Posted January 3, 2022 by Austin Bumpus Baseball

Letter from the Editor: A thank you for 2021, and an update for 2022

Dear record-breaking readers,

Time flies when you’re having fun.

After a crazy 2020 that we thought would never end, 2021 seemed to zoom by (no pun intended) for me.

From an SOT Sports perspective, we were putting out stories almost every other day, publishing 45 more stories than we did throughout 2020.

We added a new writer in Allen Austin, which was one of the best things that could’ve happened to the site. He provided loads of fresh content throughout the year for any type of sports fan, and his presence pushed me to plow ahead towards our annual goals for the site when things were hectic in my life.

I moved from one end of the country to the other, but found myself publishing breaking news stories about CM Punk’s return to wrestling just a few hours before I hopped on a life-changing flight across the United States.

Allen was writing stories while preparing for/rebounding from Olympics coverage, and continued to check in about the site throughout a variety of his own major life events.

It was all worth it for so many reasons, and the analytics showed that our efforts didn’t go unnoticed.

After our audience increased by more than 500 percent from 2019 to 2020, we continued to grow throughout 2021, increasing annual site views by 61 percent year-over-year.

We had multiple stories getting read by tens of thousands of people, whether it was a post about “Hard Knocks,” a list of tips for those who play Madden NFL 21, or a countdown of the most iconic Jordan shoes of all time.

We reached a variety of audiences, whether it was the usual sports fan, gamers, sports card collectors, or anyone else that had an interest in what we had to say.

While it’s easy to focus on the numbers, it’s nice to know that people continue to turn to this site to read about their favorite sports.

But, like anything, there comes a time where you need to change things up a bit, even when you’re operating with a formula that’s working well.

As much as I wish there were 10 more hours in each day to make things easier in my life, it unfortunately isn’t that simple. So, as new endeavors begin to enter the fray, you may not see new stories popping up as frequently on our homepage.

But, that doesn’t mean that we won’t be producing content in 2022.

We’ll still be writing when we can, aiming to inform and entertain you with a litany of different stories throughout the year.

We started a sports-card focused YouTube channel called SOT Sports Cards, where I will be posting pack/box openings, discussing hobby news, touring card shows, and everything in between.

I’m excited to share my love of the hobby with you all on a more personal (and frequent) basis, in addition to the usual written coverage that pops up on the site every now and then.

You’ll see those videos pop up on the homepage of sotsports.com, but be sure to subscribe to the channel to make sure you don’t miss any of the fun things we have planned for that adventure.

Big games and series across the sports world will still get their due, whether it’s the Super Bowl, the NBA and WNBA Finals, Stanley Cup Final, or World Series, and important events across the UFC, WWE, and AEW will still get their shine.

We’ll still have loads of fun here, it’ll just look a tiny bit different.

Now, just like last year, all we have to say as we look to improve on the successes of 2021 is one thing, and it’s a nod to Bill Belichick, one of the all-time leaders the sports world has ever seen.

At this point, they’re a familiar set of four words, which will set the tone for what we hope will be a fun year for SOT Sports:

We’re on to 2022.

Thank you,
Austin Bumpus
Founder and Editor of The Swing of Things