Pandagon Bucks the Trend

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Pandagon Bucks the Trend

Robert Tagorda | Tuesday, January 25, 2005

As I, like apparently many other people, grow accustomed to group blogging, Jesse Taylor and Ezra Klein are preparing for life beyond it, as the latter is striking out on his own. Here’s why?

I’ve been on group blogs for awhile now, first with Matt Singer at a tiny little blogspot hovel, then as one of the Not Geniuses, and finally with Jesse over at Pandagon. All of them made me better, helped my writing, expanded my horizons and have my gratitude. But, after two years, it felt like time to have a little place of my own, so here I am. In the future, I’ll try and add pirates into stories that dull.

Piracy aside, that story sounds like the complete reversal of my experience. When I started blogging, I had absolutely no familiarity or affiliations with any other writers — just a burning itch to analyze and comment. I pursued disparate interests: half the time I covered politics and half the time I covered baseball. For a while, this balancing act worked well, and I managed to attract a loyal audience of both political junkies and stat geeks. Few enjoyed links from both the Washington Monthly and Dodger Thoughts, but I luckily did.

Then suddenly the act became overwhelming. It became too taxing to research both campaign contributions and on-base percentages in equal parts, so baseball writing diminished. Eventually, when graduate school began to consume a significant amount of time, political writing followed suit, and Priorities & Frivolities ceased daily production.

But the burning itch remained. I hence tried to figure out how I could retain a steady readership through irregular blogging. Ultimately, it made sense to join forces with other writers, and I’m very grateful to James for providing this outlet. In the same vein, I wish to announce that my baseball blogging will also have a new home, starting today: the highly respected Baseball Crank.

So, if Ezra’s empire is consolidating, then mine is devolving. He, it seems, needs room to develop his writing and broaden his reach. I need venues for occasional, specialized commentaries. The blogosphere accommodates both.

(Via Matt Yglesias.)

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