This is going to be a BLOG about a BLOG.

The reason is because people have asked me since I started writing the “Off the Rim” basketball column for the Bangor Daily News Sports Section during the basketball season every Tuesday and my Basketball BLOG during the entire year how do I like doing so? They also ask how active are the hits on the basketball BLOG?

So I thought I’d take this opportunity to answer the questions by BLOGGING this BLOG about my BASKETBALL BLOG, “Off the Rim”.

I started the blog and column in the middle of November in 2011. This means that it has been 6 years, 8 months since my column and blog started in the BDN. The BLOG is available for the entire 52 weeks while the basketball column is only once a week for 25 weeks from mid-November to mid-April.

It is impossible to know how many people read the weekly Tuesday column during the basketball season in the paper. However, it is possible to know how many hits the BLOG gets (the column is included in the BLOG hits when people go to read it online).

Giving back to the game which has given me so much as a player, coach, official, radio/TV color commentator, writer and author for the past 72 years (starting playing the game as a 7-year-old second grader in 1944) is what writing my column and BLOG allows me to do.

It also gives me the opportunity to follow basketball at all levels and helps keep me busy since retiring from basketball in 2013 when I stopped officiating. The great thing about basketball in Maine is that it makes the winters go faster from day-to-day, week-to-week and month-to-month. It really helps me break out of the cabin fever rut.

Writing for the BDN gives me the opportunity to use all of my basketball experiences and to try to write about things that can give players, coaches, officials, fans, parents, radio/TV color commentators, writers and authors for all levels of basketball middle school, high school, prep school, college, semi-pro and pro levels possible interesting, reliable information, solutions, knowledge about the game based on my experiences over the years in all the different phases of basketball in the greater Bangor area and in Maine..

Since 2011’s mid-November on every Tuesday from mid-November to mid-April on the BDN sports page for the past 6 years, I have written 25 “Off the Rim” columns a year which is averaging 25 columns a year for a total of 150 columns.

Remember, I also started my year round basketball blog for the BDN at the same time.

In total, I have written and posted 675 BLOGS and 150 “Off the Rim” columns for a total of 824 articles.

Here is the scoreboard for The “Off the Rim” BLOG total hits for the 6 plus years, 76 1/2 months, 332 weeks, 2324 days per year is 283,845 total hits.

This is an average of 122 hits per day. This includes the 25 weeks for the column and 52 weeks of the BLOG. However, I do try to do one a week from mid-April to mid-November, but sometimes I don’t get to do 1 per week during the 27 weeks I am not writing the Tuesday Column.

I am very surprised and pleased that we have averaged 122 hits a day especially when this includes all hits for 365 days a year. Many of the hits during the non-basketball season are from all 6 plus years we have been blogging. People go through the blogs and pick out the ones that they are interested in or basketball topics that they are looking for. I can tell each day which BLOGS have been hit and the total hits for that day.

Thanks to Joe Mclaughlin, the BDN sports editor, who gave me this great opportunity back in 2011 which has given me this great opportunity to give back to the game that gave me so much from meeting my Wife in college, to my life’s career in education as a physical education teacher, coach, athletic director, in addition to being a basketball official, Radio/TV Color Commentator and writer/author over the past 72 years.

At times when I have been critical in my column or BLOG, I have always tried to give a possible positive solution to whatever what topic I was criticizing.

I truly hope my columns and blogs’ advice have helped some players, coaches, officials, sportscasters/color commentators, writers, parents, and fans.

I hope the readers enjoy reading the BLOG and the column as much as I enjoy writing them. It is nice to be able to try to give back to the game that has given me so much all these years. It is especially warming to be able to contribute in someway as a senior citizen as a basketball writer and fan in my retirement.

It is always nice when a person comes up to me when they see me and tell me that they read my column or BLOG and they enjoy them. That’s when I really know that I am still contributing to the game in someway.

Finally, A great big thank you to all the people who read my columns and BLOGS.