2016: PatsPropaganda Year in Review

Slightly non-football, self-indulgent post today as I take my yearly look back at the blog and all the fun that was had.

It’s hard to believe that this coming December will make it a full decade since I started writing internet blogs about the Patriots, and this April will make it seven years since I started focusing my efforts on PatsPropaganda. I’m still not entirely sure where this is all going, but what I do know is I enjoy it way too much to stop and each year it grows a little bit more.

The first major order of business in 2016 was to migrate the entire site from Tumblr over to a hosted WordPress site. That process was a crash course in all kinds of computer stuff I never thought I’d get into, but it all went smoothly and I learned a ton. In hindsight, I wish I had done it far sooner. The disadvantage was that I could no longer just make a simple video or GIF post and count that as content, but it pushed me to create better and more consistent posts and I think that improved the “brand” while I still could use Tumblr as a media outlet.

I’ve already made some 2017 tweaks to the design and will continue to streamline things while staying true to making PatsPropaganda the very definition of an independent sports blog.

The second development that came with the migration was the re-opening of The Prop Shop and a new collection of tees and products designed to avoid the wrath of the NFL and cease and desist letters. Selling tees doesn’t have me quitting my real job just yet, but it’s nice to be able to fund the blog. This week’s new 28-3 tee has gone viral which has provided a new kind of excitement around the blog.

I also decided this year to add some contributors and I was excited and impressed by the seven guys that came in and helped out over the course of the season. It was nice to take some of the pressure off myself having to post all the content. I’ve pulled back on the contributors this offseason but we’ll ramp back up this summer. My biggest goal is to find a female voice to add to the site. So if any of my female readers feel like they’re up for it, drop me a line!

There were two trips this season. The first came as part of the Welcome Back Brady Bus promo that I partnered with Skedaddle on. I enlisted the help of Fitzy and Kippah and my sister Mary, and along with a bunch of crazed Pats fans we took a bus from Quincy down to the Bengals game. There is nothing quite like going to a game with Fitzy and Kippah. They bring such joy to people, it was a blast to watch it happen from the time we arrived, the entire walk to the stadium, during the game, and then the entire walk back out of the stadium.

Here’s the video I put together of the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fEnVHmESJE

The second trip was a reunion of sorts with my cousins that I hadn’t seen in too many years. We all met in San Francisco then drove down to Santa Clara for the 49ers game. Couple great memories of that game, besides the two crazy Brady highlights on touchdown passes to Amendola and Mitchell, were meeting a couple fans of the blog after the game.

Before the game I had a bunch of old tees that I was just handing out to random passer-bys. One guy in a Brady shirt, who was all fired up pregame, passed us in a cross walk and I tossed him a Brady tee. I paused and watched as he walked away, looking to see what some stranger had just given him. He just about fell over when he saw it was a Brady tee and screamed “IGNORE THE NOISE!!!!!” Awesome.

The Super Bowl week was one to remember for the Bill Belichick Hooodie Database. First, it was mentioned by my old friend Kyle Brandt on Good Morning Football, then USA Today called for an interview and after that ABC News called and did a whole segment on it, which included my national TV debut. It still amazes me that the Hoodie Database has become “my thing.” But as I tell people who email me asking for blogging advice, you have to find your thing, even if it’s keeping track of a coaches sweatshirts.

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Thank you to NRG Energy for partnering with me for a third season in a row for ticket and swag giveaways. I am honored to be the conduit for them to the fans, especially because they’re a forward-thinking company I can really get behind. It’s such a thrill sending people to games, when tickets can be so astronomically expensive it prices many true fans out.

One winner got to go to his first Patriots game with his Dad. I got to send my cousin’s daughter, a huge fan of the Pats’ defense, to her first game. There were quite a few other similar stories, except one where a delivery screwup cost one of my favorite twitter mates @realDawnSummers a chance to see the Ravens game. SORRY AGAIN!

So what’s next? The return of the podcast is a big goal and one way or another it should definitely happen by summer. Another development will be trying to integrate some great vintage Pats swag into the Prop Shop. Things like old Starter Jackets, bad 90’s jackets, that kind of stuff that’s hard to find but that fans go nuts for.

Otherwise we’re just going to keep on rockin’ and rollin’ and see what happens next. Most of all I just want to thank all you readers who have made this so much fun for me. I love hearing from Patriots fans around the world, I feel like a small part of something so global and huge, a positive thing that brings people together. There’s such a lack of that kind of stuff in the world these days. Getting little messages or tweets from people who enjoy my writing or tees or whatever else means so much and why I’ll keep going with this thing.

As always if you have ideas for me or the site, please feel free to reach out. I love hearing from people, even if it’s just to say hi.

To another year of Patriots fun, I love you all!

Mike D.