Since the dawn of time, humans have strived for access. Access to food, access to fire, access to spears then horses then spices then America then hamburgers then rock 'n roll then snapchats. Access to Boise State football practice.
Well, my friends. We've made it.
OBNUG is a credentialed member of the media with access to Boise State press conferences, interviews, and practice. Need more gifs!
Our moment in the catered press box has arrived, and we cannot thank you all enough for your support. Let's party together - today in the comments, in August at the scrimmage, away-game Saturdays at the Boise Fry, and whenever we happen to see each other on the streets. High fives all around!
In case there was a question about our credentials for getting credentials, here's a paragraph you could copy-and-paste. (We've certainly copied-and-pasted it lots before.) We are the longest-tenured Boise State blog in existence, going on eight years. We are prominent, inasmuch as we are part of the SB Nation family, and our traffic at high tide - in the 10s of thousands - hovers near a Caldwell per day. Combined, the main writers here compose a pretty complete editorial department: I have a journalism degree, newspaper experience, and an expired membership with the Idaho Press Club; Drew runs digital marketing campaigns and is Da Vinci with a Photoshop; and Jesse is basically the Don Draper of Seattle advertising agencies. Collectively, we have standards and ethics and rules to the way we write our stories and jokes and for the lines we choose to draw and never cross.
In short, we are a blog that lives outside the stereotypical blog. We've put in the time, we waited our turn, and now we're here.
So what's next?
We recognize that OBNUG is not the Idaho Statesman. They report, we comment. They investigate, we analyze. The services we provide our audiences are different, and I'd argue that they're each extremely valuable in their own way.
With this difference in mind, we've come to the conclusion that access to us is really access for you. We like to think of ourselves as the voice of Boise State football fans. So we're going to take a community approach to our press pass.
What does this look like in practice? We're not entirely sure, but here are some of our guesses.
- You can submit questions to us for the press conferences
- You can help decide which players we'll interview
- You can send along anything you want to know about inside the Boise State football program
One thing we're certain we'd like to try is making some strides with audio/video features. How does a slick practice video sound? How about a professional looking hype video? A well-produced interview or two? We think we can pull these off. We just need a little hand.
If you'd like to contribute to our cause, we've started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for some audio/video gear. Details are here. Basically, you can pledge a certain amount of money, get some cool swag for doing so, and we'll create some really awesome stuff with the proceeds.
Thanks for persevering with us and for coming along for the ride. From henceforth and forever more, may this day be known as OBNUG Press Pass Day and Jason Street's Birthday!
We're excited to jump into things this season and produce some really great stories for you all. Party on in the comments, and see what you think about that fundraiser we've got going on.