***

First, Gray of Couch Tarts:

Why did I start blogging?

Well, it wasn't for any lofty goals or to prove that just because I was born with two x chromosomes, I possessed the ability to both understand and love sports. No, I started blogging because Mina thought it would be a good idea.

We already spent way too much time IMing each other during games (and other tv shows) and we thought we were pretty funny. Why not share our humor with the world?! I did have my reservations, but Mina can be convincing when she wants to be. Plus I figured it wouldn't last more than 6 months, we'd never get readers, and we'd both move on. (She'll kill me for typing that but ,Mina, you so know it's true)

I came into this pretty secure in the fact that, as a relatively new hockey fan, I knew nothing.All I could do, and all I felt comfortable doing was giving my opinion as a fan, and from a fan's perspective. I don't speak for all fans, but someone out there might be able to relate, right? Plus, I was looking for a break from my furniture painting job. Something that would allow me to work on my cartooning skills, but in a fun way that wouldn't bore me like work did. A hobby, I guess you could say. You can only paint bees and butterflies so many times before your eyes start to melt out of your skull and your brains drip out your nose. I didn't have much confidence in my work, but since I assumed this was just going to be some short term lark and I had already flooded a MMO forum with avatars, I decided to dip my toe in those scary waters.

Didn't exactly go as predicted. I posted a few cartoons explaining my feelings about the playoffs back in 2008 (Flames and Stars, dear god, I nearly had a heart attack during round 1) and had some fun doing it. Defying all odds, we somehow got readers. Not only that, but I discovered that I really enjoyed blogging. Then came followers.

Plank over at Fear the Fin was our first biggest followers and somehow Earl Sleek of BoC discovered we also did cartoons. We got more readers after that, and somehow, after seeing what we had to say, they stayed! Holy balls!

To this day I am continually amazed by the fact that people like to read what I write (and draw). Amazed and thankful.

Now, if only I could parlay this into a paying art gig...

I'd have one of the best jobs in the world.

***

"Mina's Take or a History Major Tries to Write a Short Answer"

OK for reals, I started blogging because I am an attention whore.  Part of the reason I am a teacher is so I can get attention from people everyday.  My initial plan with Couch Tarts was to make it multi-sport blog where I could talk about all the sports and teams that I follow.  But I knew that I wouldn't be able to be interesting enough on my own and I worked my magic and talked Gray into helping.  Trust me, that was no easy feat as Gray can be quite stubborn when she wants to be.  (If you want to be talked into buying something, talk to me.  If you want to be talked out of buying something, talk to Gray.)

When we first started, neither of us were all that engaged in the Internet hockey community.  In the summer of 2007, neither of us were on Facebook, there was no twitter, and neither of us posted much on any forums (save the YPP forums) and we didn't really post much at all.  I was pretty sure we'd never get readers and eventually we'd just give up and go back to our ever-entertaining IM conversations.  It's hard to say that we would have given up without getting readers, but I think that it might have come to that.

For me, part of the joy of the Internet is being able to interact with strangers from the comfort of my couch. Sites like Deadspin provided a model for me in what I wanted: a site with good sports content overall and a very active reader community.  (Though over the years, I have come to look to Fear the Fin more for inspiration.)

When the 2008 NHL playoffs arrived, Couch Tarts became more like the blog we have today.  I know in my heart that there is no way that this little blog would have survived without Gray and her artistic talent.  People came to us for the cartoons and stayed because we had something interesting to say.  I am constantly amazed by her creativity and talent and I am greatly appreciative of what she does (and that she's managed to put up with being my friend for what seems like my whole life). To see where this blog started and what it has turned into blows my mind and makes me happy everyday.

I am always worried that I am not going to have the ability to compete with the big boys.  When I have sports conversations with others, I can impress them with bits and pieces that I picked up from ESPN or listening to sports radio.  I think this is mostly because people don't expect much sports knowledge coming from a girl. But with the Internet, people expect your A game.  There is so much knowledge at your fingertips with the Internet that readers aren't going to bookmark sites that don't bring good information. (Editor's note: Uh oh!) My handicap is that I've only been a hockey fan since college and have the memory of a goldfish in most cases so I don't have a long history of hockey experience to draw upon.  And I will never be as good with stats as many of the big time bloggers.  In that way, my biggest hurdle is for me to acknowledge that people are interested in my thoughts and what I have to offer is interesting for others.

A few days ago I watched a video (above) by Steve Dangle (who does outstanding work with his Leafs Fan Reactions video) talking about having reached 1 million views of his videos.  Much of what he said echos my feelings.  There is something scary and awesome about putting your thoughts on the Internet and having other people read them.  I am thankful everyday for Gray for her dedication, Plank from FTF and Sleek from BOC for the traffic they sent us, Bloguin for giving us a chance to make money off this crazy thing, and to each and every person who has read our work (though to be fair, I love the people who comment more *^_^*) Oh, and I would like to thank my mom and dad and the Academy...

Oh wait, that's a speech for another time

So in short, that is why I became a blogger and why blogging is the greatest, non paying, part time job I have ever had.

Cassie from Raw Charge:

I left Washington State, where I grew up and lived, in 2005 for Florida. I'd decided that, instead of sending out emails to 20 different people once a week, writing a general personal blog might be better. Then, if people had more specific questions, they could ask. It'd be simpler for everyone, I thought.

It's only when I'd moved from Tallahassee to Tampa in 2007 that I'd decided to start writing about hockey on the NHL's fan site. I was finally living in a town with an NHL team, which I'd never done before, so I naturally started writing about them. I had no idea I'd go anywhere with it.

I played hockey in the early 1990s - I was a defenseman, though I really should've been a center since that was my natural position. I love hockey. The problem is, none of my friends really do. My sister liked it a lot, tho not as much I did/do, and we used to go to games in Vancouver together. But when I moved, I didn't really have anyone to bond with over hockey. So that was a large part of my motivation to start writing - to get the stuff in my head out. The other part is that I enjoy writing. So hockey blogging works for me.

I'm not trying to prove anything, and I'm not looking for notoriety. All I want to do is to write about hockey because it's what I love. I gave up caring about what other people think a long time ago - such as some men who think that women only like sports only because they want to pick up on the athletes, and other women who don't like sports so they sort of thought the same thing as many men. They can think what they want; it doesn't matter to me. I write about hockey because I genuinely enjoy it. It's that simple.

The added bonus to blogging about hockey are all of the great people that I've met, and all of the friends I've made. I just started doing it to get my thoughts out, but I've ended up finding people who love the game as much as I do, and people who understand where I'm coming from. Men and women both. Now I finally have a home - a community - where I belong. An unintended side-benefit of doing something I was doing for myself anyways.

Amy Jo Green from The Good, The Bad, The Coyotes

Before I started my blog, I discovered that there wasn't a deluge of Phoenix Coyotes blogs out there in the great unknown that is the 'Net.  The few blogs that are out there I read for news and tidbits about what is going on with the team and analysis from the view of the fan.  They are the CNN and MSNBC's of Coyotes blogs.  I am a slightly different read.  I try to be the Daily Show/Colbert Report of the Coyote blog world!  Hockey is a funny sport.  It makes me laugh on a daily basis.  I want to make people laugh while talking about my team (note: not laugh AT my team).  If the Coyotes can make us cry so damn much, they better be ok with making us laugh.

I have a crapload of hockey blogs in my Google reader, Cycle like Sedins included ;) .  I've pulled things from all of them that make me laugh and have smashed them all together in the chaos that is The Good, The Bad, The Coyotes.  Any picture that I add captions to using Paint are an homage to Two Line Pass (http://thetwolinepass.com), who cracks me up with his blog.  My friend Jenna (www.hipchecks.com) and I recently experimented  by doing a podcast that I then added pictures to. I love the freedom that a blog gives you.  One day I can do a game recap, the next do funny captions for game pictures, and the next I can do a youtube podcast.  I was really surprised how many people look at my blog.  Hockey fans will read anything I guess!

I haven't really had people come at me saying I don't know what I'm talking about because I'm a girl.  Well, except at the last home game, this guy sitting behind Jenna and I thought we were posers.  He says to his friend, "I bet you five bucks that they don't know who Ron Cherry is."  I turn around and say, "You don't think we know who who is?".  He says, "Ron Cherry."  I told him that I didn't know Ron, but Don Cherry hosted Coach's Corner on HNiC, wore crazy suits, hated visors, and hated Ovechkin.  That is pretty much the extent of the pop quizzes I've had to answer to get cred when it comes to hockey.  Because Phoenix fans have been banded together by almost losing our team and being pretty rare (seriously, hockey in the desert?), we like share our opinions and blogging is an easy way to do it.

Basically, I love to write, I love hockey, I love to make people laugh, and the Coyotes need some exposure dammit.

Thanks everyone!

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