Friday, October 17, 2014

BYB: THE GIVE & TAKE OF SUPPORT & RESPECT


One thing I like to do here at BYB is let our supporters, our friends and my writers know that I support them because they support me and the product of Bleeding Yankee Blue.  We've been having a solid give and take here a lot at BYB.  It's what we're literally founded on... especially when you strip away the New York Yankees overtone.  When you do... you see a family; individuals that have come together to have conversation, give support and just plain say "Hey", be it in a Yankee forum or on Twitter as a friend.

Over the past 4 years, great things have happened at BYB.  We've met incredible people, players, celebrities and non-Yankee fans, and with that have become bigger in the Yankee and baseball world.  We're more relevant these days. Yup... people turn to us in the morning even with other outlets out there. We appreciate that. I personally thank you for that.


It was an interesting week.  Gatorade did something quite special sending out Commemorative Derek Jeter #2 water bottles to some of the BYB faithful and that was very nice of them. Check out this shot from @CanIPettitte! You gotta love the loyalty.
In addition, we usually have a weekly hate fest and when that happens I call people out. I don't like when my writers who work hard to put words on a page get harrassed for no reason. It bothers me. Sure, you may disagree with us all you want, YOU'RE ALLOWED TO, but what happened to a spirited disagreement? If you are the type of person that has no motivation and is always critical of others because you may have a miserable life youself, Please don't read BYB. It's the wrong forum for you... I'll go Don Corleone on you...


In the end, I protect my writers...always.  In the end, I support the people that mean the most to me.  Bottom line... my writers are the hardest working people on the web.  Not because they write for me, but because they raise families, maintain full time jobs, AND write for me.  This is not a business... this is a passion and the sooner people will figure that out... we can all get along.

Support comes in many forms, but the form I like the most is just that subtle love and support we get through "retweets" and "favorites" on Twitter and the occasional comment on Facebook like, "I disagree with you, but nice work putting that together."  Disagreements happen, but it's when we get hate mail because we put our a report about Alex Rodriguez.... that I just don't get.


When I posted I DON'T CARE IF YOU HATE AROD. IT'S JUST BASEBALL a few weeks ago, and merely suggested that ARod fans shouldn't be getting attacked for liking ARod, I didn't expect the backlash I received.  It was clear that BYB reached a new level at that point. Hate is widespread, and why? Because people just like being cruel?  All I was suggesting was that the hate was so ridiculous because it was an extension of a player to his fans and it's unwarranted. Some haters went away... many just continued for no real reason.


I was touched by Laura Posada's tweet last night.  It hit home and literally inspired me to write this post this morning. She tweeted this:
It rings true in many ways. I'm a mush. I like to give compliments and I hope when you read us, you have the courage to reach out and return it as well.  There is nothing better than seeing that you read something on the pages of BYB and wanted to let the writer know it touched you.... or you agreed, or even disagreed, but "supported the piece" or "respected" us for writing it.  That's important.  In the end, sure, we're all Yankee fans, but we're human beings.  Respect each other. Support each other.


Some of us like one player more than another and that's OK, in fact, it's healthy.  Writer Mike O'Hara and I are not big Mark Teixeira fans. But it doesn't mean we hate the dude or the people that support him.  Jeana Bellezza, another one of our writers loves Tex.  Hey, hats off to her... but we don't agree.  We also don't write each other hate mail and threaten.  We happen to understand that it's only baseball ladies and gentlemen... it's just a game. This is not a life or death article, life goes on... so stop the disrespect.  

"Remind the ones you love that you will always support them." That's Laura Posada's words and it resonates and it should with everyone here who reads this, this morning.

So I say to the BYB audience... the audience that wakes up with us every morning. The audience that bookmarks BYB and who shares us daily.... Thank you. And I want to tell you something else... Anything you do, BYB has your back.  You have a fundraiser you need help with? You let us know.  You need help with a survey? (Read FROM THE YANKEES, TO CATS, TO PIZZA), BYB can help with that.  And if you need alittle pick me up?  Tell us. We're easy, especially if you love us back.

I'm not looking for 100% praise at BYB.  I'm looking for respect.  It's not easy for our writers to get up after dealing with kids and sports, and volunteerism and work and dinners and second jobs and activities to then sit down at a computer and bang out something worth reading. But we do it, because we love it.  We also love you reading it.  4 years later, there's a respect. It's a beautiful give and take and I personally love what we've built.  Bleeding Yankee Blue is a community... we're family here.  All I ask is that you respect us, because we respect you guys a helluva lot.

I leave you with Laura Posada's words again.  Take it in... it's significant:

"It’s important to remind the ones you love that you will always support them."

Pass it on...

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