Magazine for Footbag (Now: Online)

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 06 Feb 2007 23:11

Ben,

I have some thoughts on this magazine.

1) If you named it "Blurrier" instear of Blurriest, you could have the picture of the player on the front cover be purposely blurry, and that person could be the "featured player" for that issue. You'd have to turn to the page to find out which player it is . . .
2) If this magazine will be comprehensive, then you might consider having a section called "The Dark Side," where I infiltrate the minds of net players and disseminate information about net, its players, little known facts about how they all used to play freestyle, their thoughts on the sport of net and its future, player interviews, etc. There are many good ex-freetylers who have converted to net and today's players don't know anything about them. There are also some well-known freestylers who are learning net that people don't know about

what do you think?

james_dean · Post by **james_dean** » 06 Feb 2007 23:23

Definately all aspects of footbag culture should be covered, even though it will be firstly a freestyle magazine. And that is a perfect name for that section

That blurrier idea is cool. I don't know if it would work for every issue though. Would we want a blurry picture as the cover for every edition...?

bigdirtyfoot · Post by **bigdirtyfoot** » 07 Feb 2007 10:38

Well, to echo what Ken said on page one ... there have been multiple attempts at a magazine. I actually tried to get one going a few years ago but only got about 3 article writers interested. Now that the sport has expanded so much, you probably have a lot more talent to work with.

I'm actually a print journalism major, so I know a great deal about how things should work from a writing/editing side, but not necessarily a marketing/distribution side. I definitely want to write, and possibly edit the magazine.

We need to get some four square enthusiasts to write 4s articles. Footbag golf would be nice too.

As far as formatting and all of that goes, don't worry about that at all right now - focus on the content first, and then you can focus on how to organize it. Besides, if you start with a certain size or quality of paper, you can (and most likely will) change it in the future depending on how the first issue goes.

I actually have a copy of Footbag World, from the late 90s.

And one last thing. I would actually PREFER having a print footbag magazine to an online version. It's much easier to show someone a printed article than an article on a computer. Print journalism is more for convenience. When radio came out, people thought newspapers were going to become extinct. Same thing with TV, Internet, and Podcasts. Print is pretty much here to stay (at least for the rest of OUR lives). And it is the format I prefer over any other format. It's more personal - you can take it around with you anywhere.

Anyways, kudos, and... one last thing again - I think I have a few articles written by footbag players from 3 years ago that I was going to put in my magazine saved on a computer somewhere. I'll try to get them. PM me if you want them RawSko.

smokefree · Post by **smokefree** » 08 Feb 2007 11:47

What do you guys think of instead of one profile per magazine, there could be two. A male and a female profile to try and promote the sport to women as well.
Or just something in general that would encourage more women to play footbag.
I think the women of footbag need to be in this mag (and no i dont mean a foldout as previously suggested) Just something to make people realize there ARE females that play.

Pyroman924 · Post by **Pyroman924** » 08 Feb 2007 12:02

Ok, I can do that no problem. I've already made a sort of "template" fot the player profile. I'll just get a female shredder to fill i tout as well.

I'm still waiting for Roscoe to fill his out too. *Cough*

blitz · Post by **blitz** » 08 Feb 2007 18:44

dyalander wrote:If it was to be online what would be wrong with doing all this stuff via flipsider?

That would make me very happy.

I think before people start committing to regular, involving tasks, such as quality journalism, for even a quartlerly magazine, it should be done online. Benefits are that it's much easier; requires no money (except normal hosting costs); publishing is immediate (less pressure to meet deadlines, faster access to information); global, free publishing; community response is faster, more direct and globally visible. And of course you have the ability to use video in your submissions, as Ken referred to slamonline.

Regardless, I don't like the title "Blurriest" (or related) for a magazine. It should be more clear by the title what the magazine is about. If people want to use flipsider as an online mag, then I should say I always liked the sound of Flipsider Footbag Mag, but of course I'm not going to make any kind of insistence here. Just sharing my thoughts. Also, I own the domain profootbag.com, if anyone thinks it would be of use (Pro Footbag Magazine?).

If there is significant interest, I will make the submission process more clear, or possibly improve it to be more user-friendly.

peace,
eli

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 08 Feb 2007 21:15

I have to agree with Eli here. The stitching concepts I would like to portray (as any other stitcher would) is through a hands-on approach. Picture by picture tutorials don't explain the whole procedure very well sometimes, and video tutorials would be really good for anyone interested in the art of stitching footbags.

Plus, I may have plans on March 18th, and from today and the aforementioned date I really want to put most of my focus into college. And footbag. I don't do very well with deadlines.

RawSko · Post by **RawSko** » 09 Feb 2007 21:27

I was thinking about all this talk about online mags last night, and I still don't really want to make an online mag. If somebody else wants to make one, that's great. My current project is, however, a printed magazine. That's what I want to make. That's not to take anything away from the comments about online mags, but I'm just saying that I remain unconvinsed. I think online mags sound great, but that's not what I'm making right now... I hope that's alright.

BUT, I came up with an idea that sprung from reading Eli's post... I think it would be cool for thos of us that are working on the mag to put it together online. We could make it, literaly, together, and add to it piece by piece and we'll all have access to it every step of the way. That would make for a much better final product once I do print it out as an official, printed magazine. If somebody could set up a website where we could all access/edit the content and put together our magazine more as a team, that would be really great. I'd love to do it, and I'm taking a class in school to learn how to do just that, but this semester only just started, so I don't actually know how... yet.

But if somebody else can tackle that, that'd be great; if not, we can just wait for me to learn how.

I think that the deadline that I set is pretty reasonable... that gives all the authors of articles plenty of time. Alot of the process comes after I've recieved all the articles that we have to work with, so I don't think that I can push it off much later... we've got the other 3 editions of the year to publish too, so don't feel that you need to cram everything into this edition... short and sweet is totaly cool. You can save some for the next edition ...?

that's all for now... I'll reply to other coments (regarding the title, photographs, etc) in a day or two. I'm keepin' buisy, as I understand all my article-writers are aswell... as you should be. Just... please make time for this and send me articles to work with as soon as you're done. You don't need to wait for March 18th.

thanks

keep it real
-Ben

Zeb Jackson · Post by **Zeb Jackson** » 09 Feb 2007 22:33

just create a forum and only allow members that are part of the magazine to enter, and make it so you have to be a member to view the content of the forum, there are plenty of free forum websites out there, choose one

that way you can edit the material, add new stuff, and look back on the old, also it would be good for talking to each other creatively about things

james_dean · Post by **james_dean** » 09 Feb 2007 23:12

I'm not sure how that would go, a website to design it together. I don't think that would work well. Too many chefs

Definately a separate forum which only contributors can post in would work well.

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 10 Feb 2007 12:09

.org has a group function that would be perfect for that. This is what Steve created it for. Check it out.

You can have only specific people view a group so it's private. You can upload files for everyone to be able to view and download, create ballots, and create subgroups. That way if you only want the player interview people to vote on ____ or to see whoever's picture, only the people in that subgroup will see it.

james_dean · Post by **james_dean** » 10 Feb 2007 17:20

Wow, awesome. Thanks Emily

RawSko · Post by **RawSko** » 10 Feb 2007 20:47

Thanks, Moxie!

I started the group. If you want in, PM/e-mail me your footbag.org member alias and I'll add you to the group... is that the most efficient way of doing things? I'm having a tough time figuring this out. I hope somebody else is less confused by this "group function." I trust Steve and all (call me crazy...), so I'm sure that it's great, but I'm have to admit that I do not yety understand how it works. I'm sure I'll figure it out soon, just... go easy on me for now

I still like the name Blurriest for the magazine, but I also agree to a certain extent that we need to rep what it's about a little more in the title. Many sports magazines dont, but I know that Footbag is a different case, since it's so rare... but still. Blurriest has a cool ring to it.

SO the title is still fairly up in the air. I haven't decided 100% on anything yet. More suggestions would be greatly apreciated.

(it's my b-day in fifteen minutes

)

james_dean · Post by **james_dean** » 10 Feb 2007 20:57

I sort of imagined the title like this:

BLURRIEST
FOOTBAG CULTURE

Or something similar.

Happy birthday!

professor · Post by **professor** » 12 Feb 2007 19:43

I think a good title for a footbag magazine would be FOOTGAB.

Cause the magazine talks or "gabs" about footbag and bag backwards is gab. (in case you didn't get it)

jay7 · Post by **jay7** » 12 Feb 2007 21:23

I'm getting some nice brand new Clima's off of ebay sometime soon, I guess I could follow some of the previous tutorials, and take some advise from what people would want to see, and then make a Clima Modding Tutorial.

Only problem is I don't know where to get silicone here, and since Wal-Mart isn't very popular here I'd have to go through bus-hell to go there...

RawSko · Post by **RawSko** » 16 Feb 2007 21:07

I just wanted to make a post reminding everyone to work on their article! I had a dream where April rolled around and EVERYONE was like "ohh... ya, sry. I never got around to that" and I was hella pissed. Please keep working and coming up with ideas and adding to your work and editing and just overall: creating a glorious article! If everyone does his or her (any hers yet?) best, we'll definately have something worth all the time and effort that was put into it. This is an all or nothing thing... it's either going really kick ass if everyone works hard, or it is going to be utter crap and...

I'll get laughed at. (<--not the most important reason, but... watev

)

I've gotten a bunch of help for the formatting problems that I was having and it's all sorted out. Now all I need is the right printer/ink, some pics and ARTICLES! I know the deadline's not for a while yet but seriously, don't leave it for too long.

thanks!

ashleyd · Post by **ashleyd** » 18 Feb 2007 19:14

I think its a great idea. I would love to have the mag to take to school and show people/my teachers. I would let you use any of my art for it if you wanted. I need to take good pics of my pieces first, and you can decide whatever.

Idk, Im not the best spokesperson for women, but if someone interviewed me I could do that.

RawSko · Post by **RawSko** » 19 Feb 2007 06:26

IMPORTANT

The plan has changed.

I've been talking with Scott Davidson who has been involved in pretty much all the previous attempts at a footbag magazine. It seems to me, as much as I hate to admit it, that an online magazine prolly IS in fact the way to go...

BUT

I still plan on making a printed book/booklet about footbag in 2007. Prolly another one in 2008, and 2009, etc... Articles are still required! Articles will be put together and a comittee will be in charge of doing a good job with the online magazine. On the site that hosts this magazine will be sold the book that contains our snapshot of footbag in 2007 (once it's created).

This book will be bigger than the magazine that I had been planning. I'm picturing something like the annual "Guiness Book of World Reccords." We'll need the same stuff as we'd need for the magazine... only more. But I don't plan on releasing the book until at least after Worlds, if not until christmas. It's going to be epic though. The work begins now.

I need still more volounteers because of this change!! Please, help!

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 19 Feb 2007 08:14

Can't say I have any inkling to participate in an online magazine. What is the purpose? What could possibly be done, that can't just be done on a forum or at footbag.org ?

A magazine is something that could attract new players to the sport, it's something that can expose footbag to more people. An online magazine taps no new markets and could just be a collection of forum posts.

Doesn't sound like it can actually achieve anything any more.

modified

Magazine for Footbag (Now: Online)

Would you buy one?