James Mirtle of http://mirtle.blogspot.com/ is widely regarded as one of the premier NHL bloggers the web currently has to offer. And he was gracious enough to answer a few questions for me.
~ How old were you when you began writing about the NHL?
The first hockey I wrote about was back home in Kamloops, where the WHL’s Blazers were the only game in town. I was maybe 18 or 19, and started volunteering for a few different publications and working at the college newspaper. McKeen’s Hockey was one of the first places I wrote for, and I still do work for them today (I’m now a senior editor on the yearbook). My first real chance to cover the NHL, however, didn’t come until I moved to Toronto in my early 20s to go to Ryerson. One of the first phone calls I made was to The Hockey News, and I started as an intern there soon after.
~ How did you get caught up with the game of hockey?
I think I was just born into it. Hockey’s unbelievably huge in Kamloops, and my grandfather played professionally. My Dad was always a big Canucks fan, and I’ve been watching games with him since — well, forever.
~ When did you begin focusing on the NHL blogosphere, and who were some of your early reads?
I actually hadn’t read many hockey blogs before deciding to start my own during the lockout in 2004. I thought the medium would be a good way for me to write about the NHL on a regular basis, and once others starting linking to me, I would check out their sites. Off Wing Opinion, Sharkspage and Tom Benjamin were the three I’ve been reading from the beginning, and I now consider all of them friends.
~ In your own blog, are you more focused at getting our the information, or having your opinion get out via putting out the information?
I’d say a little of both. It honestly depends what the issue is — and how much time I have to address it. I like getting newsy items out there if I don’t think it’s universally known, but if something’s already on TSN or globesports.com, then I’ll be looking to add something more than just the info. I don’t think “my opinion” is central to the site, but, that said, you have to say something if you’re going to write for a living.
~ What sort of reaction are you getting from the fans of your page?
It’s varied — but the response is mainly positive. I’m surprised there aren’t more people taking potshots, etc., but then again, I’m not exactly the most controversial guy around. I think a lot of people in the media are leery of starting a blog simply because there’s such a widespread backlash on the medium against the mainstream media. I also get a ton of email these days — and I try to respond to all of it, but it’s overwhelming some days. I’m extremely thankful that my site even has fans, and I always feel like I’m letting people down when I can’t post for a day or two at a time.
~ Has anyone from the NHL reacted to your blog?
Not from the league office, no, but I know officials from some teams have stopped by. I also get a lot of email from various club’s PR staff. I honestly don’t have a clue who’s reading, and I’m always pleasantly surprised whenever some well-connected person drops me a line because of the blog. It’s a great tool that way.
~ What are your thoughts on the NHL media based out of Toronto?
That’s a mighty big question. In general? I think it’s the best hockey media market in the world, and I’m not just saying that because it’s the biggest. The amount of talented people working in sports media in this city is truly amazing, and the product is generally terrific. Toronto often breaks scoops on teams in other NHL cities before the hometown reporters have a beat on what’s going on, something you definitely see during the trade deadline.
~ Has working for the Globe and Mail pushed you to become a better blogger? Or is it the other way around?
Again, I think the best answer here is that it works both ways. I obviously want my blog to reflect my abilities professionally and I wouldn’t want to put anything ‘out there’ that took away from that. But I think having the blog undoubtedly makes me a much more valuable resource to the paper — I’ve got a beat on what people are talking about online, and the number of sources I’ve picked up from just having the site is unreal. Whenever I settle into a full-time NHL reporting role, the blog is going help immensely, and I think it’s a tool more sports reporters should think about using.
~ What sort of differences have you noticed most, between the traditional media and the newfound blogging media?
The so-called new media is fairly accepting, really, at least if you’re determined to be a part of what’s happening there. The new media also does a nice job of really using all of the technological tools available to help tell stories in different ways (RSS feeds, YouTube, etc.). Thinking outside the box is its strong point. Traditional media is really having a hard time coping with the changes that technology has brought, and it’s going to take at least a generation for those changes to really be fully integrated into newsrooms… it’s sort of frustrating, really, as I can see where we should be heading, but steering the ship that way is not an easy task. (And impossible from where I sit.) Even still, there are too many talented people working in media for the industry not to catch on and really begin to serve the public in
different ways than we’re doing now.
~ What do you see in the future, for the NHL and online blogging?
I think you’re going to see blogging become a much more mainstream element — even more so than it is now. The work Ted Leonsis is doing in Washington is just one example of where things are headed, and five years down the line, I think we’ll chuckle at the somewhat primitive state the whole ‘blogosphere’ is in at the moment. Hockey blogging, in particular, has a ton of room to grow, still, and you can see that coming with all of the bloggers being picked up by media outlets.
Thanks again to everyone reading my site.
James.
