Monday, October 8, 2007

Mike Sando: A Fan Favorite in the NFL World

There are lots of football fans in the world, most of them will watch a game on Sunday, and probably Monday night as well; some will watch as many games as they can on Sunday, will definitely watch the Monday night game, and will read updates online or in a newspaper for games they missed; the elite not only watch every game that is on T.V., but will also read about their team—or the entire NFL—in a newspaper or online every day. These elite fans depend on insider information to tell them what happens off the field, what is happening on the field, and what they should expect for the next game.

And, if you are a Seattle Seahawks fanatic, then Mike Sando is your guy. Sando has an impeccable reputation for his columns and blog about the Seahawks. Fans all over the world followed Sando’s blog daily to find out as much as they could about the Seahawks.

Mike Sando grew up in Northern California until he attended Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. Sando graduated in 1992 with a B.A. in political studies. After graduation, he got a job writing online for the Spokes-man Review in Spokane. While writing for the Review he covered Washington State University football and basketball. In 1998, he was hired on at the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington where he worked for nine years covering the Seattle Seahawks. Not only did Mike Sando write for the News Tribune, but he also had a Seahawks Insider blog that he began in 2005. His blog was voted the best newspaper-related sports blog in the nation for the past two years. His monthly readership for the blog is between 250,000 and 500,000 worldwide.

There comes a time when we all must say goodbye to the familiar, and step into a new light, a new position, a new life. After nine years of covering the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Sando did just that when he was hired at ESPN.com. July 1, 2007 he said goodbye to his old job at the Tribune, and stepped into the unknown.

Sando was a fan favorite at the Tribune and had many readers following him. He was also very personable on his blog and welcomed readers to send him comments. On his last day at the Tribune, he wrote a farewell note to his readers on his blog where he said goodbye to his fans, but reminded them that in the internet world, there are no “goodbyes”—his fans would be able to follow his columns at ESPN.com. Sando’s farewell blog received 278 comments from fans saying goodbye and good luck.

Sando’s specialty is still professional football, however now he is writing on all of the NFL, not just the Seahawks. He posts a column two to three times a week about issues going on in the NFL. Every Sunday he writes a column with a list of his top 10 observations from that week of games. His writing style helps readers to better understand his analysis of games, players, and teams, without going over their head and confusing them. His “regular guy” reputation has helped him maintain success and readership at ESPN.com and will help keep him a fan favorite for years to come.

You can read Mike Sando's columns for ESPN.com at http://sports.espn.go.com/keyword/search?searchString=mike_sando&filter=null&page=espn

1 comment:

Michael J. Fitzgerald said...

This sports guy sounds interesting, but I don't get much sense of him as a writer or columnist.

He sounds successful, yes, but this column would be stronger by explaining a sample of his writing - and why it's so hot.

I think in his case, beginning the column with his stepping off the cliff with his new job, would be the way to start..

My other suggestion is to watch out for the cliches and common sayings.

'There comes a time when we all must say goodbye to the familiar...' falls into that category,