(PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images.)
December 2, 2008 was so long ago. 10 years, to be exact.
Let’s go to a few days before that, though. I had been on Twitter for a few months (under a different account). I checked out the social media platform because an old friend made me curious about it (hi, Audra!). But what was I supposed to do with it? I was on the verge of quitting.
Two reasons I stayed. For some reason, SLAM Magazine started interacting with me about the NBA. I had always kept up with the league and the season before that had a Lakers vs Celtics Finals.
The second reason? Good friend Dave Diep urged me to do it. I had been writing about sports in my old LiveJournal and Dave was amused about them but also noted that “no one cared” to read them on that platform. So he told me I should just start an NBA blog (my friends did as well). So I started one on Blogspot!
(The better story is that I started the blog on the birthday of Britney Spears. But honestly, it was just a coincidence.)
As for the name? The No-Look Pass was supposed to be a placeholder name. I thought it was too simple and a basketball term for a blog name seemed common. As I would find out, NOBODY had the name. So because I couldn’t think of a “better” name and no one else had it, I kept it.
The No-Look Pass immediately got traction. The blog was invited to join MVN (Most Valuable Network). And then I created a separate Twitter account for the NBA. I still hold it to this day, obviously.
It was the perfect storm for me. My blog was getting hits. Twitter started to roll as sports tweets were fast becoming the norm. The NBA started embracing the social media platform. It’s come a long way since the days we were afraid that Suns and Blazers fans would crash Twitter.
As for the blog, we started meeting a lot of other writers (online and real life!). We would break out of MVN later in 2009 and we would strike on our own with our new dot com and a podcast (whaddup, Chronicles of Crotty!). I would end up getting a few full-time gigs because of this site. I would’ve never attended some NBA games without this. I would’ve never attended Summer League. I didn’t think I would go to the All-Star game! And I can’t say enough about the good people that I have met throughout the years.
I don’t write on here as much as I would like to (as you can see, I still do once in a while). But honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever stop writing NBA. Writing has always been a part of me and the NBA (basketball, really) is something that I have loved forever. I didn’t think 10 years would go by so fast but time flies when you’re having so much fun. (And, well, time just flies, really. Remember when I was 30?!)
10 years for TNLP. Here’s to another 10 more? Probably. I want it to live forever. And if it doesn’t, that’s okay. I would like to think we were a big part of that NBA blog/site boom.
Happy Birthday, The No-Look Pass. And I guess Britney Spears, too.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
His podcast is at Rey-Rey Is Fundamental.