A Response

A thing was written this week about us on a website called GoPokes.com that frustrated me. It frustrated me because it ain’t true, and it also frustrated me because I’m really proud of the people who have worked to make PFB into what it is.

Instead of responding to that post here (don’t miss, by the way), I’d instead like to tell you a little about the guys whose work you’ve been enjoying over the past weeks, months and years.

Let’s go.

Jackson Lavarnway: As a high schooler (!) he was going to games and shooting them from the stands before we were credentialed by OSU. He’s gotten better every year since then and has made this site 10x more legit with his photos.

Grant Newton: Runs our store, updates our data, manages our PFB+ subscriptions and listens to my rants about the journalism industry in 2019. You never hear his name, but you’ve definitely consumed his work.

Dustin Ragusa: Moonlights as our film evaluator (or, I guess, critic this season ?) while working long hours at his actual job. Gamer.

Carson Cunningham: Can’t imagine hollering about OSU all day at anyone else.

Steven Mandeville: You won’t meet a kinder individual in the media business. He would not only give you the shirt off his back but write 500 words asking for other people to do the same.

Seth Duckworth: He’s carved such a cool niche in this world. I wish I had a subscriber for every person who’s said to me, “I love Seth’s stuff.”

Marshall Scott: One of the best things to happen to PFB that I never saw coming. Good teams win. Great teams cover. Elite teams go to soccer availability on a Wednesday when football looks like it’s in the tank and grind out stories anyway.

Kyle Cox: As detail-oriented and hard-working as it gets in this industry. When I think about a terrific sports blogger, I think about Kyle Cox.

Kyle Boone: A friend. A business partner. A dude (i.e. somebody Gundy would never recruit but Boynton would be hounding from the jump!)

These dudes bust their asses to make a great product, and I’m proud of them and what we have all built together. I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again: I could do this site without them, but it wouldn’t be any good or any fun so why would I?

[pivots]

The best way to support them (and us) is to become a PFB+ member. Subscriptions are not a silver bullet in 2019 like many people think they are, but they do help us immensely when it comes to building a business. And you get a really cool product that we’ve worked hard on in return.

Not sure why you would join something that’s already free or what you get when you join? Here are six reasons you should subscribe to PFB+ as your only source for Oklahoma State news and community.

1. Ad-Free Browsing: I was on another site that covers OSU the other day, and after I clicked on the page, I literally could not see the words I came to read because of how many ads were covering up the space.

Ads — too many ads — stink. If you’re a PFB+ subscriber, you won’t see any ads on our site. I’ve been browsing like this for a while, and if you spend any amount of time on here it’s worth the two dimes a day you’ll pay for it because of how clean and uniform the experience is.

2. Gameday Threads: They have been a delight. I’m tossing GIFs at people. Other folks are cursing about how our word blocker blocked their previous attempt to curse. Everybody is screaming about the calls on second-and-long. It’s a sports bar of folks who are actually funny and entertaining to chat with during games. Here’s our OSU-Iowa State thread for Saturday for PFB+ subscribers.

3. Chicken Recruiting Nuggets: We’re able to deal in rumors and hearsay (as well as well-sourced information) more in our PFB+ forum — also known as The Chamber — than we are on here. Kyle B. has been dropping Bryce Thompson info and Cade Cunningham info like …..

4. Giveaway City: This month we will give away a big gift card to our PFB Store to one of our subscribers. Next month, it will likely be basketball tickets Other months we’ve given football tickets or prints of some of our best photos.

Some of our subscribers have probably actually made money off of us in terms of the value of the stuff we’ve given away. On this note, we’re currently at 600 subscribers. If we get to 700 by Halloween then we’ll give away season basketball tickets for two to one of our subscribers. If we get to 1,000 by the bowl game, we have something even more special planned that I don’t want to announce yet. Two pretty cool deals that require some real momentum in the weeks ahead.

5. More Voice: Folks who are PFB+ subscribers simply have more voice in shaping what we do. They’re involved in the PFB+ portion of The Chamber (which is mostly where we hang out), and they have helped us think about what PFB should be in the future. Like assistant coaches, but if Gundy actually listened to them.

Kidding! Not really kidding!

6. Future Stability: I said some of this above, but we were able to hire our first FTE this year. That’s exciting for us and a good thing for you because Marshall Scott is grinding on the weekly beat in Stillwater. He’s entrenched there, which gives us legitimacy and continuity.

Also, it’s no secret that the media world is a mess right now. You all saw what happened to Sports Illustrated recently. The way forward is not on the back of that silver-bullet subscription model, but rather a mixture of revenue streams. This is one of them, and it will ensure you get the best OSU news and community for years and years to come.

Today we’re giving away PFB+ subscriptions at a discount. If you sign up for the yearly version today using the code LETSGO2019, you’ll get 50 percent off. We have 16 of those spots left, and then they’re gone.

You can sign up right here.