Curse of Benitez

As many (all?) of you are aware, I quit twitter (in epic fashion, if you ask me) on the @CurseOfBenitez account last week after hitting a simultaneously exciting and depressing milestone. Many people asked why, and I didn’t really have a concise answer for them. The fact of the matter is that as the tweet count would suggest, I was spending a fair amount of time doing that and very little time working on this — something I aim to change looking toward the future.

I can tell you that this website will be undergoing a fair amount of change before next season begins. There will be a renewed emphasis on photoshoppery/GIFs/macros as was the case when I first started this blog; there will be irregular but significant editorial and analysis entries by myself and possibly others; there will be Cobcasts; there will be layout changes, the degree of which I haven’t entirely decided yet.

One of the main reasons I’m shifting away from twitter and towards the site is that I did feel as if my working and waking hours precluded many of the people who would have enjoyed my content from even seeing it without effort, having to go back in their timeline a number of hours to even lay eyes on what I was saying/generating. I think I will end up creating an account to tweet links to content, like I used to on the CoB twitter account, but the complication is that I very much dislike twitter accounts that only shit out links and don’t interact with the reader base.

I can also tell you that I’m really, really close to unveiling a really funny website Lana and I came up with a little while back. The site itself is ready, and I’m just waiting on the first few rounds of content to be finished (without going into any amount of detail, the content involves my writing and doing some things and waiting for a corresponding set of writing to complete the entry). The style will be a bit dickish, a heap offbeat and entirely inconsiderate — I’m sure you’re shocked about this –  and has potential for the reader base to get involved as well.

I’m also planning on running an image hosting service through that domain that would be without restriction and available for CoB reader use. I really think the domain is a cool one, and emails could also be made available if anyone fancied one.

ETA on that site is late next week, but could come sooner depending on how things shape up.

ETA on the @gggiants Cobcast is as soon as you tweet him and nag the fuck out of him to get on that shit already. Well, and me too.

ETA on the massive secret project that has [redacted].

You can find me on twitter here, though I don’t/won’t be using it nearly as often and it might be a bit different than what you’re used to. Probably not, though.

Kudos to those of you who stuck with this and even dealt with my neglect / changing the game midway through the contest. You repeatedly beat my picks to the point that I conceded and let you fight amongst yourselves, so without further ado here are the winners and prizes.

Dunce Cap:

Brandon Stewart had the most perplexing final entry, only submitting 12 picks when there were 15 games remaining. As such, his 7-5 (resulting record of 7-8) record earns him the dunce cap and brutal honor of being the Cobtest turd until next season. You get a song and a GIF.

 Third Place:

I don’t really understand how this happened, but three people finished with a 7-8 record that no doubt would have beat mine… so it’s not like I have any room to ridicule here. Congratulations go to Stuart Jones, Jeff Fukushima, and Greg Layton for earning themselves photoshops or mild design work, as well as a GIF. Better luck next time.

Second Place:

This one is going to hurt. Sorry, Matt Collins, but it looks like you’ll have to blow up that CoB comments/complaints line after all because your 9-6 record didn’t get it done. A respectable finish, one that nets you either a Surly 4-pack or a New Era cap. Additionally, you can provide a catchphrase that will be a part of the Cobcast intro segment for the next few installments and of course, a GIF.

Grand Prize Winnah:

Hats off toSteven Nichols, as his 10-5 record was best in the land. A 4-Pack of Surly, a shirsey and a GIF are all yours. Short and sweet for the victor.

I’m also pleased to roll out my new comments and complaints line that you can leave messages on, which can be found by dialing 1-866-432-2410 on your rotary or touchtone phone. Do what you do.

This is how my twitter timeline looks to me when the news hits that Belt is in the starting lineup.

As we approach the 2012 season with great anticipation, the Curse of Benitez blog is looking to expand. While I am entirely happy with the Giants coverage and know exactly what Chris and I will bring to the table in terms of both serious and comedic posts (and Cobcasts, for that matter), I’m embracing this “we are one” experience on Twitter to the point that it makes me want to apply that across a greater scope.

Not bragging in the least, but this site has gotten a hell of a lot more visitors and listeners than I would have ever expected when I put up my first silly photoshop at the very beginning of August 2011. As much as I love myself (and trust me, I really really do) I think there can be even more that CoB can do for the internetz.

The type of person I am looking for to join ranks here on the blog would just write when inspiration struck, rather than have some set expectations for post or Cobcast frequency. It could be about a particular player, team, prominent figure, baseball rule, whatever. The attachment to this blog would be non-binding and comes with the freedom to speak your mind, however well-constructed or foul that may be.

If it were up to me, you would not be a Giants fan, though that certainly wouldn’t exclude you from consideration.

If it were up to me, you would probably be able to make your way around Photoshop without any issues, though again that’s not a dealbreaker and if you’re reading this you know I’m more than happy to accomodate with what bizarre skills I bring to the table.

Doesn’t matter if you have your own blog, have no blog, have your own podcast, have no podcast, are on Twitter or not. If you think this site has brought amusement to you over the past six months that I’ve been around, and you think you can contribute to what we have going on, let ‘er rip. Submit a photoshop, an article, a pitch for a Cobcast, or @ mention me on twitter with 140 characters of glory and make it happen.

You can shoot an email to benitezhascursedyou@gmail.com or get at me on twitter @CurseOfBenitez. Just don’t leave a comment here because if there’s one thing CoB readers do, it’s avoid comments on the site.