One Reason I'm No Longer ClipperSteve

It is probably more congruent with your goals. It is important that writers and journalists assemble at portfolio at some point. And since your name is Steve Perrin, it seems wise that you should write under that name.

I personally never saw the name change as capitulating to “the man”. These newspapermen are clearly butt-hurt about the perceived added competition from bloggers. I see reporting and blogging as separate entities. Blogs have filled a void left by the traditional media.

My question is, why does BigBlueShoe have to be accountable to anyone? He/she has First Amendment protections and is free to use his/her blog to write, cite, embellish, lie, hope, wish, dream, etc. If he/she gets things right, if that is in fact his/her goal, then people will deem the blog to be credible. If BigBlueShoe is a wing-nut, it won’t be credible.

I haven’t read the discussion, but I am interested in the big picture. It’s old vs. new, controlled flow of info vs. wide open marketplace of ideas. I love it that we know have access to so much information, true, false or otherwise. We get to decide for ourselves what is or isn’t credible.

as ClipperSteve in my heart.

My anonymous sources are confused about why its so important for everyone to be named all of a sudden.

If a blogger ran around doing random things like declaring Allen Iverson was definitely going to be a Clipper tomorrow then they would have something to be concerned about.

As for the name change, another way to go would be to keep up the use of a psuedonym as is traditional in the internet format, but have an “about me” section.

“You’ll always be ‘sweetheart’ to me.” W. C. Fields in “Million Dollar Legs” to his future son-in-law.
Part of the juvenile fun of this place is that we have secret code names. Another part is that, behind those secret code names, we put out some pretty high-class analysis and writing.
And yet another part is that I’m ‘in the know’ — f’rinstance, for a price I’ll tell you the real first names of JohnR and MikeyP.

Including Clips Nation. And CS/SP. And newspapers. And blogging.

This is a great topic. I’d like to see some more Blake Griffin/state of the Clips analysis at the moment since we’re in the midst of our first uptick and good news in a long time, but that’s okay.

Blogging is an incredible innovation, especially when you put it alongside the devolution of the mainstream press. It’s a writer’s dream, a great thing for anybody who likes words and social networks of any kind, who likes information. And it’s in its infancy—who knows what it will be like 5 years from now, 10 years from now, 20.

One of the best things about blogging in this specific instance, in terms of ClipsNation and The Artist formerly known as ClipperSteve, is that it’s perfectly organic. ClipsNation began because SP had something to say. He cared deeply about the Clips, loved to analyze them and follow them in detail. He was already bugging his friends with emails about what was going on with them. SP wasn’t trying to gain anything by starting ClipsNation, aside from self-expression and discussion with other people interested in the Clippers. He called himself ClipperSteve in part because it was designed to be a serious enterprise, it certainly wasn’t required to be professional, and no one knew whether Steve Perrin might need to do something in his life that didn’t exactly jibe with the rantings of ClipperSteve.

Then it turns out that the Clippers are a meaty and compelling topic. But it also happens that they have what is called, I guess, a micro-audience. There aren’t many of us out there. Again, this is a beautiful thing in its own way, because it couldn’t matter less. As long as there are some of us who care about the Clippers and who enjoy and thrive at ClipsNation, it’s all good.

In the meantime, however, this market pressure has an effect on those who used to cover the Clippers for a living—the newspaper business. They’re in crisis, and Clipper coverage is not surprisingly an early casualty. Too bad, but that’s the way it goes. It will be even harder when that old model sinks even lower and it becomes unsustainable for things that have a bigger audience, and that’s just the cultural coverage, which includes sports. The future of journalism that matters, that’s a crucial part of a civilized society, is a very tricky question.

But the decline of newspapers was a surprising, important item in the development of CS/SP. No Clipper coverage made ClipsNation an important resource. This was circumstance, but it was also the result of the hard work and excellence of CS and the way that he managed the site. The quality of content developed organically. SP/CS didn’t intend for ClipsNation to become what it is, the initial intention was just self-expression, but there’s a level of seriousness and excellence that more than justifies direct ownership and responsibility for it by Steve Perrin. As he said when the change came, it was probably overdue, but it was managed with characteristic humor and good timing.

The fact is that ClipsNation turned into something unexpected, something both necessary and excellent. And this evolution just happens to be a sign of the times. Steve P. worked his way into becoming a real person in the world of the Clippers over a significant period of time, through a consistent effort and, again, excellence.

The interesting thing is that it’s an ongoing process. It’s something we’ve been wondering about for awhile: what happens to this humble little satellite/website, chugging along through the media stratosphere, when the Clippers actually get it together and gel and compete and matter and start to get broad attention? That’s going to be the fun part. But one thing we know for sure is that SP knows how to do the job, knows how to write about the Clippers and analyze the NBA, on a level of very high competency that could just as easily be called professional, except it’s not professional. He gets to be exactly who he is, do it exactly the way he wants to, and has no worries or issues, while the guys on the other side of the equation are desperate, panicked and defensive.

Good times.