Bedard's site starts its free trial today

[BTTA]

Most of it I'd expect would be known by a football coach who is familiar with the Patriots. Maybe 20 plays is too ambitious, but detailed analysis of 10 plays a game would be nice.

I strongly feel that someone should write a detailed analysis of SBLI that discusses in detail the top 20 plays of that game. I, and I'm sure many others, would pay for a book like that. I'd pay a 20% surcharge if it avoided any discussion of heart, choking, family members, narratives, or anything at all except play on the field.

There may be 10 people on the planet who are qualified to give you this, at the quality level you want, now that we've all experienced Belichick on All Access. They all make minimum of $1,000 an hour in their profession. What are you willing to pay for such an analysis?

 

[BTTA]

Freedom of the Press became The Right to a Free Press with the internet. High quality journalism becomes less economically viable with each passing week. Meanwhile, the public complains about pay walls, as if journalists shouldn't get paid. Propaganda web sites that encourage laziness, cheap emotional gratification, and ignorance get called "news" and drag the entire industry down.

If the Pats are a big part of your life, you should support the people that make that possible. Pick your favorite and pay up. For the party to function, everyone needs to bring a six pack.

 

[IllegalContact]

Ah, so you so you "refuse to divert your expenditures" from purely hypothetical dream sites? Explain again how that's different from just not paying for anything?

Personally I'm fortunate enough to have the $3/month to spend, so I'm going to try paying for a real-world site in hopes that it can grow to fulfill some of my dreams. (An added bonus would be if some of the crappy outlets I currently pay $0/month for see BSJ become a success and try to emulate its more serious approach.)

I was referring to this site initially........never mind.....just forget I said anything

 

[BlacknGold77]

Freedom of the Press became The Right to a Free Press with the internet. High quality journalism becomes less economically viable with each passing week. Meanwhile, the public complains about pay walls, as if journalists shouldn't get paid. Propaganda web sites that encourage laziness, cheap emotional gratification, and ignorance get called "news" and drag the entire industry down.

If the Pats are a big part of your life, you should support the people that make that possible. Pick your favorite and pay up. For the party to function, everyone needs to bring a six pack.

It's not the consumers job to figure how a company is gonna fund itself. But if you're gonna charge, you better be supplying something everyone else doesn't. Otherwise you're time is limited.

and don't act like subscription fees were how newspapers made their money. Yes, it is a part of it but the majority comes from advertising. And on the internet ad revenue is king, its why every site is covered in banner ads and pop ups.

 

[patsinthesnow]

First time I've ever paid for sports content. Bedard's camp reports have been awesome. Definitely the best out there.

I'll give him & his venture a few months. I bet the in season postgame film reviews, etc. will be top notch. Hopefully it grows.

 

[Tony2046]

I haven't seen very detailed play analysis anywhere, except maybe on a handful of plays. Something like the Do Your Job NFL video on the SB 49 interception, but for every (or at least many) plays. Basically, for each play, I'd like to see:
(1) a diagram and name
(2) presnap adjustments
(3) why the play was called
(4) similar plays by the team, and by the league, or if the play is new, why it is new
(5) any specific adjustments players on offense and defense made, both presnap and during play
(6) any audibles affecting the play
(7) any unusually great performances that made the play work or not, or any mistakes players made.
(8) what each player is doing on the play, and why, and how well.

Belichick's Breakdowns is the only place I've seen that has some of this. But it's still very superficial. For instance, Belichick might point out a good block, but he won't describe exactly what techniques the blocker used, or what techniques the rusher used to evade them. And Belichick rarely describes in detail the strategy or history of a particular play either. Obviously Belichick and the players know much more information about a play, and what he shares is extremely interesting, but he's still not saying that much.

I assume that coaches around the league have and use all this information, but it's not available to fans. Bedard's Super Bowl analysis that was cited here as an example of this reporter's great analysis is superficial. It has half a sentence about that Hogan catch at the end of regulation, when even here it's been discussed in much more detail (with still many unanswered questions). And it doesn't say anything about many other plays.

If a site wants to breakdown in detail, say, the top 20 plays after a Patriots game - take my money! But the kind of simplistic, highly superficial analyses - "he played well! he played badly! great effort! out route! good blocking! missed a block!" that I typically see leave too many unanswered questions.

By the way, everyone here always says how Belichick plays chess etc. In chess, when players make a move, commentators and analysts will in fact explain what each piece is doing, a lot of detailed information on the reasons for things, typically based on computer analysis; similar positions; and, in the opening, how this fits into a player's repertoire, into the known lines, and if it is new. Kasparov used to write a chapter on why someone would play ...Re8 not ...Rd8 in the Scheveningen. But it's rare to see detailed analysis in football.

Matt Chatham and crew do breakdowns of plays which are detailed but not in the quantities you are looking for. But good nevertheless.

Home - Football by Football

Pat Kirwan has some good football understanding stuff:

Real Football Network – Understanding the “How and Why” of football

 

[Tony2046]

Ah, so you so you "refuse to divert your expenditures" from purely hypothetical dream sites? Explain again how that's different from just not paying for anything?

Personally I'm fortunate enough to have the $3/month to spend, so I'm going to try paying for a real-world site in hopes that it can grow to fulfill some of my dreams. (An added bonus would be if some of the crappy outlets I currently pay $0/month for see BSJ become a success and try to emulate its more serious approach.)

That's why I subscribed. It seems that it's necessary for "free" content providers and media to be controversial or Hawt Take oriented to generate revenue whereas (my hope) a paid site with subscribers can focus more on real content for its members.

 

[long distance]

so poor re. from Howe . but typical

 

[Wrath Mania]

so poor re. from Howe . but typical

Kinda bush league I agree. I like Howe and his hatred of Volin is understandable -- but kinda douchey all the same.

Put down for the monthly trial, will switch to annual if I like it. Never thought I'd pay for sports content but Bedard is doing this at the right time -- CSN is becoming progressively trashier, with Curran being forced to cover more than just the Patriots on that dumbass night show with the ditz, the pogo stick and the former Belichick buddy; while the once reliable Giardi has inexplicably transformed into Felger-lite (sad!!!!). None of the beat writers are as thorough as Bedard usually is -- even if he gets a bug up his ass about something odd now and then, he is always a good read. Price is a solid number two, though frankly if they somehow poach Reiss from ESPN this site becomes the absolute go-to. Definitely into it so far.

In my estimation, the internet is the land of a million voices, which is both a strength and weakness (but trending more and more toward weakness). If you can say something that can be distinctly heard about the fray, it's worth a little money. We'll see what Bedard and co. end up with.

 

[Ian]

And on the internet ad revenue is king, its why every site is covered in banner ads and pop ups.

Not so much king anymore. Ad revenue is declining and ad blocker use is growing, which is killing everyone and we've certainly been impacted. In another year or two I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I'm a little concerned about the future and the donations here have continued to play a big part as they certainly help in allowing us to eek out a couple of the slow months over the offseason. I won't ever wall the site off completely, but subscriptions might eventually play a bigger role in our survival in the future if things continue down the path that they are.

 

[Ian]

You might have noticed that after the changeover last year, I reduced the ads on here from 6 to just 3, as the goal was to improve the user experience since the other ads were paying so little anyway. But that model is eroding quickly across the internet, which is why you're seeing a ton of spam sites pumping out crap articles for the sake of getting as many page views as possible and those sites all have a ton of ads on there...it's just ridiculous. Those types of sites are certainly hurting the quality sites that put out real content, which has been frustrating to watch. Most companies are also shifting their ad dollars to Facebook, where they can target better compared to just throwing their money out to ad networks. But that's kind of what's going on right now, which is why you're probably seeing so many people scrambling to figure out a way to handle it better. Glad to see Bedard & Co. doing well out of the gate, hopefully they can keep it going.

 

[patchick]

Ad revenue is declining and ad blocker use is growing, which is killing everyone

Yep, it's a vicious cycle. Non-intrusive ads earn a site next to nothing these days, so publishers have to accept interstitials, video ads, etc. to stay in business. And those ads are so annoying that more users turn on ad blockers, which makes publishers even more desperate....

For those who object to Bedard's traditional subscription model, I'm curious which alternative revenue stream you'd prefer as a reader:

- Require watching a video ad before loading a page of content
- Require answering a survey question before loading a page of content
- Split every article into a separate page load for each paragraph to maximize ad impressions
- A pay-as-you go system that charges, say, 10 cents for every article you click on
- Any better ideas?

 

[BlacknGold77]

Yep, it's a vicious cycle. Non-intrusive ads earn a site next to nothing these days, so publishers have to accept interstitials, video ads, etc. to stay in business. And those ads are so annoying that more users turn on ad blockers, which makes publishers even more desperate....

For those who object to Bedard's traditional subscription model, I'm curious which alternative revenue stream you'd prefer as a reader:

- Require watching a video ad before loading a page of content
- Require answering a survey question before loading a page of content
- Split every article into a separate page load for each paragraph to maximize ad impressions
- A pay-as-you go system that charges, say, 10 cents for every article you click on
- Any better ideas?

to me its not people being against the subscription model, its more prove what you'll bring that's worth signing up.

basically prove you're going to deliver content you cant go to 10 other websites and get. otherwise, that's exactly what people will do. he needs to give more than site like MMQB, SI, NBCSports, Barstool, ESPN offer.

Hell, even big players don't fully make the subscription model work. Like the Globe, anything worthwhile behind their pay wall is reported on for free by the Herald. ESPNInsider struggles too, and they are providing original (as in not widely reported) content behind their pay wall.

that's the problem with trying to do a subscription model on the internet. there are too many ways to get the same thing for free.

 

[Tony2046]

to me its not people being against the subscription model, its more prove what you'll bring that's worth signing up.

basically prove you're going to deliver content you cant go to 10 other websites and get. otherwise, that's exactly what people will do. he needs to give more than site like MMQB, SI, NBCSports, Barstool, ESPN offer.

Hell, even big players don't fully make the subscription model work. Like the Globe, anything worthwhile behind their pay wall is reported on for free by the Herald. ESPNInsider struggles too, and they are providing original (as in not widely reported) content behind their pay wall.

that's the problem with trying to do a subscription model on the internet. there are too many ways to get the same thing for free.

I agree but I will say no one has anything like BSJ's Training camp reports. They are incredibly good.

 

[BlacknGold77]

I agree but I will say no one has anything like BSJ's Training camp reports. They are incredibly good.

Agreed.

I wasn't trying to say he's a fool or not going to make it work. Just that he faces a big hurdle with the pay wall

 

[patchick]

to me its not people being against the subscription model, its more prove what you'll bring that's worth signing up.

basically prove you're going to deliver content you cant go to 10 other websites and get. otherwise, that's exactly what people will do. he needs to give more than site like MMQB, SI, NBCSports, Barstool, ESPN offer.

Yeah, there's definitely a leap-of-faith aspect to it. You have to trust that if enough people pay, they'll use the resources to deliver something of superior quality. We'll see.

FWIW, I would be thrilled to have a single site I could rely on for thorough Patriots reporting and insightful football analysis -- and NOT making my waste my time wading through a bunch of garbage to find it. (If time is money, a free site with only a 10% hit rate on articles being worth reading is pretty damned expensive.)

 

[borg]

FWIW, I would be thrilled to have a single site I could rely on for thorough Patriots reporting and insightful football analysis

You do.
It's called PatsFans.com : Patriots Fan Forum

Let's be honest......every bit of news/rumor/etc that pertains to the Patriots ends up on the message board in expeditious fashion.......typically within 120 seconds of hitting Twitter/Reiss/PFT/ESPN/etc.

And for a bonus, you get to hate the JESTs and mock Felger and Douche 24/7

 

[patchick]

You do.
It's called PatsFans.com : Patriots Fan Forum

And you'll notice that I'm here. A lot. But remember my "not wade through pages of chaff" requirement? Even our beloved PatsFans.com doesn't deliver that by any stretch of the imagination.

Let's be honest......every bit of news/rumor/etc that pertains to the Patriots ends up on the message board in expeditious fashion.......typically within 120 seconds of hitting Twitter/Reiss/PFT/ESPN/etc.

OK, but notice that the ultimate source of all of that info is paid professional journalists. They have to be able to make a living somehow.

 

[borg]

And you'll notice that I'm here. A lot. But remember my "not wade through pages of chaff" requirement? Even our beloved PatsFans.com doesn't deliver that by any stretch of the imagination.

That's the beauty of the PatsFans "ignore" feature

, but notice that the ultimate source of all of that info is paid professional journalists. They have to be able to make a living somehow.

Do they?
From my lofty perch of observation, much of the "news" relayed by "professional journalists" these days is simply rehashes of athletes' Twitter accounts and news releases by teams. Given the Patriots obsessive paranoia regarding info leaks, the professional Pats journalist in NE has been reduced to Twitter Watch and Opinionated Hot Takes.
Twitter is free ....and Ian makes all these feeds available here.....
and the hot takes on this board deserve more respect than most of the pros.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

For those who object to Bedard's traditional subscription model, I'm curious which alternative revenue stream you'd prefer as a reader

I don't object to the model -- I think it's a fine model, in fact.

I object to Bedard and his long-term demonstrated douchiness. Dump him and swap in Reiss and I'd subscribe right away.