My Fellow MMA Writers, It's Time to Take Our Place on The Front Page

An outstanding article was written awhile back about the question, "Is MMA a sport?"  The article was very well researched and very well written.  I should know, I wrote it.  One of our top writers gave it their POTD, so it could not have been that bad.

It got about as much attention as MMA gets as a whole in the sporting world today.  A few reads, one comment from someone other than the author and then it was neatly tucked away in the article archives never to be seen again.

The Bleacher Report has given us all an outlet to voice opinions, share perspectives, and yes as always argue points.  We do a fine job of it too, one might add. 

If you are an MMA writer though, you don't spend much time scanning the front page of the BR looking for your articles with any type of expectation that you may actually see something relevant to the sport you love.

Recently though, Mike Leanza took the initiative, and polled the top 20 writers for MMA on the BR.  He put together the first ever MMA rankings, based on popular opinion of top writers.  He did a fine job.

He did such a great job, the article found its way to the front page, cycling with the likes of college football, real football, racing, and other widely followed BR sports.  I was proud of our accomplishment and Mikes hard work.

I was absolutely astonished to see one of my pieces, GAME, up front as well, while checking out his article.

What this tells me is that we are becoming more and more difficult to pass by when choosing front page stories on BR.  The quality of writing, and relevance they have to very highly followed topics in the world of sports, is becoming more and more apparent.

We don't always agree, we don't always get along, as D' puts it, we are one big family in a way.  We have all worked hard to get our stories read in our little corner.  We have seen the rise and fall of writer rankings, and some of our articles have garnered some heavy attention. 

An article written about the Slice-Shamrock event got almost 2800 reads, and made the front page as a most popular article.  This tells us, the sheep are watching.  Even if the topic is less than desirable, we are getting our voices out there.

The point here is simple.  We all spend more time than we should on this site, reading, editing, commenting, and arguing.  Tell me you shouldn't be doing something else, more productive, this very moment.  Tell the truth. 

Yep, just like I thought, the dishes aren't done, or you haven't printed the cover page for your TPS report, or your kids are hungry-shoot your probably hungry, or you haven't put out a resume in a week.  Take your pick. 

The thing is, as long as we are here, let's make sure that when we take the time to read, that we do drop a comment, even if it is in disagreement.  Just to say, nice job, or your crazy, if necessary. 

Make sure you rate the articles you read, this helps push them up in the rankings.

Don't forget POTD if an article really knocks you off your feet.

From where I've been sitting these are the things that get stories recognized.  Let's make sure we are giving each other a fair shake to get not only our opinions, but our beloved sport out there for the other folks to notice.  

The legitimacy of this sport resides in its fans, and their support of it.  Not guys like Dana White and the Ferttitas.  Not in advertising, and marketing.  The WWE has that too you know.  It is you and I, our sound assessments, and our loyal following that will push this sport into the mainstream.

Have you ever gone to MSN and read the take on MMA?  It is pathetic.  They actually lump Boxing and MMA together, like they are not two totally different sports.  

We are the true catalyst for what is going on in the sport.  Do you think some cat on a major sports news site, who got the job to write about the latest MMA event as side work, knows the first thing about guys like Clay Guida, or Lyoto Machida?  Hell no he doesn't!  

He knows about Brock Lesnar, Chuck Lidell, and maybe, just maybe GSP.  We're the experts folks, lets make sure our voices are heard.  Support eachother, support yourselves.   

It's easy to write about college football, or in my case baseball.  There is a loyal following that will tune in just to read about their team, because it's their team.  It doesn't take talent to get those folks interested, it's a given. 

We need to grip the masses, and let them know what MMA is all about, it's not popular, it's not mainstream, in some circles it's a joke.  We know better than that. 

It is time we take our rightful place among the "common sport" writers.  We may never compete with the likes of college football and get an article up to 24,000 reads, but we may just force the hand of the BR to give us our own spot on the rotation of top stories.  We might just go further than that.  

Let's find out.