Welcome To Blogs Of Steele!
Allow us to introduce ourselves...
We’re finally here.
I’ve been thinking of what to write in this space for months. It has consumed me, engulfed every single thought in my rather big head and taken over every single fibre of my being.
It has ravaged my body like the Cordyceps infection in The Last of Us. Okay, now I’m being a little dramatic, which I tend to do. Don’t worry, I haven’t grown a big-ass mushroom out of my head. Or my ass. Yet. I do love that show though.
Anyway, we got off track for a little bit but I guess that’s the whole point of this exercise. That’s the inspiration behind the creation of Blogs Of Steele.
I love to write. I mean, I really, really, really love to write. I always have done. From as young as I can remember, I was always writing stories and inventing mythical lands where I could escape and be me.
Writing has always been my most reliable form of therapy, escapism and, most importantly, joy. I live to write and this platform will allow me to do just that every single day.
I also love sports. Correction; I’m obsessed with sports. Despite being born in the United Kingdom, my allegiances and my heart lie firmly in the United States and I’ve been lucky enough to start forging a career in American sports journalism.
After getting a taste of covering the NHL and MLB for numerous sites, the time felt right to become independent and take my talents to Substack. Okay, that doesn’t sound as flashy or glamorous as taking my talents to South Beach, I get it, LeBron.
But, I’ve made a habit of going with my gut and I have no doubt that this is absolutely the right move. In-fact, I’ve never been more sure about anything in my entire life. Including supporting the God Damn Jets…
It is go time to establish Blogs Of Steele as a one-stop convenience store for sports, culture and whatever other random nonsense enters this strange brain of mine.
So, with that being said, let’s breakdown what you can expect from Blogs Of Steele…
What is Blogs Of Steele?
Good question. This is my creation, my brainchild, my baby. This is something I’ve wanted to create for a long, long time and I’ve finally conjured up the minerals to go ahead and pull the trigger.
In truth; Substack definitely made this whole process a lot easier. The whole concept of this platform - a beautiful looking, easy-to-use newsletter with no ads - was incredibly appealing. The written word is a gift we should never take for granted, and Substack is making damn sure we never forget just how important the art of storytelling really is.
That’s where Blogs Of Steele comes in. My main vision for this site is to serve up a mouthwatering caricature board of sports coverage every single day. In an industry and a world dominated by empty hot takes and click-bait nonsense, I want to deliver juicy, irresistible, meaningful and unique stories, long-form features, analysis, interviews and breakdowns every single day.
Leaning on my background of covering both the NHL and MLB, I’ll be bringing you plenty of hockey and baseball content and a bevy of great guests from those arenas. You’re also well catered for if you are a football or hoops fan because we’ll be taking deep dives into those sports on the regular too. We have you covered no matter your sport and no matter your team.
Consider this site your very own tailgate party but where we only serve the best luscious and succulent Filet Mignon. With a couple of cold ones on the side too to wash it all down.
I’m a storyteller at heart - always have been and always will be - and good, honest, old-fashioned storytelling is going to be the very pulse of this site. It is going to be the driving force behind everything we do.
There’s also a second mission I wish to complete on this platform. Basically, this site will also serve as an unfiltered, no-holds barred look into this strange old mind of mine. I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of things. Some relevant (maybe, I’ll let you decide), a lot not so relevant, and then just a hodge podge of anything else that pops into my head in-between.
From The Sopranos to The Wire to my varied and bizarre wide-varying taste in music to just navigating every day life, there’s no filter on this thing. Hey, it won’t always be pretty, it’s gonna be flawed and sometimes you will wonder what in Satan’s world you’ve signed yourself up for. But, just remember, we’ll always have a lot of fun be it talking sports or anything else.
My only ground rules, for myself, are no politics and other stuff that people generally want an escape from. I want this platform to be a safe space for everyone to dive into the things they love the most and are the most passionate about.
Plus, I’m not nearly smart enough to breakdown current events and delve into the complicated space that is modern-day politics. I’ll leave that minefield to the experts.
Before we move on, word of mouth is incredibly important in this day and age and I would appreciate you telling your friends, family and even the random dude on the street about Blogs Of Steele. It would mean the world and would help us out in a huge way.
Why Be Part Of The Team?
I don’t want to look at you as subscribers. That seems too crass, too cold and far too corporate. Instead, consider yourselves part of the team. One of the family.
Now, before we go any further, I get there’s a lot of options out there. I mean, the internet is full of blogs, and there’s people far more talented and of higher stature than myself that you could go to. I’m a realist, if nothing else.
However, if there’s one thing I pride myself on it is being different. I’ve been different to everyone else my entire life - just ask my family - and that won’t change here.
You are going to get different sports coverage on the daily, unique content you won’t find anywhere else and I’m going to hustle 24/7 to take you inside the game with insightful interviews and long-form stories that will change your thinking and, most importantly, entertain you. Because that’s what it is all about at the end of the day.
Like a perfectly executed Hail Mary, a 400 ft. home run blast, a Stanley Cup winning goal, or a beautiful Steph Curry three-pointer, we want to help bring you closer to the moments that made you fall in love with sports in the first place.
Now, let me make a few promises:
This is my full-time gig so, as a direct result, you will get every ounce of me every single day. I won’t be taking days off and I will be bringing you words. Lots of words. Be that in the written form, audio or video, I want this to become your home. The place you feel most comfortable and the place you want to keep coming back to. If you are going to make a commitment to this site by subscribing, be that free or paid, then you can be rest assured that I’ll hold up my end of the bargain by making it well worth your while.
Life is hard right now. We are enduring messed-up, crazy-ass times and not everyone has disposable income. As such, I will guarantee that there will be a plethora of free content for everyone to enjoy. Be it articles, interviews and podcast episodes, not everything will be behind a paywall and free subscribers will always get looked after. That’s a guarantee.
There’s no ads on this site - thank you again Substack - so your reading, viewing, listening experience should always be a euphoric thrill ride. I will always produce content with you in mind and I want your input. This is a team effort. If you have an idea you would love to see covered or you think we could be doing something better, we will always, always, always listen.
I could say what everyone else says and state that buying a paid subscription would put my kids through college. There’s two problems with that, however. Firstly, I don’t have any kids and, secondly, if I do have kids and they inherit their Dad’s brains, they sure as hell aren’t going to college anyway.
Instead, and on a more serious note, I am beyond humbled that just one person would want to subscribe to this little creation of mine. And it would mean the absolute world to me if you trusted me enough to buy a paid subscription. Again, with all the options out there, I’d never take your investment, your trust, and your support for granted.
And I’ll never let you down. That’s a promise.
This is just the start of big things so let’s build something great together.
Subscription Plans
As mapped out above, we value our free subscribers here at Blogs Of Steele and there will always be free content for you to enjoy.
If you wish to become a paid subscriber, though, there’s options.
Before that, though, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for just subscribing. That means the absolute world to me and, again, it is something I’ll never ever take for granted or ever forget.
At the moment, we have two core plans for paid subscribers.
$5 a month
$55 a year
As we outlined above, becoming a paid subscriber will give you full access to the site. That will include exclusive interviews, in-depth long-form features, podcasts, video chats, hangouts and subscriber-only chats when there’s something big happening in sports.
That’s only scratching the surface, too.
Of course, while we get this thing off the ground and up and running, there will be a whole host of free content for everyone to enjoy. I don’t believe putting things behind a paywall from the very get-go is the best business model, so feel free to take a look around the site over the coming weeks to see what we’re building before you commit either way.
You’re always going to be very, very, very welcome here at Blogs Of Steele.
Substack one-off Pledges are also available for those who don’t want to commit to yet another subscription, and we’re also working on more paid subscription options to give everyone more flexibility. AND, we’re also open to any suggestions on specific subscription plans that may work best for you. Get in touch and we’ll work something out.
One last thing. Substack also offers Group Subscriptions AND Gift Subscriptions. So, if there’s someone you dislike and they have a birthday or special occasion coming up, why not buy them a paid subscription to Blogs Of Steele.
Only joking. This would be a great gift for any sports-mad person you may know, and we’d love to play a small role in helping make their day that little bit more special. Just like the sixth man coming off the bench and making some clutch plays down the stretch to help secure the win for his team. Yeah, exactly like that.
What’s To Come
In short; lots.
We’ve already touched on it above but Blogs Of Steele will be a tasty, irresistible smorgasbord of sports content that you won’t find anywhere else.
I’ve been lucky enough to cover the NHL in some way shape or form for the last few years, and I’ll look to bring my expertize and knowledge over to Blogs Of Steele.
We’ve already got a great guest lined up for the podcast and, as we edge closer to the Trade Deadline, we’ll have a boatload of analysis, features and interviews, with Q&A’s chucked in for good measure too.
You can also count on seeing plenty of longform stories and, I have another project launching soon that we will look to blend in with what we’re doing here at Blogs Of Steele too.
We happen to be launching on Super Bowl Sunday and, as a result, you’ll see some great football content up on the site later. That includes a fantastic interview with one of the smartest football people I know, so keep an eye out for that.
We’ll also have a steady stream of great football content throughout the year, and I’ll be leaning on a stable of experts to help break it all down for you.
I’m not known for my basketball coverage, but I have plenty of thoughts on that subject matter, you can be rest assured of that.
From the dramatic teardown of the failed experiment in Brooklyn to my Knicks still on the hunt for a game-changing star to so much more in-between, if you are a Hoops fan then Blogs Of Steele will be the place for you.
I’ve been lucky enough over the last year or so to really establish myself as a baseball writer, and it is has been of the biggest and one of the nicest surprises of my life.
I’m the type of guy who could watch baseball all day long, no matter who is playing. Heck, I’m all in on a Pirates-Reds game on a random Tuesday afternoon. I love the sport that much.
Some of you who have found your way over to Blogs Of Steele may know me from Metsmerized - the site that gives you the best Mets coverage out there. If you like my work there, then you will hopefully love what we’ve got planned here in terms of our overall baseball coverage.
We’ll be covering all teams, all of the biggest storylines and we’re already gearing up for the year ahead with spring training on the horizon. And, the best news is I’ve got a talented roster of baseball writers from up and down the country who will be on hand to take you right into the clubhouse through the 2023 season and beyond.
As I mentioned above - and thanks for sticking with us cause I know this is a long one - Blogs Of Steele will also serve as the platform to house all of my weird and random thoughts. As well as great sports coverage, of course.
As well as the usual interviews, stories, breakdown / analysis pieces and long-form features, there will be some very wild creations that will dig their way into my head at 3am in the morning and then find themselves on this site.
For instance - we’re currently working on ‘Andrew’s Alternative Mount Rushmore’ - which is a section that will sit on the top of this site. As sports fans we love to make up our own ‘Mount Rushmore’s’ featuring our favorite players and athletes. Well, ‘Andrew’s Alternative Mount Rushmore’ will add an alternative spin to that particular exercise. And we won’t just be focusing on sports, either.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’re in the War Room right now - or Draft Room if you prefer - thinking up ideas and new content that will help not only establish Blogs Of Steele, but take it to the next level too.
From Q&A’s to Zoom calls with guests to daily sports coverage and lots, lots more, this truly is just the start for us at Blogs Of Steele.
Watch this space.
The Andrew Steele Podcast
I have a podcast!
Yes, you heard that right. The Andrew Steele Podcast is locked and loaded ready to go and I’m really excited about the plans we have for the pod.
I’ll be honest - I’m probably the last human on planet earth to get into the podcast game so it is about time. Mind you; it stays in line with the general trend of my life. I’m quite often the last one to do anything within my circle of friends. The last one to get picked on a sports team at school, the last one to get a girlfriend, the last one to settle down. You get the picture.
I am the first one to actually set up a website and a podcast, though, so I guess I’ve got that over them.
Anywho. The Podcast. Yes, the Andrew Steele Podcast is here and we have lots planned for it. I’ll be using this particular platform to bring you interviews with those really in the know in their respective professions. From beat writers to former players and, hopefully, current players, the podcast is going to be essential listening.
At the moment, I plan for the podcast to release once a week but we may do more than that once we are up and running and have hit our stride.
The Andrew Steele Pod will be posted right here at Blogs Of Steele and you will also be able to find it on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify.
We will have two podcasts for you right off the bat later on today, including a full Super Bowl LVII preview pod, which you will want to listen to!
Happy Listening!
Assists
“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success.”
- Babe Ruth
None of this would be possible without some clutch assists from creators at the very top of their game.
Robby Waldrop - When you see any of our beautiful looking graphics or logos on this site, you have Robby to thank. Robby is an incredibly talented graphic designer who has done God’s work in helping getting Blogs Of Steele ready and looking spectacular. Again, this wouldn’t have been possible without Robby. You can check out his full body of impressive work on Twitter right here.
Jon Daly, Brave Buffalo - A picture can paint a thousand words. So too can an illustration. Now, you may say a picture and an illustration is the same thing. You obviously haven’t seen Jon Daly’s awesome work then. I stumbled across Jon’s art on another Substack site I absolutely love (see below) and I was absolutely blown away. Jon is incredibly talented and his illustrations hold the power to pain a billion words, let alone a thousand. They will certainly make my words better, that’s for sure.
You’ll see Jon’s work appear on the site very soon. We have a few really exciting features in the work and Jon and Brave Buffalo will be a huge part of what we do here at Blogs Of Steele.
You can check out Brave Buffalo’s insane portfolio here.
Robby & Jon - couldn’t have done this without you guys. Thank you.
How To Read Blogs Of Steele
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Thank You
All that is left to say is thank you.
All I’ve ever wanted to do is be a sports writer and the fact I can do this for a living still forces me to pinch myself.
It has always just been about writing stories that matter and I really do hope you will join me on this new, exciting, slightly scary (but in all the good ways) journey.
Let’s make Blogs Of Steele a force together.
We’re in the big leagues now - enjoy the show!
Andrew Steele - Blogs Of Steele Founder & Editor