Interview with Zach from The Big Picture

If you haven't stumbled upon The Big Picture then you should slap yourself and your mama! The Big Picture is a killer blog focused on sports and the hilarity that is in sports seen through the eyes of a talented writer named Zach. We approached Zach about helping us out and doing our very first interview and he was gracious enough accept. Check it out below and make sure to check out his site The Big Picture.

1.) With websites like Facebook & Myspace do you see these sites as aides in the marketing of a blog?

Sure, a little. Many blogs seem to have MySpace and Facebook pages, and while I think the idea there is that it might pick up some new readers, the reality is that it doesn't help much.

2.) What do you think about people who stop reading blogs because the owners of the blog place paid ads on the site?

I think those readers should jump in front of a truck. Not actually, but ads are reality of blogs -- especially blogs that become the author's full-time job. To put in 20 hours a week for fun isn't, well, fun. To put in 20 hours a week for fun AND for a few hundred bucks is much better.

My rule with ads has always been that if it isn't an eyesore I'll run with it. Once an ad compromises the look of the site, then it's gone too far.

3.) Gaining readership is the lifeline of a blog, along with content. What are some ways you have utilized to gain readership?

Seems to be the question that everyone wants to know and few do.

Many will say that if the content's good, the site will get noticed and thrive. That's certainly true to an extent, but a blog's growth is so dependent on Internet-word-of-mouth, meaning LINKS!

If you write something you like, send it out to sites that do a daily link dump. Deadspin, The Big Lead, Awful Annoucning, Busted Coverage and SI's Hot Clicks run some good link dumps that will help the smaller blogs with traffic. Don't be shy sending an email to those sites with a link to a post you wrote.

Aside from that, post regularly. If you're not posting at least once Mon-Fri you're behind the game. Just about every current sports blog posts at least five times a week and many do far more than that. I think quality is more important than quantity, but if I find my way to a site that hasn't updated in a week, I'm outta there.

It also helps to have a niche. I can't speak to this as I write a general sports humor blog. But to focus on a particular team, sport or subject helps as it will narrow the focus of the writing and probably help with hits from Google searches.

So there, I just gave three good ways to increase traffic. All of our sites will be up to 100,000 uniques/per day by next week!

Now that the "boring" questions are over, lets get to the meat & potatoes.

4.) In your opinion was the Barry Zito contract worth it?

Worth it? No. Absolutely insane and horrible and I want to slaughter Brian Sabean with a cleaver? No.

People will look at the money -- $126 million over seven years -- and see one of the worst contracts in baseball history, but he was a former Cy-Young winner and the Giants were desperate. Money just doesn't matter anymore in sports. It's a number and that's about it. It's so out of control -- especially in baseball without a cap -- that that's what you need to pay for a big-name guy.

Here's the part of the deal I hate: 7 years. The shelf life of a successful pitcher just isn't that long and Zito was already on the decline before he wore black and orange. And if he was lousy, then you'd be stuck with him for seven years or eat that huge contract. Well, looks like those are the options now, huh?

5.) If you could bring back a "retro" sports jersey from any team, which would you choose?

That Astros jersey always gave me a hard-on.

6.) What is one of the lamest things you have ever seen in sports in your lifetime?

No playoff in college football.

7.) Greatest Washington Husky athlete of all-time?

Toughy. It could go back so far. But I have a bias towards Brandon Roy as I went through UW with him and he did so much for that basketball program -- taking it from a perennial doormat to back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances. And I got to interview him and party with him a few times.

8.) Name your top three greatest sports movies of all time?

3. Major League
2. Field of Dreams
1. Bull Durham

9.) If your life had a boombox that followed you wherever you went, what song would be playing?

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey. What, too cliché?

10.) Bill Simmons from ESPN refers to the Oklahoma City Thunders as, "The team that shall not be named". How pissed were you when the Sonics left Seattle?

Not at all actually. I'm not a Seattle native (just went to school and lived there for a while), so the only team I gained an alleigance to was UW. And I hate the NBA the way a man hates his wife, so I'd probably prefer contraction than relocation anyway.

Big ups again to Zach from The Big Picture for taking time out and doing our first interview. Like I said before take some time out of your day and go check out The Big Picture, it's worth it!