10-20 articles in their first few weeks and become active members of the community, only to lose interest and drop off the map shortly after.
Bleacher Report’s doors are always open, and we have no hard feelings towards such folks who go their own way or end up contributing only on occasion. That said, it lends all the more credibility to the heavy hitters who provide quality analysis day after day, week after week, month after month.
Thus I’d like to introduce you to three of the network’s most ferocious animals. Brace yourself, aspiring Creature—these guys are an intimidating bunch.
A 22-year-old college student out of Charlotte, North Carolina, Mike Whittenberg has attracted a substantial following on the network. His statistics are downright scary: 80 articles, 358 comments, and 43 fans since joining Bleacher Report a little over three months ago. Furthermore, his analysis is top notch—particularly on the NBA, his bread-and-butter subject.
But to me, the most impressive thing about Michael is seeing how he has engaged his peers in Bleacher Report’s NBA community all on his own. Michael has now initiated two collaborative efforts that feature the analysis of the network’s best NBA writers in a “round-table” format.
In the first piece, Michael asked six of the network’s hoops heads to make their picks for the best big man in the NBA, and to provide explanations for their picks. After doing the same himself, Mike compiled all the information and presented it in a highly sophisticated fashion—the result of which was an expert-caliber piece worthy of front page time on ESPN.com. The second piece was equally impressive and collaborative, with the topic this time being the league’s most valuable player at the All-Star break.
Given the quality, quantity, popularity and frequency of his contributions, it should come as no surprise that Mike has crept to the top of the Writer Rankings in record time. Watch out fellow Creatures—if he keeps up his current pace, Michael’s going to be the top dawg before you know it.
Another Creature who joined Bleacher Report about three months ago was John Fennelly out of Flushing, New York. John identifies himself as “a former Wall street executive, who now dabbles in freelance journalism and documentary filmmaking.”
I’ll tell you this: if John was as knowledgeable about stocks as he is about sports, I’m guessing he’s one rich S.O.B.
John has a particular flair for NFL talk, but gets involved in baseball discussions as well. He’ a die-hard Mets and Giants fan—yet while he always represents his home teams, he also makes an effort to be objective in his analysis.
He’s already written 54 articles and 488 comments in his short career at Bleacher Report—at the rate he’s going, he’s a sure bet to set some all-time network records.
A lot of the goals we laid out for Bleacher Report back when we started it have been accomplished recently. Close to half a million people visit to the network every month, well over 100 articles are submitted every day, and there’s enough money in the bank to develop new site features and expand both the reach of the network and the quality of its content.
However one thing that we never planned on was Bleacher Report having an international audience at this stage in the game.
Other than college football, our English Premiership community has been the network’s most consistent source of quality analysis and active engagement since the beta launch. One reason for this is that the EPL season pretty much never ends. And the other, far more significant reason is that a handful of football freaks from overseas have dug in their heels and made writing and debating on Bleacher Report their business.
One of the network’s most prominent EPL writers—and the Community Leader of the section—is Andrew McNair out of Scotland.
Simply put, Andrew is obsessed with football. He follows both the Scottish Premier League and English Premier League and covers both on the network regularly. In just five months at Bleacher Report, he’s already written an astonishing 73 articles and 432 comments.
Andrew is one of our most friendly members to date, always going out of his way to make others feel welcome on the network. Furthermore, I can always count on him to give me valuable feedback, whether it be about his community in particular or the site at large.