Today is the 10th anniversary of the launch of the 24th Minute blog. Late in Toronto FC’s first season I did the one thing that I had told myself that I would never do — I started to write about TFC.
The first season of the club had been a magical ride. Some would even have called it intoxicating. Literally. I named my regular post game column Sober Second Thoughts because, well, it wouldn't have been appropriate to call something I had written immediately following the game sober anything.
The soccer sucked in 2007, but the beer was cold — and plentiful.
Although I was known by some in the soccer community back then my writing chops had not been established in that world. I was much better known as a person who covered the other type of football. Specifically, I was considered a CIS football expert. I had written about that world for close to a decade when I launched 24th Minute. I had appeared on sports talk radio, been interviewed by print journalists on CIS topics and had launched a successful website that acted as an independent “website of record” for the under-reported spot.
CollegeColours.com was before its time, really. It was a blog before blogs were a thing. It was the most read CIS football online news source from 2001 to about 2005.
It was also a lot of work. It was frustrating in that I couldn’t immediately publish things. Rather I had to write them then send them to my HTML guy (Colin, from SMU. Thanks, Colin) and wait until he had enough time to post them on the site (his day job was running SMU.ca. I lost touch with him years ago, so I don’t know what he’s doing now, but I suspect he’s still watching CIS football).
The end result of all this is I burned the hell out. I lived and died CIS football and CollegeColours for those years so when my team — my alma matter Wilfrid Laurier University- won the 2005 Vanier Cup I figuratively dropped the mic on that life, a life that had engulfed and defined me for a decade.
So, I was reluctant to do it again with TFC. But, the sirens call was always there. It was inevitable that I would cave to my own internal pressure and start a site. Once this newfangled Blogging thing started to get some press the gig was up. In August of 2007, I quietly started the site. I didn’t promote it for the first little while as I built content, but by the time the 2008 season had started I was writing five posts a day and treating the site as a full-time job (which I regret doing because I actually had a full-time job that in hindsight I should have been more focused on — to say nothing of my personal relationships at the time, but I digress).
If you’re reading this, the rest is well known. I’m proud of what I accomplished on the blog and I really miss the heady, early days of blogging when independent voices really could emerge and stand out. I met so many people back then that I still consider friends.
Times have chanced in the decade since. I came damn close to doing a second mic drop last December after MLS Cup, but ultimately decided to keep at it. I’ve learned that I need to daily framing that the podcast gives me. I also love that the podcast lets me dive into topics that are not appropriate for CanadianSoccerNews.com, the site that 24th Minute emerged into seven years ago.
Of late I’ve been having two conflicting thoughts bouncing around in my head. On one hand I feel that I need to get back to writing more regularly. I love the podcast, but writing has such a bigger reach than podcasting does. It also feels somehow weightier.
However, on the other hand, I don’t want to have such a narrow focus anymore. CanadianSoccerNews.com serves a purpose and I’m going to continue publish highly focused stories there that are appropriate for the site.
But, I need another platform where I’m not as restricted. This seems like the right fit. A decade after starting The 24th Minute, I’m launching The 24th Minute 2.0. Here, you’ll find my thoughts on non-Canadian MLS, US soccer issues, European football and, yes, Manchester City. I expect I’ll have a lot to say about City. You’ll also see writing on other sports and I might even refuse to Stick To Sports all the time.
It’s time to get back to basics and back to where it all began.
Welcome back to The 24th Minute.
