PSaMP's Halfie Birthday Extravaganza: The Pensblog

(To commemorate the 6 month anniversary of PSaMP, I invited some of my favorite bloggers to take over PSaMP for a week. I'm calling it, PSaMP's Halfie Birthday Extravaganza. Well, its been extended to an obnoxiously long two week blogapalooza, per se. Several kickass local and national blogs agreed to share their feelings on Pittsburgh sports. Hopefully, some will also provide a Mini Pony of the Day. In my mind, it will rule. I hope you enjoy it. Tuesday's blog is The Pensblog. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you don't read Pensblog, you don't read anything good. This whole half birthday extravaganza has been purposefully obnoxious. Pensblog, though is here to shed some light on blogging for you non-bloggers (noggers, if I do say so), including why a 6 month anniversary rules. Tons of kind words from an awesome blog. I can now say that Pensblog has touched me. Take that however you want.)
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We joined the blogging ranks in September 2006.

Just as we assumed when we heard the word "blog", a lot of people hear the word and immediately think of Jimmy Nerd clacking away at a keyboard, typing out some self-gratification and the meaningless minutiae of his daily life.

That misconception was justified when blogging was in its infancy, but it's not the case anymore.

The more and more blogs you find on the internet, the more you realize you are reading the writing of someone who is either passionate about a topic or knows a buttload about a topic.

There's blogs for celebrity gossip, cooking recipes, and video games.

Anyone with an inkling to write and something to write about can start a blog with the click of a button.

Coupled with a peeked interest in the topic, you'll be talking about a big-time blog.

A true case-in-point for this is the blog NHL Tournament of Logos; a blog that was started in early 2007 with an aim to bring all news and rumors surrounding the NHL's league-wide shift to new uniform designs during the summer of 2007.

The result: It became the one-stop shop for anyone wanting to know any information regarding the uniforms.The site achieved 1 million hits by mid-August.The author was featured in an interview on CBC Radio.

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And now, easily the biggest genre of blogs on the internet are in relation to sports.

A specific sports team is a never-ending topic. You always have something to write about, nearly every day.

With our blog, we realized that we didn't want to just recycle news stories from major newspapers and media outlets.

We didn't want to read four paragraphs of analysis.

We'll go to a newspaper for that: The newspaper will even have quotes from athletes and the insight that only a beat writer covering the Penguins for 20 years can bring.

On the same token, we were tired of being talked down to by some blogs and columnists, making us feel like we need to baby-fed information on a topic that the said blog or columnists thinks he knows more about than anyone.

Our goal with this blog has never been to be funny.

We write things that make us laugh when we write it, and if it happens to make other people laugh, sweet.

We don't claim we know everything about the Penguins.

Saying you're a team's #1 fan is something that should've faded from your vocabulary by freshman year in high school.

But forming this blog has let us meet and talk to people who love the Penguins as much as we do.

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And this is where PSAMP comes in. Created on March 13, 2007, it has been entertaining us with unreal pictures of mini ponies and solid commentary.

Now, a lot of people will say, "Big deal. Six months ain't nothing."

But running a blog ain't no picnic. Many blogs have the shelf-life of a month. It takes time, a lot of work, and passion in order to do something that has no return benefits whatsoever. Some people just give up.

But not PSAMP. It has been consistent, refreshing, and always there. And really, how is it possible to find so many pictures of mini ponies?

As much as we are all trying to build our own websites up, without the whole blogging community thriving, everyone suffers.

Now, mind you, there are blogs we think suck. But that's with anything. People will come to our blog and immediately despise it for no reason.

All in all, PSAMP, we salute you. Your presence in the blogosphere makes us all better humans.

Congrats on the six-month, and we'll see you in March for the one-year.

- The Pensblog