First ever state of the OCC address.

This is a very important post and I would really appreciate feedback on this one.

It has now been 1 month since I started this blog:


I want to talk about this first month, explain why I do things the way I do, talk about the original purpose for this blog, where it has succeeded and where it hasn't and why, and hit on a few other random topics.

1. The Origin of OCC.
   I started this site for a couple of reasons.
   
   1. It came about due to suggestions from Ric Karl and others after some emails I had sent to the Ric & Steve...er...Karl Show it is because of their support that I am here and this is why a lot of my links go directly to their sites.
      
   2. I started with a blog because I was hoping that it would be a precursor to an eventual full website. I was hoping to hone my HTML skills and use this blog as sort of a test run for what I'd like to accomplish. My HTML is coming along slowly but surely with the help of tutorials and friends so in that vain at least to this point it has been a success.
   
   
   
2. My grand vision for OCC.
   I have big dreams.
   
   1. The site started out to be a vehicle for 2 things. I wanted to post links and make comments on things that I find interesting. If you look at the sidebar links you can see where my interests lie. I would say that I have done a pretty good job of this so far, although I want my own personal comments to be more informative.
      The other reason I started this site was to be a showcase for my own humor. The emails I sent to the show were called funny by a few people and it was my humor that these people have wanted to see. While there are some posts that I am proud of and while I think especially in the past week my humor has started to come out in my live blogging of iMPACT, the TNA Knockouts DVD and Monday Night's ass whooping, this is an area where I see myself getting a lot better.
      I want people to come here and laugh because of something I've written. I love making people laugh, if I am having a bad day but make someone else laugh then it does me a world of good. The challenge for me is that my humor is not suited for the written word. I am a much funnier conversationalist than I am a comedy writer. Sure, people thought those emails were funny and I am proud of most of them. But, they were spur of the moment things without a lot of planning out in advance. I just had an idea, wrote it down and that was it. I never rewrote a single one of those emails save to change the wording a bit. Everything was a first draft. But, they are hard as hell to write. This is why I don't have an email on the show every week.
      My humor I think best comes forth when you are actually talking to me. This is why my next goal is to do a podcast. I think that would be the best way for me to make people laugh. I do some decent impersonations from time to time and am pretty good at dialog which from me comes out much better verbally than if I were to write it down.
      So, if you're a fan of OCC humor then keep hounding me about the podcast because you're more likely to find it there than in my writings.
      Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy with the way things are going in the humor department. I might be the only one that finds the magic hateball funny but nobody thinks its stupid enough to write me and tell me that much so it will probably stick around. I like live blogging because it allows me to write down my thoughts as they pop in to my head and that presents the best opportunity for comedy. So while the OCC is no where near where I see it eventually being in the humor department, it is moving forward.
   
   
   
3. Where I see this site in the future (longer-term)
   As I said, I have lofty goals and when I have my own domain this is what I'm looking for.
5. I'd love for the site to be a magazine style site that covers a wide range of topics with a wide range of contributors. This would make it a lot easier on me that's for sure. I post a lot of content with the hopes of attracting readers and giving them a reason to keep coming back. I have my thoughts and opinions and that's why people told me to start this site, but there's still so much I'd like to see.
   

• I'd like to have someone covering music for the corner the way that Art does, in fact probably a few people that can cover a wide range of genres and styles.
  
• I'd like to have fans of other pro sports and pro sports teams providing viewpoints, so that Its not all Raiders all the time. I try to post news on other teams but there's just too much most of the time. I'm lucky that I know what's happening with the Braves but I'd really love to comment on some of the other races in baseball (how about that AL central?)
  
• MMA and wrestling commentators, I'm hardly an expert on this stuff and while I will always comment I can't go in depth to the degree that I'd like to see it gone in depth.
  
• Podcasts, I think that's pretty well been covered.
  
• My general philosophy is this the wider the variety of topics the broader the audience. This is why this isn't just an all wrestling blog, an all football blog or anything of that sort.

I know my expectations may be high, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I also know that this will take time, but I am very persistent when I want to be.

1. Posting philosophy
   I do a lot of posts during the day. Here is the reasons why.
   
   1. it is quick and easy to find a link, make a post containing that link, sprinkle in some comments and move on to the next topic.
      
   2. I realize that while it would be easier for people to read if there was 1 big daily post with all the NFL news instead of several smaller ones (same with wrestling/mma or whatever else I cover) I don't do it that way because it takes a long time to compile all of that, put it in order and post it. Plus, if there's something particularly important I fear that the larger the post the easier it would be to be missed. Plus, news breaks all day I don't want to save it all for 1 long post.
   4. Posting schedule.
      There have been a lot of football posts the past few days. This is kind of the way I see things playing out.
      
   5. Football: Heavy posting whenever there is a game or a full schedule of games, scattered news postings throughout the rest of the week.
      
   6. Baseball/Basketball: Perhaps 1 or 2 posts a day (maybe more during post season and peak offseason)
      
   7. wrestling/mma: A steady stream of daily posts (perhaps more on PPV nights.
      
   8. Animation/Entertainment: Heavier during the middle of the week, less frequent on weekends outside of the box office report.
      
   9. Randomness: whenever it comes up.

   
   
   

   1. Acknowledgements:
      
      • Thanks to Ric for by far being my biggest cheerleader and supporter on this.
        
      • Karl Stern for the forum he's provided me on the audio show.
        
      • Larry and Art for lots of advice/suggestions/help and extra thanks to Art for the banner.
        
      • Euan for being the first to comment, and my tag-team partner in whackiness on the Ric & Steve...er...Karl show.
        
      • Wade for being the first person other than me to write something on this blog, the first to accept the invitation, an eager partner in the podcasting concept and the designing process...
        
      • Jessica for also accepting the invitation to write (hopefully it will be soon) and for the kind words once I opened this blog.
        
      • Anyone that has ever taken the time to click the google ads, its not much but it means more than just money to me.
        
      • Anyone who reads this, I'd love to know who is out there who I don't know about yet.
      
      
      Its been a fun month so far and I don't know where this thing is ultimately headed but I'm hoping for big things.