Behind the Blog: So Very Obsessed
Welcome to the fourth edition of Behind the Blog. After learning about the bloggers behind On the Wings, Off Wing Opinion, and Canucks Hockey Blog, it is time to get to know Heather Creegan who owns and operates, SoVeryObsessed.com. Personally, I’m a big fan of her blog because she has content. While most blogs cover the latest news or game summaries, So Very Obsessed does that and much more. You can read Heather’s frustrations about a game or player or her delight in how a player is performing. Her strong opinions are what make her blog such a great read. Interested in being featured in the next Behind the Blog? Drop me an email!
Q.1 - When did you first create your hockey blog and why did you choose the domain, soveryobsessed.com?
I’d been posting pictures online since Dec 2002, but somewhere around April 2003 I realized that a) they (and the hockey talk) were taking over my personal site, and b) I needed to have a separate place to yammer about hockey, lest I bore off my 3 readers talking incessantly about something they cared very little about. I chose soveryobsessed because it was the first thing that came to mind when I was sitting in front of the domain registration screen, and I think it aptly defines the site.
Q.2 - Why are you so very obsessed with hockey, especially the Boston Bruins?
I honestly do not know. Hockey is the first sport that ever “took” with me. (I am not athletic. Or coordinated.) I went to a live game first, and was just utterly captivated from the first drop of the puck. I wanted to know everything about it- the rules, the players, the history, etc. When I realized that I could go to games just about once a week, I about blissed out in joy. Concerts had been my thing before, and they’re not as often as hockey. Couple that with the fact that my best friend and cohort in concert-going had just become a mother, and I was looking for something new to love. Boston became my team because they were the closest NHL team, and they were the first pro team I went to see. When I discovered the AHL hotbed that New England is (and the NHL/AHL connection), it blew my mind I could go see pro guys play hockey down the street from where I went to high school. It’s still something that will blow my mind from time to time.
Q.3 - I love reading your blog because you cover what’s going on with the team (both NHL & AHL), but you also vent your frustrations or excitedly talk about a big win that happened. You really personalize your blog. Has your blog always been like that?
Yes. There’s no way to say this without sounding snotty, but I try to talk with people instead of at them. The site is so fun for me because so many other people interact with it, and some people have told me that in person I’m just like the way I am on my site. That’s one of the best things they can say to me, next to, “here is a big box of millions of real dollars for you to keep and spend.” Or, y’know, any other kind of site compliment.
Q.4 - You are also really into photography and you have a gallery with tons of quality pictures featuring both the Boston’s NHL and AHL team. When did you start photographing at games and/or start posting them online?
The first game I ever took pictures at was my second NHL game - Dec. 21, 2002. I was so scared, and several rows back from the ice. I was so sure the boys were watching and I was so sure I was going to get yelled at. When I got comfortable, that’s when I started pushing my limits with zooms and such. I’m not exactly sure when I started putting them online. Possibly shortly after that first game, because it was an easy way for me to share them with distant friends.
Q.5 - During the lockout, you followed the Providence Bruins very closely. Now that the NHL is back, how will you divide your time between the two teams?
This is a question I have asked myself a lot. The short answer: I haven’t a clue. Right now, I have a couple tickets for Boston, and I have plans for Providence. While I’m excited about Boston, I’m still hopped up on the love affair I had with the AHL last season, so I’m even MORE excited about Providence. (Right now, I’m all cool, all, “I’m just playing it by ear,” but come the end of December, start of January, I’ll be all, “MMMHOCKEYGIVEMEMOREICANNOTGETENOUGH!” and will thusly be at every single game between Boston and Providence.)
Q.6 - You use a lot of programs like Movable Type, Gallery, PHPBB, etc. All of which, I believe, you self-taught yourself how to use. What was it like using trial and error just to get your website up and running?
I originally did everything except the blog and gallery manually. I’d been self-teaching myself HTML for years, and had figured out Blogger and Gallery by the time I started SVO, so it wasn’t too nervewracking. It wasn’t as scary as going from 0 to 60, but there have been many long, curse-filled nights lit by the glow of a computer monitor when something sneezes and I haven’t a clue what to do about it. (This is one of the reasons I make friends with people smarter then me.)
Q.7 - How do you think the Bruins will do in the NHL this year? The AHL?
Boston, I think, will do well. I’m particularly excited about the goaltending tandem because of Hannu. If Joe Thornton steps up, they’ll be unstoppable. Providence … I don’t know. All the guys I’m most excited about seeing there are the ones that will be called up when there are injuries. However, I know they have it in them to go just as far as last year’s squad did (third round of the Calder Cup playoffs) and beyond.
Q.8 - Who is your favorite hockey player? Why?
I’ve almost always got a list going of favorite players, and they all jockey for position depending on the day. The top three right now are defenseman Jonathan Girard, goalie Jordan Sigalet, and forward Jason Spezza. Girard has been a favorite the longest; since my first game. He just has this incredible concentration that I find fascinating, and his skating speed just … it makes me want to put on skates and get fast, just so I can race him. Spezza has been a favorite since I met him last season, and he’s just so disarmingly charming, so humble, so smart, and so offensively gifted that I cannot help but root for him. Sigalet made The List early this preseason, mostly for the same reasons that Jason Spezza made the list. Jordan has one of my all-time favorite spectacular save stories. Very odd reasons to like players, I know (I have taken much heat for liking/disliking players based on their off-ice demeanors and attitudes), but this is who I am, this is what I pay attention to. It’s easy to like players because of their fantastic stats or their hype, but that will only get you so far with me, and I tire of hype quickly.
Q.9 - How much does it bother you when other major Boston sports teams (like the Red Sox for example) get the headlines and the Bruins don’t?
Doesn’t, really, because I am selective with what I read. I skip to what I want to read, and that’s that. The papers, I think, are quite fair. I don’t watch sports shows much, but when I’m watching a Bruins pregame, I want to hear about the Bruins. Not how the Red Sox were ousted from the playoffs (complete with 20 minutes of video coverage), or about how spring training started and the Sox are working off the offseason beer guts, or about how OHMYGOSH, a Red Sox player SNEEZED! and NO ONE was there to catch the boogers in a tissue, so he had to wipe them on his SLEEVE! Oh, the humanity! (Yeah… I’m just a wee bit Soxed out.) But by local media not devoting much time or ink, they leave open a niche market for people like me. It’s easy to write about teams that won championships when they win them, but the journey to that championship is what makes it so sweet. Good thing I have always liked traveling…
Q.10 - What do you think of the NHL’s marketing job so far? What would you do to improve it?
I think they started it too late. And I think they lost a lot of ground during the lockout. I know that with no set return date, it made advertising to come see them a bit difficult, but so many people didn’t know it was on hiatus. The AHL lost out too. So many people hadn’t heard of the AHL when they discovered it was why I wasn’t mourning the loss of the NHL. There was so much incredible talent in that league last year. Had they done some more advertising, and had they joined hands with the NHL come this past offseason and when the NHL had a return date, there’d be a lot more people a lot more excited about the younger players this season.
To improve it, I’d probably just do more of it. I think this vignetted ad they’ve got going is pretty good - minus the silliness of the first one (candles? a woman helping them dress? C’mon now.) - but it would have been better if they’d started with it sooner. I also think that locally, teams should be advertising their players.
Q.11 - What team and/or player do you think will have a breakout year this season?
That’s a tough question, and it’s so early in the season. I’m biased towards just about any player I saw last season in the minors, like… Alright, I have typed and deleted names for about twenty minutes now. I can’t pick one, and you can’t make me.
Q.12 - Do you think the current salary cap structure will benefit the league in the long term? I’m not talking players vs. owners, but more about will it make the NHL a better league in general compared to what it was like before the lockout?
I think the league is only as good as the talent they attract, and that will be determined by the way the GMs spend those cap dollars. They have certainly created their own competition with the leagues in Russia and Europe, because they’ve really leveled the financial playing field. And with money being tax free across that ocean… I think it’s going to be tougher for them to get international talent, and tougher for them to keep talent here. I also think it will be an interesting long-term study in who uses their money wisely, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens with this escrow account the players are kicking into.
Q.13 - What advice would you give to fellow hockey bloggers, especially the newcomers?
Participate in other sites but don’t be a linkwhoring pest, don’t be afraid to be wrong or have a differing opinion, just because you can make your text flash on your site doesn’t mean you SHOULD, and always, always, always use spellcheck. Also, don’t be intimidated. Keep up with the site, and don’t half-ass it. All or nothing, baby. (There is nothing sadder then abandoned blogs.)
Q.14 - Where do you see the Bruins and/or the NHL in 10 years?
Hoisting the Cup down Causeway in a championship parade for the 10th consecutive year. HA! I jest. (9th time. We’ll let someone else win it for one year. Maybe.)
I would like to see the Bruins with a Cup win or several, because I would like a championship parade I’d play hooky from work for (the Pats are not enough; the Sox… uh, no thanks). I would like to see attendance up, and I would like to see the NHL get hip to the jive that you have to be nice to fans to get them to love you more. Aww, hell, I’ll say it- I’d like to see me as the boss of everything. Step aside, Bettman, Heather’s got some work to do.
I just realized that was a giant wish list. Dear Santa: In addition to all that, I would also like a pony! Milk, cookies, and some carrots for your reindeer, Heather
Q.15 - Is there a hockey blog or site that you look up to for inspiration?
I try to keep myself in line with what I like to read, and what I’d want to read if I was the mama of one of these players, but other then that, no, not really. I try to do my own thing.
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2 Responses to “Behind the Blog: So Very Obsessed”
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November 2nd, 2005 at 7:24 pm
This is a really clever idea, Christy. Congrats for thinking of it first!
I’m actually looking forward to reading about other bloggers here since I only know about a few of them.
November 2nd, 2005 at 8:53 pm
Thanks for the compliment! I’m making my rounds so expect to get an email prolly when I send my next batch of email interviews out!