BECK: PLEASE...SPREAD THE WORD ON HOWLINGS
BY: Mitch Beck, Howlings MONROE, CT - I began Howlings over 15 years ago after spending some time writing for Blueshirt Bulletin and being the Editor-In-Chief of both the Hartford Wolf Pack and New York Rangers' fan club newsletters. We got credentialed by the Wolf Pack and the AHL and a variety of other organizations, schools, teams and so on. We've brought you nothing but the most professionally reported information and have broken several big stories over the years and it's been an honor to do so. Originally, it was mostly just me writing everything. Occasionally I'd get some special contributions from great writers like the Hartford Courant's Bruce Berlet, the legendary Stan Fischler, as well as several others, not to mention a bevy of interns who were looking to get their start in sportswriting. These days, with my head coaching schedule and responsibilities for Central Connecticut State University, and my play-by-play broadcasting of USPHL and EHL junior hockey and Waterbury (CT) High School Varsity Basketball for DET Sports Media, and being there for my two sons in their High School hockey careers, I just haven't had the time to go to games and write like I used to. In fact, it's rare that I have the time to write at all. I have been blessed beyond measure to have one of the best hockey reporters in the entire industry, Gerry Cantlon, doing 99% of Howlings' reporting with my contribution being to just edit as needed. Gerry has been a godsend in volunteering his time and energy to the site. At this point, without Gerry's hard work and enormous contribution, there would be no Howlings. As someone who's been around professional reporters since I was 13-years-old working as an intern at a professional radio station, and then later in a 20+ year career as a radio comedian, I have come to know the difference between good and bad writers/reporters. That said, I would put Gerry's reporting talent and abilities, his connections, his knowledge of the game, and his devotion to the sport against any beat reporter anywhere in the business and at any level of professional sportswriting. His tireless work is amazing - and that's understating it - and to be able to give that to you, and the rest of our readers is absolutely the most wonderful honor for me. I don't make ANY money off of Howlings. In fact, quite the contrary. This site costs me a decent amount of money to keep out there for your consumption/pleasure. Even through rough financial times, it's been a prime priority to me to make sure this site has stayed afloat. The few ads that you see on the site are either for friends who've been personally and professionally supportive of me and this page or people that I just wanted to help out for one reason or another. The ads have been totally free. My point in writing this today was with the hope that you, who I hope is a regular reader and/or supporter of the site, that you would share it on all of your social media. Our Twitter handle is @HowlingsToday. Our Facebook can be found at facebook.com/howlings.net, and we're out there on other social media too. If you're so inclined and willing to invest in putting an ad on the site to help defray the costs of running it, and so that I could give to Gerry the proper compensation for all that he's doing for the page, that would mean the world to me and it would help keep the site afloat. I'm grateful for your loyalty all these years and hope that you will continue to support us and keep us in your heart. Read the full article