Hard to believe, but it was two years ago today this little tube of the internet sparked to life and BSD was born. Perhaps this is a good time to go back and revisit the BSD mission statement.
Before we go into what you can expect to see here, let's discuss what not to expect. You will not see any exclusive interviews with players or coaches. I don't have any access or affiliation with Penn State. You will not get inside scoops. In fact, you will not get any news here you cannot find yourself elsewhere on the internet.
So now you're asking yourself, "Why in the world should I bookmark this site?" I will try to explain. If you're like me, you might like to keep up with the football team and know what's going on with recruiting or who is moving up on the depth chart in spring practice. You might be interested to know who tore their ACL and who is surprising the coaches in the weight room. You are probably interested in knowing this kind of stuff, but you don't have time to hit fifty websites a day. That's where I come in.
Black Shoe Diaries mission is to be your one source where you can keep up with Penn State 365 days a year. I check all of these websites every day. It's my hobby. I would do it anyway even if this blog didn't exist. I always have. My service to my fellow Penn State fans is to combine the information I gather into one source so you too can keep up with Penn State all year round.
If you're a die hard PSU fan like I am, you already know what's going on with the team so you don't need me for that. This site will give you a forum to talk about Penn State with other Penn State fans. Each post will offer my opinions and analysis which you can take or leave, but you are free to offer your own opinions and analysis as well.
What makes blogs interesting is the comments and interaction between the readers. I promise you we will all have more fun here if you comment on my posts and each others comments. I will try to steer the conversation by offering timely and entertaining topics. I will also try to bring in some fans from other colleges to spice things up a bit. If you don't like my topic du jour or you hear a juicy rumor from Anthony Morelli's roommate's girlfriend's sister's classmate, you can start your own conversations in the diary section. But it's up to you the readers to make this fun. So with that, let's start blogging.
All-in-all not too shabby. I think we've done a pretty good job living up to that vision.
I look back on that blogger two years ago with amazement in how far he's come. Back then I set a goal to reach 200 hits per day. At the time 200 hits a day would have made BSD the biggest Penn State blog on the internet when your only other options were The Nittany Line and Run Up The Score who were also in their infancy. Today we average around 2500 hits per day and I suspect once we get into the season that number could top 3000. In two years we've seen over 840,000 hits and sometime in October I suspect we will top the one million mark.
I've logged two seasons and 1071 posts. But BSD is more than just Mike, RUTS, and Kevin. It's 408 members who have logged 511 fanposts and 16,223 comments. Without all of you BSD wouldn't be the great venue it is today, and for that I thank you all.