Dear Loyal Readers,  

Well, today is the day!  After putting it off and getting halfway there and putting it aside again and again to finish that pesky book, the new website is here!  (Thank you, Brandi Scharrer!) 

More good news: We now have an incredible 136,464 subscribers to the Bacon Blog.  And trust me, I’m more surprised than you are.  But once it starts spreading, that’s what happens in cyberspace, and now it’s growing by leaps and bounds every week.  So, to all of you who have subscribed and invited your friends to subscribe (often at gunpoint, I’d wager, based on the numbers above): THANK YOU! 

Now, for the SCARY PART! 

I need to ask everyone to SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW SITE, because it can’t happen automatically.  The good news is, it’s easy – here’s the link! – and I promise I will never ask you twice.  But you need to do it soon, or you won’t keep getting your weekly Slice of Bacon.   

The motives are many, but in short, I think you’ll find this a better-looking, more user-friendly and interactive website and blog.  I can advertise on this one, too – and, you’ll notice, it now has a little “Donate” button, an idea I’ve taken from some of my favorite sites, though I don’t think many include the phrase, “PLEASE FEED THE WRITER!” 

And here’s the reason: When Steve Schram, the director of Michigan Media (which includes Michigan Radio and its stations in Ann Arbor, Flint and Grand Rapids), invited me to provide sports commentary every Friday morning way back in 2007, I had no idea how long I would do this or where it might lead.  While it now runs on Detroitnews.com, Annarborchronicle.com, and of course the Bacon Blog, in the new world order we live in, very few newspapers will pay a dime for content, fearful as they are about going under, so syndicating it myself has proven impossible.  

But I love writing these weekly commentaries, and want to keep writing them.  To do so, however, I’ll need to make some revenue to justify the day or more they usually take to research, revise and record – especially after taking three years to finish a book with a one-year advance.  (Ooh -- that hurts!)  While I’m not claiming poverty, you will not see me trading in my 2004 Volkswagen Passat for a Rolls Royce any time soon.  (A Bentley, maybe, but never a Rolls Royce.  That’s just crass.)  

But I also promise you this: no one has to pay a dime, of course, as the content remains free.   

So that’s the story.  I hope to continue to provide commentary for you fine folks, and take in your comments, for many years to come.    

And again, THANK YOU!!! 

-John