Swing and a Long Drive Turns One

Believe it or not, Swing and a Long Drive turns one year old today! Boy, how time flies! Since the start of this blog, the Phillies are 105-64 (postseason included), with a World Championship.

There were many factors that lead to starting a blog. Brett Myers was struggling and Joe Giles told my dad that the Phillies were thinking of sending him down to the minor leagues. This was about 2 weeks before he was actually sent down. So my dad told me, and I was pretty much the only one who knew. I wanted to tell everyone, but had no way of doing so. On Philly.com, I noticed there were fan links to blogs, so I looked at the other blogs to see if they had any news on Myers. Nothing. I kept reading the blogs, until Myers finally did get demoted. I was like "I told you so!" but wait, I didn't tell anybody! Continuing to read the other blogs, I noticed hey, anybody can do this. I tossed the idea around my head for awhile until I finally started one. It started out as something to do in my spare time.

On June 27, 2008 at 12:03 AM (yeah, I don't know why I posted an article during that time of the night) I made my first post. I have to admit, it is very funny to look back on old articles. It was mainly an introduction post, but I said "I like our chances," and "I believe [the Phillies] can win the National League East." Our chances were pretty good, weren't they? And the Wiffle Ball Tournament; we're having our second annual Wiffle Ball Tournament this week to raise money for a local kid who has leukemia.

My have things changed since the blog started. If you were a die hard Swing and a Long Drive fan from day one (yeah, I don't think there are any either), you may remember that the original, uncreative name of this site was called "The Phan." That lasted all of three days until I finally decided to call it "Swing and a Long Drive" after Harry Kalas' most famous call. Now, Swing and a Long Drive has a full page of almost 100 Harry Kalas calls featured from the "Call of the Day" which started after the sudden death of the great broadcaster. Every day you'll fine a new call in a post or added to the list.

Most people who have seen this site know that the original link was "phanamanda.blogspot.com." What the heck was I thinking when I decided to use that link? Couldn't I have thought of something cooler and easier? Thankfully, I got a domain name, swingandalongdrive.com, that is associated with the actual name of the blog. Much easier to remember.

To go along with the domain name, I got a new layout. It's about the fourth or fifth layout I've had. The original was a red and gray. The second was a blue color. Once I figured out how to add columns and got used to blogging, my third template was a white one, which I had for most of my blogging career.

I know I have made many mistakes, whether its grammatical, statistical, spelling, or whatever. However, I felt that since I started this site, my writing has improved. I might not have a future as a sports writer, but hopefully Swing and a Long Drive is one (yes, I know you like other sites too!) of the places to come to all your baseball needs.

The blog has lead to many great things. For instance, not only do I keep you up to date with all the Phillies and MLB news, but Phillies Nation recruited me to write for their site. I started writing for them since January, and daily since the end of June. It has also been a blast having "counter point" arguments with IRONPIGPEN and Phoul Ballz.

Also, thank you to all those who have done link exchanges with me. The blogroll keeps growing. If you would like to add your link to my blogroll, e-mail me at amanda@swingandalongdrive.com. Also, e-mail me if you have any questions, comments, or would like to write for Swing and a Long Drive. Other than that, drop a comment in the comment section.

I thank you for reading my blog, whether its on a daily basis, once a week, once a month, or even if its the second time you're seeing it since my first post. This site would not be possible without you (why would I write if nobody reads?). It may not sound like much, but the blog has had a total of about 33,000 views since I started it. That's about 100 per day, and those numbers have increased dramatically each day. The most views I have gotten in one day was about 450. Like I said, every day I get more and more views. It is very hard to have a successful blog, luckily this is one of them.

After clicking some of the links in this post, it may be like Swing and a Long Drive's life flashed in front of your eyes. I hope you have enjoyed reading Swing and a Long Drive for the past year. I try my best to give all the news, unbiased opinions, and also have some fun. If you're new to site, please keep checking in. We have a lot of great things coming up for the upcoming year.