I'm not sure I have too many thoughts other than confusion. As you may or may not know, I used to be the producer of AOL's FanHouse, following after the Blogfather Jamie Mottram and John "the Loch" Ness. Word from the inside is that a lot of internal things have changed since my departure amid controversy. Starting next week the site is also going to get an external change as it moves to FanHouse BETA.There are still a lot of really talented bloggers at FanHouse, many of who are my friends. As long as those folks are still writing, there will still be good content there to read. Query whether readers will be confused by the addition of Jay Mariotti types, the increased emphasis on MSM leanings, the retro-ESPN nav, and the departure of a lot of the funnier bloggy bloggers... especially as AOL rebrands its sports channel as FanHouse... But hey, I'm sure they paid some marketing geniuses a lot of coin to come up with this, right? At least the new site looks alright. And the logo totally resonates with me and makes sense.
My favorite part of the site is the ultra-corporate Preview page explaining the new brand (FANHOUSEATTITUDE, totally rad!!). The following excerpt makes my eyes bleed. Anyone who has ever worked with me, John, or Jamie will know why.
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6 comments:
I DO like sports with an edge.
The thing is, even though it's watered-down generica, it'll do well because there are a ton of people who will read it becuse Jay Mariotti is on TV.
Maybe it's elitist to say that but who cares, yes?
I think Michael David Smith's writing has gotten stronger now that they've wrapped him up exclusively (and taken him from NBC Chicago). And since the fortunes of FanHouse have more to do with MDS than Mariotti, that's as much a good sign as the FANHOUSEATTITUDE is a bad sign.
And yes, it's a nice logo. Very Van Halen.
"the FanHouse"! That's producer-baiting if I've ever seen it. At one point, I was very close to linking to FanHouse on my site as "America Online Presents The Fun Hut."
Ewwwww. Nasty.
Hi,
I am interested in purchasing one to two simple text links on your site's homepage. How much would you charge for that?
Thanks.
Bryan
Fanhouse is an exciting site. I wish them much success.
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