It’s time to to rattle the chains

Just a quick note today as I’m working on a few things, from job applications to a new blog — which is my main thing here today.

Starting Monday, I’m adding a second blog to my life. This one is niche-based, however, and will be different than A ‘lil HooHaa.

It’s about disc golf.

Now I realize there are other disc golf communities out there — from forums to disc review to course review. There are club blogs and ones based on stores and such. There are places, like Yahoo! Sports where you can find some stories each week about tournaments, who won and the such. All that is great and are good sources for disc golf. There’s even an amazing Vlog (video blog) where the person interviews some of the top names in disc golf. That is a fun thing to watch.

But I want more.

I realize, too, that some pros have their own websites and blogs. But with their schedules, sometimes it’s hit-or-miss when those blogs are updated and what kind of topics they cover. I also don’t just want the voice of the blogger or the writer — I want to know about the personalities in this sport.

With my sports writing background, this seemed like a perfect fit. I wanted stories. I wanted information. I want to read something I enjoy, not just an extended tournament wrap.

Back in September, I did a post about my experiences at the Vibram Open.

A month or so later, I did some posts about the Happy Endings (TV show) “Frolf” episode.

I was amazed at the outpouring of views and comments about these. That led me to believe there was room for something in the disc golf community that has more of a journalistic feel.

So I thought a bit about it. Looked for a disc golf name — hence the “RattlingChains.com.”

Over the next several months, I used a few contacts to get in touch with some of the top names in disc golf. I’ve done hours worth of interviews and have been writing quite a bit to prepare for the launch. I’ve made other contacts with people about photos and all sorts of things and hope to have some cool content.

Ready or not, we launch Monday.

Though I don’t have as many stories in the “can” as I would like, I have a bunch to get me flowing. And I have a lot of ideas and many more stories to write. I’m hoping over time, disc golfers give me ideas to follow. Maybe something about some players in their area. I’m all about learning new things and telling stories. I don’t want this to be all New York based or pro-based. I want to tell any good disc golf story.

If all works out, maybe there’s even a few disc golfers out there who want to write a few stories for us!

There’s going to be giveaways, contests and all sorts of things. We’ll have weekly polls and I’m even in talks with a couple of pros about blogging periodically with us. I hope that latter part goes well, but only time will tell there.

Hopefully, it will be a whole heap of fun as we’ve put a lot of planning into this site.

I won’t be giving up here, though.

As I noted in yesterday’s blog post, I have all sorts of ideas and I don’t want to let this site go to waste. I love this blog and I love blogging overall. And that makes me want to test my luck with a niche blog. Maybe it’s something I can do to take the next step in life. It’s a hobby for now, but let’s see where it goes, right?

In the end, it will be a place I can get into “journalistic sports writing” again, as well as the normal blog fare. I’m excited about that. The pros and players I’ve talked to and interviewed for stories have made me really look forward to this.

For those of you who are disc golfers, I hope you’ll check out the blog and enjoy it. Monday will be a post showing what the plans are and then we’ll get right into it soon after. We’re aiming for 3-4 posts per week to start off and then grow once we have more ideas and things to do.

The site is up now so you can see what it looks like — click here.

You can also like our page on Facebook (which would be super awesome for you to do!) by clicking here.

And if you have Twitter, follow us by clicking here.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank a few others who have helped with the project and hopefully will continue to work with and help as we move forward. Darren has been amazingly big in coming up with some ideas and many things for our contests. Dave has helped with some ideas and hopefully, when time allows, he’ll be able to give us a few stories. And Dave’s brother, Ben, designed the super-awesome logos. So a special thanks to those three.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!