- June 28th, 2019, 11:15 am
#579404
What’s up guys? It’s been a while. Life over here continues to get crazier (God has never seen fit for my life to be boring).
I want to post a few thoughts on this topic. First off though, I want you all to understand that I in no way profit from ASOR. Jon and I started the site, but it’s been his for a long time. I’ve just never had the time, or honestly desire to put in the work the way he does. Anything I occasionally do for the site is out of love for our teams and to try to do a small bit to serve Jon. Jon has not in any way asked me to post about this. We haven’t spoken about this stuff in a couple of months.
That all being said, SOME of y’all seriously don’t deserve Jon Manson. The man LITERALLY has two full time jobs, one of which has only cost him money so far. He left a good job, moved 2 hours back to Lynchburg at least partially because it would make taking ASOR where it needed to go possible.
The amount of time he gives to you all, and LU Athletics is nutty. This school is exceptionally difficult to cover. Everything is a secret. Nobody talks. Yet, by nearly all accounts you have one of the best mid-major independent sports sites in the country. You won’t find more info out there, often times even at the P5 level. Up to this point, all for free.
I would argue that it’s possible that no one has done more to promote LU athletics for free than Jon. Sure, there are fun times that people like me freeload on (like the men’s basketball run this year), but it is Jon Manson in the trenches everyday, in the morning and at night making that sort of coverage possible for all of us to enjoy. He provides you more content and behind the scenes info than people that cover LU athletics for a living (no offense to anyone, I think everyone that does so is doing a great job).
Still, that isn’t enough. I’ve got access to the content. ASOR Club isn’t some paywall for what used to be free. Jon has taken the bar and raised it several notches in terms of quantity and quality. I truly do not know how there are enough hours In the day for what he has been doing.
The google ad model has failed ASOR. We tried it for years. We tried privately sold ads and sponsors. Didn’t work there either. At the best of times it pays the direct costs of running an internet site (literally zero to compensate Jon for his time). If you want this thing to keep going and growing with LU athletics, there has to be ASOR Club. The man can’t look at his family and justify the crazy hours without it at least being a marginally break even enterprise. He didn’t say that to me, but I know I couldn’t do it. Still, he isn’t asking you to pay for what you already get. Instead he’s adding a ton of value for a little bit of money.
I appreciate all of y’all being a part of this community, but reading some of the negative comments is pretty disheartening. Chances are you’ll never understand how much sweat has gone into this place. Again, I will reiterate, there are some folks around here who don’t deserve what Jon Manson has given you. /rant
"The same things win that always won...We just have a different bunch of excuses if we lose."