Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I was scared to death to start this new column on the Substack platform. But one column into the new adventure, things are looking up.
I got my first couple of paid subscriptions before Iād written a single word ā shocking, for sure ā and for that, I thank all those who jumped on right away.
And then I wrote, both about my experience at The Athletic and how I plan to grow this thing, and, wellā¦WOW.
The response has been overwhelming. At last glance, I had more than 150 paid subscriptions and over 1000 free subs. Thatās remarkable. I really didnāt write the piece with the idea of making waves; I was just angry and disappointed and thought it was time to open a vein and bleed a little bit. But my experience at The Athletic has gone somewhat viral ā lots of sites wrote about it ā and itās clearly helped drive a ton of traffic my way.
So simplyā¦thank you, thank you, and thank you again. You have entrusted me to do great work on this site. Itās a massive responsibility and one I will take seriously every day. Iāll write again for Monday morning on a hot Colts-related subject (I wonāt share the exact column idea because thereās still competition in this town), and I will dive into training camp when they report Tuesday and start practicing Wednesday.
Thanks for reading, thanks for subscribing. Letās have some fun.
The story of wasted potential and broken promises at The Athletic is bigger than sports, and it needs to be told in detail by voices who were there. You've made an important contribution. It's critical not just for readers who love great sports writing, but even moreso for the next generation of writers who are facing hard questions about following the dream. The Athletic model of extracting and exploiting equity built by local media worsened the financial prospects of numerous papers, which hastened the race to the bottom. They've left a void in a market they irreparably changed for the worse, and they deserve all the accountability and scorn those who know the truth can muster. Keep talking.
I'm just some fat asshole from Canada but I subbed to the athletic specifically for Colts news. And even though I'd read and heard of Bob Kravitz it wasn't until the athletic that I got to truly appreciate his writing. I was doomscrolling Google news or some such shit and saw that sir Kravitz was on substack. I'd heard of substack but never did anything about it. You sir, are the reason I'm migrating to this app now. I'm an admitted free loader as it stands rn, but when my funds reach my aspirations I'll be a happy paid sub to Mr Kravitz. Even for the non Colts stuff. You have a voice that needs to be heard (and compensated for) as far as the latter, I'll get to that I promise. As for the former, welcome back and God speed my good man.