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The Sideline Ledger is an unscheduled sports blog and podcast. Some episodes are written, some are audio, some are video, and some are all three. No fixed order, no forced cadence, just observations from the sideline as they happen. The cover image is a placeholder until I get my logo done. Check out: https://open.substack.com/pub/thesidelineledger/p/opening-the-ledger?r=74103e&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true for details
Back in 2004, Sirius Satellite Radio launched NFL Radio, and through this station came a group of fans called The Sirius Football Heads. Regular callers and listeners grouped together under the caller “Brandon in Missouri,” also known as The Commish.
Brandon launched a discussion board site, and that is where my story in sports journalism begins. Under the moniker “The Anchorman,” I began filling the boards with news from teams and reporters like Adam Schefter from ESPN. I never took credit, but when I had an opinion or insight, I shared it.
This eventually transitioned into a spot on the Behind the Facemask podcast. About halfway through their live broadcast, I would do a version of SiriusXM NFL Radio’s Two Minute Drill. When I could no longer do that, I tried my hand at a Tumblr blog.
Then I stopped. Life, and going back to school, pulled me away from considering journalism seriously until 2017. In November of that year, I began taking classes for my Bachelor of Arts in Communications with a focus on Public Relations.
I started writing again, podcasting in a more traditional sense, and learning how to create YouTube videos and livestreams. While sports was not the primary focus of that era of my work, I occasionally returned to it. In 2019 and 2020, I ran the SiriusFootballHeads Podcast with my co-host, Tom White.
After that foray back into sports news and analysis, I tried to take it solo, and I failed myself. I was not living up to my own standards for consistency or production, and I burned out trying to chase the instant cycle of modern media.
Which brings me to the purpose of The Sideline Ledger. This will be a multimedia sports journalism and sports historiographical ledger. Each piece of content will be a ledger entry, numbered and archived accordingly.
Not every entry will be written, and not every entry will be audio or video. Written work and a table of contents will live on Substack. Audio will be available on major podcatchers, and video will be published on YouTube, and occasionally TikTok.
My standards and code of ethics will follow those of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Public Relations Society of America. I am not currently an active member of either organization, but that is a goal.
To my audience, my request is simple. Please understand that I will not be posting on a rigid schedule. My goal over the next year is to move toward greater regularity, without sacrificing the standard of the work.
I am biased toward Seattle teams, but I will do my best to leave that bias aside. This will not be a football-only ledger. I plan to cover the five major professional leagues, MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, and NHL. This year, I will also be covering parts of the Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
The Sideline Ledger is not built to win the race to be first. It is built to be faithful to the record. This is a return to the basics, accuracy, depth, and the pursuit of the why behind the box score. This is not content created for the algorithm. It is work created for the archive.
If you choose to follow along, you are stepping into a ledger that will be written one entry at a time, deliberately and transparently, with respect for the history of the games we love and the people who love them. The pace may be slower. The rhythm may be quieter. But the work is real, and the books are finally open.