Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Pens - Devils, a note to our readers


The Pens play the Devils tonight at 7:30 in the last of their eight games in a row at home. The Devils come in losing their last five. Hopefully the Pens will make it six. The Pens were supposed to wear their blue jerseys tonight but it was announced that they would not be playing in them again this season. Of course they claim it wasn't because of the horrible record they had in them but we'll think otherwise.





Pens Q&A - Malkin for Selke?  Don't even get us started on this one. The fact that Malkin isn't a serious candidate for the Selke is understandable, but the fact that he seems like a long shot for the Hart over Ovechkin is...disappointing to say the least. Playing with Crosby should not be something that lowers your chances at the Hart if that in fact is part of the reasoning there, that's not fair. So many of Malkin's stats are better and he is the leader in points, as well as in numerous other categories. Not that it matters but Malkin is our MVP.

Go Pens!


P.S. You've noticed things haven't been the same around here we're sure, and to be honest, we don't know what the fate of this blog is at this point. We never did get into some of the things we had planned to get into and that's completely our fault. We aren't getting the traffic we'd like either, which is also mostly our fault. It isn't about money or anything like that, but this does take effort to do and if no one is reading it or appreciating it, it's hard to keep going. We don't do this solely for ourselves obviously and while we do like the interaction we have received from others, we haven't seen a lot of it. We asked last week sometime for some ideas or suggestions of what you'd like to see on this blog and to be quite frank, we're embarrassed to say we didn't get a thing. We appreciate the comments we do get, thanks to Greg and Molly who provided some quality comments in recent weeks, but we're obviously jealous of the other blogs who have nice little followings. We were looking for a little more from our blog and so far it has not reached that point. We understand we are at fault but we're finding it hard to find any more inspiration right now. We used to get an e-mail or a comment that would remind us why we were doing this, but lately it's been getting harder and harder to put the work in with no real results. We're not expecting anything major, just a little more than what we've gotten. Again, it's not money or anything like that, just lack of any real consistent traffic or interaction you get from a good blog. We're still open to comments and suggestions for this blog, we haven't made a final decision, but as of now we're leaning a little toward not continuing. We never claimed to be an awesome blog, but we were giving it a shot and we hope that's respected by all of you. Thanks to those who read this blog and for your support. This is probably a final call to arms for us so if you'd like us to keep going or have an idea of how we could make things better around here, please feel free to leave a comment or send an e-mail to faceoffsandfirstdowns @ gmail.com. We're not throwing in the towel just yet and are still willing to work and spruce this place up like we had written last week, we just need a reason to do so. Hopefully all of that came across in the right manner and you understand. Thanks to those of you who took the time to read all of it, we sincerely appreciate it.

- Faceoffs and First Downs


4 comments:

Itchy said...

I feel I am partially to blame for your current state of mind regarding your blog.

I, for one, read every new post that you put up. Every opinion offered and every statement made interest me. Why, you ask? Because I am a Pens fan through and through.

I will be honest, I am a Pens fan that lives in Redmond, WA. How weird is that. I paid the money to get NHL Center Ice just so I could see every Pens game. I own two jerseys (one Gonchar home jersey and one Crosby 3rd jersey) that I wear with pride. A Crosby Away jersey is on it's way.

I think what I am saying is that I am only a pseudo-fan. I've never been to Pittsburgh and I live in Washington and yet the Pens have been and always will be my team. I need the connection to actual Pens fans that LIVE in Pittsburgh to validate my own fandom!!! :-). You see? You can't just leave me out in the cold.

GO PENS!!!

Faceoffs and First Downs said...

Thank you for your kind words, we appreciate it. We said when we started this we'd try to do everything we could to get it out there and achieve what we'd planned. We don't feel like we've done that yet but we were feeling burned out. Our love for hockey hasn't at all changed, and we think it's pretty obvious we lean more to the hockey side around here, which is ironic considering we've loved football for as long as we can remember and only really got into hockey big time a few years ago. Hockey kind of stole our hearts and here we are. We need a little bit of energizing but we have a feeling we won't be leaving you or anyone else out in the cold.

Again, thank you, and comments like yours are exactly what we need to give us a little energizing around here. We think a little revamp around here will help too. Still taking ideas, so please feel free to leave some. :)

P.S. We have no idea what we'd do if we lived outside the area and couldn't get the coverage of the Pens that we do. We can't possibly feel your pain. :)

Unknown said...

I only recently discovered your blog through a link from another pens blog. I bookmarked your URL and now I check out your blog at least after every pens game. I enjoy reading your posts and also like the format and layout of your blog -- neat, very easy to read, nothing fancy, just the words that matter. I am also a big Steelers fan and cannot wait to read your posts on football. I don't think the reason of little traffic to your blog is the content. I guess some marketing would help. Ask other blogging pals to link to your blog. Get your identity more recognized in the community of pens and steelers blogs. I wish I could have more ideas, but because I don't blog, I don't have much experience to draw upon. I hope you can keep going. Good luck!!!

Faceoffs and First Downs said...

Thank you so much Pippi. We think we needed some energizing and comments like this help. We really appreciate it.

We were feeling run down for a few reasons and it's almost like we needed to get that out there to feel better. Like we said in our other comment, we said we'd try to do everything we knew to do and achieve what we wanted to achieve before we'd let this go and we haven't done that. We're still here and we're not going anywhere just yet.

Thank you to you and those who are hanging in there with us. We truly appreciate it. :)