Slackie Brown: 1,000 Posts and Running

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A letter to readers and visitors about Slackie Brown from Casey Pazzalia, creator of the site. 

In television, getting to 100 episodes is a big deal, sort of like 3,000 hits in baseball. With websites, I’m not sure if there’s a milestone, but Slackie Brown is closing in on 1,000 posts and it feels like a good time to get really honest about Slackie Brown and where we’re headed.

So what is Slackie Brown? The name, honestly, was an attempt to breed what we’re doing with a pop-culture reference. Since we write sports and entertainment, and you primarily watch them on the couch or whatever, words like lazy and slacker always stuck out to me (Casey). So one day during the coming-up-with-a-name stage, I watched Jackie Brown and thought, YOOO, that’s it: SLACKIE BROWN. 

Note: Back in the day, if someone drank too much and started puking, we’d replace ‘Jackie’ with ‘Yackie’ and call them Yackie (insert topical last name). Subconsciously, this definitely played into the site’s name.

Some days, I really love the name: it’s memorable and unique. Other days, I wish it described what we actually do, but overall, I’m happy with it.

What I’m not happy with is some of the actual content, and that’s on me (again, Casey). Rather than writing unique pieces, I’ve tried to cover as much news as possible to stay up to date with local teams. With one primary writer and a few part-time contributors, it’s just not possible to do it really effectively. Some pieces are awesome, but a lot are just news posts you can get anywhere. Moving forward, I’d like to get back to reporting the underreported, finding unique angles, and writing more opinionated articles and columns. If we want to gain a following, that’s going to be the way.

Don’t get me wrong, though, Slackie Brown has grown a ton since we re-branded 18 months ago. Last year, over 160,000 people came to the site to read over 200,000 posts. For our size, I’m happy with that and grateful for each and every one.

At the same time, there’s more to accomplish.

As always, thanks for reading.

On to 2,000,
Casey Pazzalia
Founder, Slackie Brown
slackiebrown@aol.com

P.S: If you want to write about your favorite DMV team, pop culture, or just sports in general, drop a line and we’ll chat!