To preface this post, it is very meta and doesn’t have much to do with the team that brought you here to this site. If you do not care about my thoughts on a change in style, skip this post and I hope to see you back for the next one!
Ok, with that warning out of the way, let’s get into it.
If you have been reading my writing for a while, you will notice that the Match Recaps have had a largely consistent format with minor changes once in every blue moon. I’m a fan of consistency and when I started writing my recaps in 2020, I made up the formatting and have stuck with it. Recently, I have begun to reassess my work. I wasn’t convinced everything that I was writing was a value add, specifically the retelling of the match portion. Ironic that it’s the recap portion of the Match Recap pieces I’ve questioned. By and large, I felt it was a safe assumption that the vast majority of readers have seen the matches. Even if they didn’t, I wasn’t convinced that I was bringing anything different to the table that the USL Match Highlights on YouTube couldn’t provide in under three minutes.
I thought better of just making a change and threw the question out on Twitter. To my surprise, the majority appears to enjoy (in some capacity, at least) my play-by-play retelling of the match. There were a lot of great comments made in response to that tweet and I appreciate everyone that provided feedback in one way, shape, or form. I’ve always wanted what I write to be something others enjoy. While the statistics and the opinion elements of my Match Recaps are most likely the most interesting portion for readers, the retelling of what happened did provide more value than I had believed. I had assumed wrong and I’m glad I asked.
With all that said, I’ve been talked out of eliminating the section in question. However, it is an area that I would like to rework. I have become more engrossed with capturing a multitude of mediums ranging from photography to statistical graphics (heat maps, xG charts, etc.). Over the coming weeks, you may see some variations. Perhaps a more condensed retelling of the match to jog the memory with the highlight video embedded into the page for easy viewing? It’s something I’m still thinking through. As I experiment with the style, I welcome your feedback. As I said above, I want these pieces to be enjoyable for others. Twitter is the best place to yell at me. You can find me on Facebook as well. If you have avoided getting sucked into social media; 1. Congratulations! 2. I’m the idiot in a purple bucket hat at matches. You can flag me down and share your thought IRL like in the good old days.
While we’re here doing this, I want to say thank you to everyone who checks out my work. I’ve touched on my origins in the past, but one reason I began this was to get more involved in the community and it’s certainly done that. It’s also filled a creative void in my life. It’s checked a lot of boxes for me personally and hopefully, it has brought you a little joy or at least a new perspective on the team we love and the matches they take part in.
Go City!
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