Big Lead Sports Bar

9/29/2006

Three Months of Mondesi

This week marked the three-month anniversary of Mondesi's House. I must say, it has been an eventful three months, to say the least. The audience has been expanding on a regular basis, and as I visit one of my numerous "traffic counters" this morning, I see Mondesi's House has welcomed 43,737 visitors as of this writing.
With that as the backdrop, there are many thank-yous in order. My first article, "10 Worst McClatchy/Nutting Pirates Moves", was picked up by Deadspin. Since then, I have been linked by Deadspin eight times and asked to write the Steelers Preview, which ran on Labor Day. The traffic they have provided has been invaluable. They are one of the most-visited sports sites on the internet, and their endorsement means a great deal to me.
Locally, I must thank 102.5 WDVE for several in-studio appearances on their morning show to discuss some of my pieces in greater length. The traffic from the appearances and from their website introduced even more readers to Mondesi's House on a regular basis. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also interviewed me for an article about Pirates-related websites back in June, and have mentioned Mondesi's House several times on their Blog N Gold Steelers site. Those mentions are always appreciated.
The Pittsburgh-related sites have been very good to me, with many sending a significant amount of traffic on a daily basis. Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke, Honest Wagner, Bucs Dugout, and Irate Fans are the leaders, but there are a number of other sites that link here (please check out the right sidebar for a full list). To each of these sites, I thank you.
Most of all, I would like to thank the readers. Without readers, there would be no Mondesi's House. So let me mention some of our outstanding "commentors", such as Worstavid, Louis Lipps is My Homeboy, Bucdaddy, Vinnie, Steeltown Mike, Bern1, TheJim, MiniMe, Polevaultking, and all those who wish to remain "anonymous". Reader participation really adds to the experience, especially in stories like "In Person Athlete Encounters". I thank all of the readers and everyone who emails Mondesi to friends. Your word-of-mouth support has been spectacular.
I also must thank my brother and father for the Mondesi's House logo design, and reader Jeffrey Scherer for animating the logo. I think the logo is one of the better on the web, and I appreciate the assistance!
So where does Mondesi's House go in the future? I would like to hear your likes, dislikes, what you would like more of, what you would like less of, etc. Please feel free to post in the comments section or email me at mondesishouse@gmail.com.
As always, the site is a work-in-progress, as I am still cutting my blogger teeth, so to speak. But I am committed to making this one of the best sports sites on the internet. Sometimes my work in Steelcityauctions.com world can slow me up, but I try my best to keep fresh content for the Mondesi Nation.
I appreciate your readership and I hope to entertain you for a long time!
Don

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

What, you're not gonna thank our favorite commenter "ejm" or whatever his name is?

mondesishouse said...

No love for ejm, sorry. Although I enjoyed the running feud!

Anonymous said...

Three months of Mondesi glory capped off by one truly thrilling week in the world of sports: First, on Sunday, the Steelers crap the bed and hand the game -- thanks, Ricardo Cokehead and Coach Chin, for nothing! -- to the Bungholes. The Carolina Panthers knocked the stuffing -- and spleen! -- out of Chris Simms. Then, we wake on Monday to learn of Odell Thurman's 3 a.m. arrest in Cincinnati and -- even better!! -- the news that, as ol' Odell was being arrested, Chris Henry was vomiting out the window of the SUV. Monday Night Football brought us the return of the Saints to the Superdome, presaged by a tremendous pre-game concert by U2 and Green Day nearly blowing the new roof off the place with a rousing rendition of "Here Come the Saints." On Tuesday, Freddy Sanchez went 4 for 5 to put a hammerlock on the batting title, the Cardinals continued their epic meltdown and the Twins inched closer to the Tigers. And on Wednesday, oh glorious God, thank you!, the best gift of all ... the news that Terrell Owens tried to kill himself!!! Which became a story that only got better and better, becoming true theater -- a pageant of conjecture, dissembling, cross-accusations and denial.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

A lonely nation turns its eyes to you, T.O., now nicknamed in some circles as T.O.D.

The T.O. circus continued on Thursday, along with the additional news that a San Diego Chargers safety I never heard of was arrested -- by the DEA no less! -- for trafficking in the sizzup, a codeine-based cough syrup concoction mixed with Diet Pepsi and a purple Jolly Rancher. And the Pirates lost seven in a row to fall into a last-pace tie with Chicago. Yes, good times; good times, indeed. Congratulations and happy anniversary.

mai wen said...

Congrats, I can't go a day without checking your blog.

Anonymous said...

Where else would I go to read up on the latest exploits of the Xplosion?

Unknown said...

Dear Raul,

Thanks for the mention as your number one blogger. You are doing a totally awesome job and i thoroughly enjoy reading it every day. I also enjoy reading the musings of the other regulars on the site, even that Bingle lover, EJM.

Keep up the great work and keep those pictures coming with the stories, they're great!

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversary, Raul. Thanks for the props, and thanks for providing the forum. Seems now like you've always been here.

Since you liked the celebrity interaction stories so much, here's a bonus one. Forgot about it until that thread was nearly out of sight, so this seems like a good place to drop it in.

Way back in the day, once we found out how easy it was to score comps and also where the media lounge in the Civic Arena was, me and a high school buddy would go see the Pittsburgh Triangles play a lot. It was easy access, even to the lockerroom (which the men and women shared) and nobody asked any questions as long as you acted like you belonged there and looked like you knew where you were going.

A year later the team had become pretty popular and they started to tighten up on security a little -- hell, you had to have a PASS to get in the lockerroom now.

Anyway, me and the sports ed at the little newspaper in my hometown went to the final game of the league championship series between the Triangles and the Golden Gaters, which the Triangles won, setting off a raucous celebration among the 2,500 or so fans there (that was a very small crowd for the Tri's, they often drew 10,000-plus, but the game was on TV with no blackout).

We had only one lockerroom credential between the two of us, and the SE pulled rank and used it. I had to wait for him outside the lower-level arena gate.

So there I was, standing at the end of a human aisle formed by a few dozen waiting fans when the arena door flew open and down that aisle came Peggy Michel, one of the players (and not a bad looker). She looked pretty starry-eyed (wasted on champagne was my guess) and as I stood frozen she strolled directly up to me and planted a kiss on me, then went on her way. Cheek or mouth, I sadly can't remember now, but needless to say I was astonished.

A little while later the SE came out wearing an ear-to-ear grin and started bragging that he'd been drinking champagne from Evonne Goolagong's glass. I told him what happened to me and his face fell. Hah! Gotcha!

I don't know if this is a punch line, but FWIW the SE in that story (and most recently the SE at the WashPa paper) was Tom Rose, who some of you might recall had another little "Gotcha" incident earlier this year.

vinnie said...

Hey Don, thanks for the shout-out, but thank you for the site! It even makes the Pirates more interesting.