One Year Down The Line

Well today is the first birthday of Outside Edge. Can't believe it has been one year since I started blogging about cricket, having being exposed to the blogosphere in my Web Mining class. Well, living as I was at that time in Midwestern United States cut off from the cricketmania that is generally prevalent in India was definitely a major factor in motivating me to start this blog. When you are out there shivering in sub-zero temperatures in the corn fields of Iowa, you do tend to explore every possible avenue to stay in touch with the game.

Over the past year, this blog has evolved along with me. Initially, I commented on virtually every topic related to cricket I found interesting. I took a review of all matches going on. At times, I scheduled time specifically to blog, like half an hour every morning or every evening or whatever.

Now I am more selective in my posts. After all, the mainstream media is there for the usual match reviews. And blogs such as Prem Panicker's Sightscreen cover pretty much every news article with thorough analysis and critique anyway.

Of course blogging is not all so easy. If you want your blog to be read and your readers to keep coming back you have got to offer them some unique value. Blogs like Will Luke's Corridor of Uncertainty are legends in the cricket blogging circle. But there are innumerable fans blogging on cricket out there. So I realised that the best way to go about it is write what you feel straight from the heart and write it immediately. Thinking through, planning an article does not work with me on blogs on most occasions. You will find this reflected in my recent posts as compared to my earlier ones. Hell, I have hardly "covered" a single match in the recent Ind-SL series. Of course the great beauty of blogs over conventional journalism is that I don't need to. People know about it courtesy the MSM of course. All I need to do is add value (my opinion) wherever I deem it worth.

What I can confidently say however, for a cricket fan, blogs are a MUCH more valuable resource than mainstream media - not for news, but for insights and analysis. Clearly, the presence of so many varied minds pouring out their opinions has the great advantage of putting forth the story from all possible angles.

I would like to thank all of these, some of whom inspired me and all who helped me to keep this blog going. A blog without readers and comments is like a match in Eden Gardens with no people to watch. It is just unthinkable.