At the end of the award voting, I decided that since the Baseball Bloggers Alliance had come along so quickly, it might be nice to get an idea of who was actually in the group. To that end, I’m working through the roster and asking ten questions of each member. The first five are standard, while the last five are a little more personalized. Hopefully this will help us get a feel for our fellow members. So, here’s entry twenty-three in a recurring series.
Kristen Hudak
Website: We’ve Got Heart
BBA #6
Personal info: 27, PR/Online Communications
Question 1: How and why did you get into blogging?
I started We’ve Got Heart in the 2007 season with a few of my friends. At first, it was just for us. We were enjoying the team as first time season ticket holders and we just wanted an online space to talk about baseball, post pictures and interact. Plus, we thought the online discussion about our team was a little too cynical. Gradually, we started interacting with bloggers, broadcasters, front office staff, etc and it became a much more serious, semi-professional effort.
Question 2: Do you have any blogging projects planned for the off-season?
Pass – spring training is here – thank god!
Question 3: What’s been your most enjoyable experience as a blogger (particularly well-received post, a high-profile link, a connection you wouldn’t have had otherwise, etc.)?
In 2008, we did a Women in Baseball series. We interviewed maybe a dozen notable women (executives, writers, etc.) to talk about their experiences in Major League Baseball. I learned so much from those women. It definitely prepared me for taking on a more professional role. It also helped to introduce me to the network of awesome female bloggers covering baseball around the country.
As far as raising our profile, I’ll always credit Bob Carpenter, our MASN play-by-play analyst for his insight and help with that. He became a good friend early in this process and helped us understand the industry and the game a little better. He introduced us to a lot of great people.
Question 4: How did you find out about the BBA and what attracted you to the group?
I think it was pretty early on in your development. I received an email about joining and we definitely wanted to be a part of this. Blogs cover such a variety of topics and they are so valuable. It seemed important to be part of solid and growing network.
Question 5: What do you want to see out of the BBA in the coming year?
I think you’re doing a fantastic job growing the organization and raising awareness about it.
Question 6: What’s the best part about going to a game at Nationals Park?
Because the team hasn’t had a lot of success and because it’s fairly new, I think I know most of the die-hard fans. You see the same people at the games all of the time. It’s really a nice community of people that care a ton about this team, almost like a family. I’ve met some amazing friends during my trips to the ballpark – or even on the road. That’s the best thing about coming to Nationals Park.
Question 7: How did you become a Nationals fan?
I came to D.C. for graduate school in 2005. I grew up in western PA about 2 hours from Pittsburgh. We went to a few Pirates games, but I never felt a strong connection to that franchise. We had an independent team in Johnstown for awhile, and that was so much fun. I watched a lot of high school baseball. Every year, Johnstown hosts the annual AAABA tournament. It’s a big amateur tournament and we always went to all those games. So, I was a baseball fan but I didn’t have a MLB team until I moved to Washington.
When I lived here, I was always trying to get my friends to go to games. I finally got two of them hooked and we started going all the time (in late 2006). We started the blog in 2007 and that year’s team was a lot of fun. It was Manny Acta’s first season managing the Nationals, we had a lot of comeback wins and generally, they played better than anyone expected. It was just an easy year to fall in love with the team.
Question 8: How excited are you to see Stephen Strasburg in a Washington uniform?
Very, very excited.
Question 9: Is it tough to follow this team on a regular basis, since they’ve not been all that good?
Yes and no. It’s depressing for sure. There are times in late 2008 when my parents would call and say, “so, I read your blog. Are you okay? You seem depressed.” It can be exhausting and draining to give 100% to a team that loses all the time. At the end of the day, if you’re at the ballpark with friends, you’re going to have fun. I had to try to remember that and adjust my heart (and my expectations) accordingly. In the end, it’s going to be so much fun when they start to win if you were here through the tough times.
Question 10: What’s your best experience coming out of following the team?
This opportunity with MASN. I began writing for MASNsports.com in November of 2008. I’ve been so privileged to have this kind of access and I don’t take it for granted. I never thought when I began a blog for fun that I would end up really covering a team. I loved writing from the World Baseball Classic — that was definitely an important highlight for me. I also really love the community relations events I get to cover. It’s fun to introduce players as real people through your stories, but it takes some time and effort to figure out how to do that successfully.
This article and other Cardinal stories may be found at C70 At The Bat. You can also follow Cardinal70 on Twitter.
