First of all, thanks for the kind words. Kind words are always a good thing.

But just to clarify, I am not a journalist. At all. Fans have more fun anyway.

I started out writing a Texans FanBlog for the Houston Chronicle. I thought the Texans coverage at the newspaper was superficial and often inaccurate, and someone suggested that I contact them to create a Texans blog that they did not have. I thought it might be a way to push them to improve the quality of their coverage.

I sent the guy in charge of sports blogs some test posts on subjects they suggested, and blogged away. When FanHouse was being created, I was contacted to write on Texans stuff. Eventually, I quit the Chronicle stuff because when your unpaid hobby feels like a job, you shouldn’t do it any more.

Eventually, as FanHouse evolved, I started writing about other sports related things that I knew about and crossed my mind.

So, I never really aspired to blog, it just sort of evolved. But looking back at it some, I think for me it was all about finding a niche that wasn’t being served, and serving it up on a plate. Also, not being afraid to volunteer for jobs that do not yet exist and tell people what special knowledge that you can offer that can help them out.

I think in any job, if you can figure out ways to make THEM money, that opens some doors.

Jordi – That made me LOL, which I needed.

(Just kidding… as long as it’s a good read and about Soccer I could care less who wrote it).

As a black sports blogger, I can also relate to dwil’s comments.

The blog game is growing by the second and as its popularity increases, it will become more and more difficult for individuals to stand out.

Regardless of our color or gender, we all have something to offer that is enjoyed by our various audiences and hopefully as time moves forward, more of us will be “discovered” .

I think this problem has to relate to the sport media world. I am a PR intern for the Detroit Red Wings and while I’d say there is a pretty solid balance between the # of individuals from each gender in the PR/Marketing/Sales offices, when I go up to the press box for the game, I am usually one of 5 females out of easily 85. And three of those five are from the PR department. There is only one female beat reporter covering the Wings and sometimes Sports Ticker is represented by a female. There is also sometimes a female assisting the visiting TV with their broadcast (behind the scenes).

So I think blogging merely reflects that culture already in place with sport media…

Kevin: Why is using your own name for a handle on your blog “flaunting” your gender? I don’t think that women should have to pretend not to be women in order to be accepted by the blogosphere, anymore than I think that SbB should take the bikini pictures down.

I’m one half of a tiny and rightfully obscure Red Sox blog, and I certainly don’t expect any more than the three or four comments we get most of the time, but I basically worship the ground that Texas Gal walks on, and I can’t help but suspect that if her posts had pictures of Jamie Kotsay instead of Jacoby Ellsbury, she’d get a lot more attention from the mainstream.

In a past life, I was an indie rock musician; blogging is the exact same gig, in that it’s fun, doesn’t pay enough to make sense, and anyone who has done it for a while becomes convinced of their own genius and bitter about anyone who seems more popular than you.

But the reality is that popular and/or paid does not equal good; if it did, Menudo and Spice Girls albums wouldn’t be in budget bins, and Simmons would try more than once a month. At the end of the day, you get your audience and have your work, and you’re either happy with it or not. And if your audience evangelizes you enough, you make your own ceiling.