IPB Blogging Questionnaire: Steve Lepore Edition

It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a response to the Blogging Questionaire, so we were thrilled to open up the old IPB inbox and see a submission from Steve Lepore. Steve’s a Devils fan who’s found fame and glory blogging for the one and only Kukla’s Korner, specifically for the new sub-blog Eye On The Media. He’s also the co-founder and co-author of Battle of NY. Not only are we proud to see a fellow Devils fan making waves, but we’re also very glad to hear there’s someone else out there thinking about hockey from the standpoint of television audiences. The following are Steve’s answers. We’d say, “be sure to check him out over at Kukla” but, really, who doesn’t already read Kukla? So instead, check him out at BoNY. Also, the questionnaire is there for the answering, so if you missed it during the first wave of answers but are interested in tossing in your two cents just drop us a line at interchnageablepartsbog [at] gmail [dot] com.

1. What was your motivation for starting blogging? Has that changed at all in the time you’ve been blogging?

Well, I’m a college student, and a hockey fan, and a nerd. What the Hell else am I supposed to do? All kidding aside, I’ve been a hockey fan since the 1st Devils Cup (Which you can’t claim to band-wagon jumping, ‘cuz I was 5) and I’ve gone really super hardcore on the sport since we came back from the lockout. I met Greg Wyshynski (Glow Pucks/FanHouse/TFP/Etc.) through the NJDevs’ board and told him I was interested in writing…so he said send me something…so I did. Thus, “Around the NHL” was soon born, which lasted a good year and a half, but had to go by the time I got to KK. But we’re jumping ahead of ourselves in the story.

I started immersing myself in the hockey blogosphere and noticed the Battle of Alberta, California, Ontario sites whatnot, and thought, well, why the Hell isn’t there a Battle site in these parts? So I created it, begged Derek Felix to join me, and the rest is herstory. Of course, there’s the part where that blog also lasted about a year, then I quit to do media writing on Kukla’s Korner, and the fantastic new Eye on the Media blog, if I do say so myself.

My motivation has not changed. I’m still a hockey nerd. I still live pretty much the same, hang out with friends as much as I did, etc. I just talk hockey more now, and have a form in which to do so.

2. What do you think your blog contributes to the hockey conversation?

A positive media voice. I think something you’ll notice throughout my blogging career is that there’s this weird underlining optimism that comes through. The Hell’s up with that? No clue, either. I think I contribute news that other hockey bloggers (Aside from Pookie and Schnookie, I’ve noticed) ignore. I post the ratings, I post the annoying little broadcast notes, I post who’s calling the game. Who else takes the time to do that crap? Nobody, that’s who. I feel like my blog provides people with the little details that they wanna’ know about hockey in the media.

3. What do you want to get out of the blogs you read?

I want them to have the same passion that shows in my blog. Seriously, it’s about as simple as that. If you’re as in love with the sport as I am, I wanna hear what you have to say, agree or disagree.

4. What determines which blogs you read and which you don’t?

I’ll read any and all blogs. You never know who’s going to have an interesting take on something from one day to the next.

5. How important is the issue of gaining press access to you as a blogger?

Not very. I mean, as a communication arts major, it’s my lifetime goal to one day have Doc’s job, after an appropriate amount of time usurping Matt Loughlin in the radio booth, because in my opinion, Doc should be allowed to do the game’s ’till he’s a hundred, and he’d still be better than Gary Thorne. But I digress.

I think, for some bloggers, there’s nothing wrong with having the access, but I’m not in it for that. Plus, I’d be super-embarrassed to sit in the press box with pros like Gulitti and Chere who do awesome work, and watch some 18 year old snot be annoying for 3 hours. Everson? Not so much feelin’ bad about doing it to him.

6. To what extent do you feel accountable for the content of your blog? How concerned do you think readers should be about the authority and accountability of your blog?

I feel like, since I’m at KK, which is pretty big as far as hockey blogs go, and I say that without a trace of irony, I have one. Every other day, I hear about how many people read the site. I was told yesterday that Jim Hughsson and everyone at “Hockey Night in Canada” reads it. Wow, this sounds self-important, doesn’t it? But yeah, because of KK’s reputation as a place for straight news, as someone often writes columns, it’s my obligation to keep it classy. You know? Though, we do have Bill Houlihan at A2Y calling Adrian Dater “Adrienne”. Which is very funny. But classy, funny, smart and informed are my mantras, if that’s a real word.

7. How concerned are you about the authority and accountability of the blogs you read? Do you find it difficult to judge the authority and accountability of the blogs you read?

I’m not very concerned about it, and usually you can tell within the first 30 seconds reading a blog whether it’s a, as I said before, funny, smart, informed opinion about puck, or some idiot just ripping on why there are teams in Nashville, Florida and Atlanta.

8. What value, if any, do you think blogging brings to the NHL?

While I disagree with Ted Leonsis on his opinion of bloggers in the press box, I’ll say that he is right when he speaks of the NHL needing to beat every other league in the internet race. Guys like Ovechkin, Malkin, Phaneuf, etc. are made to be YouTube legends. They maybe won’t get the pub of the Crosbys and Jagrs and others, but they’ll develop cult followings through some stoners video of Ovechkin’s greatest moves set to an Aerosmith song. I think the NHL needs to be all about the Wide Wide World of Web and get it’s name all over the place.

Also, we have the best fans, let us speak! Plain and simple!

[Originally sent as an email written by Steve Lepore on 03/06/08.]