Reflecting On Our First Year As The Blazing Musket

Thank you.

Image Courtesy of J. Alexander Dolan

Approximately one year ago we were forced to take a risk after Vox defunded our website.

The Bent Musket, which existed since Steve Stoehr founded the site in 2011, became The Blazing Musket, a completely independent news source about soccer in New England.

In all honesty, it was a move that probably should’ve been done earlier.

Vox’s decision to no longer value our voice has led to others validating our work. We’ve increased our readership since the launch of the new site. We’ve seen an uptick in the number of comments we receive on our articles. We’ve also created opportunities for New England soccer fans to connect via our subscribers-only chat and weekly mailbag.

As we begin year two of our independent venture, we ask that you join us.

We are so appreciative of the people who support us, including our various sponsors and partners. We have nearly 200 paid subscribers, and we are grateful for every one of them. We would like more of you to join us in this ambitious endeavor. 

To be clear, there are many talented people who cover soccer in New England, and we appreciate and support all of them. It’s critical to have many voices covering soccer in our region.

The Blazing Musket isn’t always the first to report news, but we work incredibly hard to provide the information and analysis that fans want. 

Personally, I remember pulling over while on the highway to break the news that Lee Nguyen was not going to be attending the first day of preseason. Sam Minton has made countless trips to Gillette Stadium before staying up until the wee hours in the morning to write the articles you want to read when you first wake up. 

And it’s not just us. We have a dedicated staff that wants to give soccer the spotlight it deserves. Josh Nye, Jake Catanese, J. Alexander Dolan, Greg Johnstone, Nathan Robillard, Stephen Gadbois, Liz McGowan, Jackson Tolliver, Matt Medoff, Thomas Pinzone, Tanner Rebelo, Jamie Rooke, and John McGloughlin are central to what we do.

If you enjoy our work, please consider becoming a subscriber. Being a free subscriber costs nothing, and it helps us build a community. Paying $5 a month gives you access to our subscribers’ chat and weekly roundtables. 

More importantly, giving $5 a month means that you value the coverage that The Blazing Musket offers. If you represent a business, we welcome the idea of sponsors. 

We plan to continue to make the bulk of our content free, but your monetary contributions, and comments, mean a lot to us.

I’m embarrassed that it took until now to write the words “thank you” because that’s honestly what I want to say. 

Thank you for reading and sharing our work. Thank you for commenting on our articles. Thank you for being part of our journey.

Thank you.