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*** Because I really want to know ...

  • I would like more background stories on players or coaches. What they have gone through in their life. Those stories interest me.

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    majorthreat17 ●

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    Simply the best

    CrimsonD247 ●

  • Im not joking here. Get Montravius Adams to commit and sign and ill walk around my.entire town with BOL painted on my head and where BOL pants and a shirt.

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    Lebron James will never be as good as Michael Jordan, thus we should get rid of his nickname, "The King".

    amrollZ71 ●

  • gwilsonjr said...

    Is there anyway to put pertinent threads back on the main page like there used to be?

    Other than to pin them? Please me more specific, I'm not getting what you're asking for. Thanks.

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    Christopher Walsh covers Alabama football for BamaOnline, 247Sports, and is the author of 18 books.

    Chris Walsh

  • Chris Walsh said...

    More video is on the way.
    Organized Q&As - ok sounds good.

    Coverage of other sports. Here's the thing - and I hate to be negative - but you guys really don't read the things we post on other sports. A perfect example was softball. The live threads got thousands of hits -- you all wanted to know the scores. The gamers got maybe a couple of hundred until the postseason, and then they still got nowhere near numbers as the live threads.

    Basketball, I think we covered every home game, and the majority of home baseball games.

    But if we did more on other sports, what are we talking about, features? News (Grant keeps things very, very tight, so that's a big reason you don't see more)? Columns?

    Honestly Chris for the people who want coverage of the other sports you might as well just post the stories from Rolltide.com and maybe expound a bit on what the win/loss means for the team.

    Most of them probably don't go to Rolltide.com to read those stories anyway and they'd be read by as many people as a story you would do without you having to attend the event and write a story.

    Honestly I think you guys do a great job as is, though I did like Instant Analysis after Spring/Fall practices.

    TalHawkins112 ●

  • Great feedback everyone and please keep them coming - I have to attend to something, but I will come back and answer all questions.

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    Christopher Walsh covers Alabama football for BamaOnline, 247Sports, and is the author of 18 books.

    Chris Walsh

  • I'm sure y'all get tired of talking about this and I know its supposed to be coming soon, but the text alerts on commits and include during season updates on if a player is out due to injury or stuff like that.. I know we get those updates in the articles though so that may be a dumb suggestion. And I loved the feature y'all did with the incoming freshmen; what they've been doing since signing day, who they're rooming with, what they're looking forward to, ect. How about doing something like that with current players.. Askig things like who they room with, what they do outside of football, and just anything you guys see fit to ask..

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    RTRBB ●

  • I know the first week I signed up there was a staff commitment prediction article on Jameis Winston and a few other players and I never saw one of those again. How about a week, bi-weekly, or monthly staff commitment predict article on say 10 prospects we are targeting and it can even include commited prospects on how confident you are at that time they will hold their commitment to UA

    beastman321 ●

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    tidegolfer1964

  • Chris Walsh said...

    (A specific example came to me after my initial post. How well do you think it would have went over if I had written before the national championship game that Marquis Maze vs. the Honey Badger was an advantage for LSU? See my point?)

    However, if you read the stories during the days leading up to the games, there are a lot of subtle references about what are expected got be the key matchups.

    I certainly see your point, but I think there is a difference between saying what the matchup is and saying who will win it. My bigger request was just for an outline of the matchups themselves, with what the differences are. I understand it's tough, as you have to balance the give and take for the best long-term result.

    As a suggestion for how to give an opinion, I think it's an excellent opportunity to pair with an opposing site's staff. Both staffs are free to write about why they think their team will win the game. Since you write only in a positive light for your team, you don't have to worry about hurt feelings toward your team's players. You also get to really give your opinion on the positives without worrying about ticking off your subscriber base. Even if there is no opposing site, I would think you can always write a "reasons why we will win" piece.

    Huskypup ●

  • An idea I thought of from the recent Trips articles about 3 current players would be to do something like that for the football program in general. You could have 3 categories. 1)random game/season where you briefly discuss highlights, stories, etc from each game or season you choose to review. 2)updates on former player or coach (i know this has been done a few times by BOL & I've enjoyed those articles). & 3) Recruitment Rewinds. You could bring back stories of recent & former recruits & the drama involved with their recruitment. Can be someone who ended up at Bama or almost signed but unfortunately (for them) picked another school. Each new class provides plenty of entertainment, I know there's quite a few good stories out the I've forgotten about .

    My suggestions are a bit on the nostalgic side, but I enjoy keeping up with the past. Must be my history minor coming out in me, lol.

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    SaBear ●

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    "Character" is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

    bama764

  • I agree with Bolden1983.video updates would be huge with me,too bad the copyrights destroyed that idea.I can see what i can do to bring some folks over.

    Tide_Pride4ever

  • Chris Walsh said...

    Coverage of other sports. Here's the thing - and I hate to be negative - but you guys really don't read the things we post on other sports. A perfect example was softball. The live threads got thousands of hits -- you all wanted to know the scores. The gamers got maybe a couple of hundred until the postseason, and then they still got nowhere near numbers as the live threads.

    Basketball, I think we covered every home game, and the majority of home baseball games.

    But if we did more on other sports, what are we talking about, features? News (Grant keeps things very, very tight, so that's a big reason you don't see more)? Columns?

    Spot on.
    I love baseball and probably watch 3 or 4 MLB games a week. But the games I miss, I just check the box score the next day. I don't read the game stories. They are rarely ever all that interesting or insightful unless something truly unique happens. The box score tells the story of the game better than just about any writer ever could. And, to a degree, the same could be said for basketball.

    I enjoy the live threads quite a bit. Perhaps create a full schedule calendar for all of the non-football sports and add in some box scores and that would be enough for most of the games. Now, the "big" games, obviously, would get more pub, as you already do quite well. But I wouldn't worry too much about creating extra content for games where there just isn't much content to be found. Until Alabama is consistently elite/good in basketball and baseball, interest will be sporadic.

    I was reading a blog today from a guy I enjoy quite a bit. For whatever reason that particular article had a few grammatical issues. It was a distraction from an otherwise well written article. It's been a while since I have spotted anything like this on BOL, but it was a reminder for me how much of a negative spelling or grammar errors can be when reading a professional publication. A lot of those things can be very difficult to catch because they have to be proofread thoroughly. And, having written quite a bit myself, often can only be caught by someone other than the writer. So, I think that may be something to think about for the entire 247Sports network as a whole.

    But as for you, Chris, just keep writing and refining your craft. Your passion shows through and I enjoy it.

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    “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.”

    RockyRaccoon

  • More blogs. Like him or not pm from the barn site be all over the place with quick hitting blogs from in and around that program the sec and college football, he does one everday! The instant analysis video feature should be expanded. Sometimes there are several days between a great piece or article. There should be something going up a few times a day. What about something like having a member feature once in a while for the guys that bring great info you guys know that are reliable like a q and a sort of deal. I like the idea of having a up and running video feature of the facilities as well.

    garblicks ●

  • Chris Walsh said...

    Gang, I'm getting close to getting some down time, when one of the things I like to do after clearing my head is take a step back and try and think of ways to improve.

    I look at our site and the message board is flourishing, our recruiting guys are machines, and our tech gurus keep aggressively setting the bar higher.

    So specific to my niche, team coverage, here's my goal: To get each and every one of you to tell a friend that they're missing out and need to be on BOL.

    How do I do that, or better yet convince you to do so? Open forum here -- just please keep it clean -- and all suggestions welcome. We've done this before and had some interesting replays.

    Thanks

    I thought you said down time?

    IF IT FEELS GOOD,YOU AIN'T DOING IT RIGHT!

    flame

  • garblicks said...

    More blogs. Like him or not pm from the barn site be all over the place with quick hitting blogs from in and around that program the sec and college football, he does one everday!

    I agree. Even though we come on here and talk about why what he said is wrong, we're still talking about what he said. They add value to my membership because it gives me something to discuss. I know you guys do a lot as it is, but I think the simplest request is just more interaction. Sometimes I think you guys underestimate just how much you add to the Alabama community. You are the best source of insight on Alabama athletics there is, and you add a lot through the news you post and your comments on news reported elsewhere.

    Huskypup ●

  • Maybe do a series called "A Day in the Life", Give us an inside look at different members of the athletic staff. You could do one on Mal, Grad asistants, equipment managers etc. Would give us insight that most don't see.

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    Bull Elephant

  • Something small Chris, but I'd like a game location on the schedule on the front page.

    jebtide02 ●

  • Chris Walsh said...

    Here's the problem with me specifically doing that.

    I'm the guy who is in the media room each and every day dealing with the players.

    The first time I write that the opposition has the advantage over an Alabama player the guy seeks me out, tells me that I'm full of you-know-what and then refuses to ever talk with me again. Considering how little access we get it's the last thing I want to do.

    (A specific example came to me after my initial post. How well do you think it would have went over if I had written before the national championship game that Marquis Maze vs. the Honey Badger was an advantage for LSU? See my point?)

    However, if you read the stories during the days leading up to the games, there are a lot of subtle references about what are expected got be the key matchups.

    Along those lines, what I love is when you bring on the newspaper guys covering our opponents and give them some match up questions. Always love to get a feel on what the other side is confident in and nervous about.

    Outlaw ●

  • This may have already been mentioned, but I'm too lazy to look.

    The thing I appreciate most on this site is the message board interaction with the mods. When you guys interject your opinions into the different discussions on the board, I think it adds a lot of value, as most of us respect what you have to say. I know you don't want to monopolize the discussion or anything like that, but I think it would be great if we had even more mod interaction in the threads. (Not a complaint, as yall do a good job currently.)

    This post was edited by elder008 on 6/21/2012 at 9:12 PM

    elder008

  • Travis needs more articles. Trips is great but he is money. Needs a 1000 word column a couple times per week

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    rolBAMAballs ●

  • spg4869 said...

    I live in East Tennessee & only know of one Alabama fan outside of meeting an Alabama fan by chance. The vast majority of everyone I know are vol fans & the Nick Saban Alabama era has been very fun for me. I give'em hell bol14

    I love this comment - and I gave you a +1...But it made me laugh because I can't see the connection to the OP...good stuff anyway!

    Fittobetide

  • RogueBooster said...

    Team member stats on profile page

    Columns on former players/coaches...and maybe during the season, a former player/coach's insight on each weeks upcoming game.

    National analyst Q&As

    I especially like point number 2 from Rogue

    Fittobetide

  • Another site, either rbr or bamasportsreport, used to do a very thorough analysis of just one or two plays, with illustrated screenshots, that would break down all the schematic aspects of the play. Defensive line stunts, pulling guards, wr routes not directly involved in the play, etc. It was basically football for dummies, enough x's and o's to be interesting, but not overwhelming. This site is all about news, and not really the game itself. I think that is something you can expand into. Start teaching people more about the game, because I would suspect most people here, including myself, understand surprisingly little about it.

    Mxylplyx

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