Fake Sigi's Greatest Hits, 2009

Much love to those who stopped by to post comments over the last week while there was not much posting going on. There's plenty of stuff that came up while I was gone, and I promise I'll try get to it all eventually.

In the meantime, I've been wanting to put together a retrospective of the site in what was really its first year of consistent activity, and perhaps introduce newer readers to posts they might have missed. I also think it's interesting to evaluate the impact of posts in light of how much effort I put into them or how I expected them to be received when I wrote them. As you'll see here, something that is topical, sexy, or hits a nerve can vastly outdraw posts that are lovingly crafted and insightful. First I'll review the ten most popular posts, and then go over some of my favorites and disappointments. I'll try and spread it out over this week so that I don't hit you over the head all at once with "stuff you've already read."

So without further ado, here's the top ten posts of 2009 in terms of page views:


1) On Elizabeth Lambert of University of New Mexico Friday, Nov. 6 - My first post on the Lambert saga was far and away the most popular post on this site, having almost twice as many views as any other post.

2) TFC fans don't actually like soccer, just beer Sunday, July 19 - I wrote this in about 5 minutes and it took on a life of its own after it got linked on BigSoccer and both Columbus Crew and Toronto FC sites and forums. The second "breakout" post of the site. Also notable for being the first time that Duane Rollins showed up to talk smack.

3) On the Nate Jaqua Case and Rape in General Sunday July 5 - The first "breakout" post of the site, and still ranks highly in google searches on the subject. Was including the Sarah Silverman video at the end tasteless or was it poignant? Yes and maybe.

4) Elizabeth Lambert Suspended Indefinitely, Apologizes Friday Nov. 6 - Yep, another 2 minute post in the top five.

5) Anyway, about that soft cap Tuesday Sep. 15 - Wherein Richard Snowden's proposal for raising the MLS salary cap to $10 million per team is shown to be totally unreasonable. I like to think this post had some impact on the overall discussion.

6) Richard Whittall - Stupider than I thought Wednesday Sep. 23 - How this post ended up in the top ten, I'll never know. I suspect it had more to do with the hand-to-hand combat between Duane and Bill Archer in the comments. Once again, the lesson is that you should never work too hard to get page views.

7) The Offside is my new favorite blog Sunday July 19 - Specifically, the Columbus Crew blog at The Offside. Again, this post took less than 5 minutes, but a lot of Crew bloggers stopped by to have some fun in the comments. Sadly, the poster of the awesome had health issues and the world is a darker place without her posts. It's moldy mom, isn't it?

8) WPS Social Impact: N/A - Friday Sep. 11 - The third real breakout post of the site and the first that had legs in terms of driving traffic. It lead to a lot of discussion on WPS marketing, and is still one of my favorite pieces from the last year.

9) If we have to look forward to more of this, I don't want the World Cup to come Tuesday Dec. 22 - Apparently no one else likes fake soccer hair bands either. I'll have more on this topic soon.

10) Yes, the Sirens of Soccer are real Tuesday July 7 - Not really my best work, but it's slowly climbed the charts on the basis of Google image searches. I tried to examine the overt sexuality of the Sirens without engaging in slut-shaming, and I'll admit that the end result is more muddled than anything else. I suspect I'll revisit the topic later with a more mature perspective.