Carrying on, and whatnot.

So, for me, "idle" is bad, at least when it comes to writing. I mentioned in my post about the end of OG Fans that I was going to try to put out weekly content, and that still is the goal. I don't have a specific post written up (and technically this is a post) but I'll write something "Canes related" later on this week. Once again, this is the middle of July, one of the deadest times for hockey content, so part of the issue is actually trying to find some content that is actually worth writing about.

I've been messing around with Ghost and managed to import my Medium posts over here, so while you'll still be able to find them over there, my posts on what Seth Jarvis' contract might look like (that even Adam Gold liked!), the frustration (and puzzling logic) the Canes pursuit of Tony DeAngelo a second time brought, and my analysis of Ron Francis' GM tenure of the Hurricanes, from the draft to roster construction are all over here now (and if a link is broken, let me know, but I think I have everything covered.)

Speaking of broken links, I've brought over all of my OG Fans posts, in case you like reading old Canes information or just want to make fun of me. They were a labor of love that I don't think enough people got to see (and I greatly appreciate the people who put down hard earned currency to access those the first time, along with all of the bonus content fans of the Joes were really paying for), so I want to get then all out there in the wild. I made a few internal references in those, so if you come upon a reference to a link that doesn't stay within this domain, let me know and I'll get that fixed, but for now, everything should be here.

"But Tom, I can't access them! Seriously, a paywall? I thought you wanted people to see these."

OK, so I am asking for a favor. You're right - like 90% of the posts are technically behind a "subscriber" wall. But, a subscription doesn't cost you anything - I just want you to sign up for an account here and (ideally) get the newsletter once a week. The moment you sign up you get access to every post.

There's two reasons I'm doing this:

• I really want people to know when something new gets posted. You don't have to go to the website - the article will be in the newsletter. Twitter has turned to absolute shit when it comes to plugging online content unless you pay Elon's extortion fee, and Bluesky - while great to engage with people - is still a very limited audience.
• I'm reluctant to have my entire site scraped to teach AI. I write because I have a skill, and I don't particularly want to share that with whatever tech startup whose whole product results in companies firing writers better than me and replacing them with Lorem ipsum word soup. I'm not exactly Shakespeare nor do I claim to be a top writer, but I like to think that I'm better than whatever product AI is putting out, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Am I going to charge for this some day? I doubt it. I honestly considered charging something menial for access, like a dollar a month, just for giggles, but I didn't know if anyone would realistically do that, and not for anything - if Corey Sznajder, Canes Prospects, and Matt Somma aren't charging you, how the hell can I? (PS. subscribe to those)

So that's the scoop. Currently the domain is workrate-hockey.ghost.io, because the custom domain I set up is blocked by my current workplace, which makes things kind of awkward if I need to post or edit something.

Today's song of the day is "Zero" from The Smashing Pumpkins, a throwback to my days working at The Wall store #156. All the times I listened to this song back then, I never thought "hey, this lead singer should buy a professional wrestling promotion", but I guess rich people need hobbies, and running the NWA is probably better than trying to get into politics or something.

Please subscribe or something, thank you if you already have, and I hope to have something out later this week.