SplittingTens

THE NEW SITE IS LIVE:

SplittingTens.com

It’s in its infancy, and we don’t actually know what it’s going to look like, how it’s going to work, or what it will become, but WE’RE OFF THE GROUND.

Check SplittingTens often. It will be gold.

Farewell

Clearly I haven’t been posting here. The new website talks have continued and I don’t want to post ‘good’ content on this site if I’m going to be pushing it aside shortly.

For those still checking, I’m sorry, but keep an eye out for the new site.

As for Bansheemann7, well I guess that’s it.

1835 posts published, 3107 comments, way more hours spent than either of those, and not a single dollar generated.

Farewell.

Nover to a Nunder

I bet the NCAA tournament this year with reasonable success except for one specific aspect of betting: PARLAYS!

Throughout the tournament I was about +$250 or so excluding Parlays.

I was probably 0/6 on parlays leading into last night, which put me about +50 on the tourney as a whole.

The Nover

What was the bet last night? NOVER! AKA, parlay Nova -7 and over 145, $40 to win $105. EASY. MONEY.

I told Tom and Evan to join as well, which they both did.

The Game

I watched the game knowing Nova would cover, but the 145 was shaky. With two minutes left we needed 8 points. Then it happened. Michigan gave up. That was it. The game ended and the total score was 141. God. Damnit. Why are parlays so difficult?

The Nunder

I sheepishly checked my account and to my surprise, I had $105 more than before the game… What happened? Was it 135 instead of 145?

No, even worse. I accidentally parlayed the NUNDER! (mobile betting is much more error prone).

So while Evan and Tom ended the tournament on a sour note, I donked my way to a +$150 on the tourney.

Did I feel bad? Not really. I genuinely thought I bet the Nover.

It just goes to show you, no one knows shit about sports betting. You’re betting off making picking the wrong thing by accident.

The Future of the Blog(s)

Clearly I haven’t put a lot of time into posting since the blog was revived.

The main reason for this is that I don’t feel like putting effort into this site when Tom and I are planning a new one right around the corner.

Naturally you’d ask, “You keep talking about this combined blog, when the FUCK is going to happen??”

That’s a fair question. And I don’t have an answer, but we’re going to try and make it happen soon!

In the meantime, I’ll post on this site as I have in the past but it’s going to look like this (which, honestly, might be an upgrade).

Bansheemann7 Lives!!!

I’ve gotten close to 50 texts asking if my blog was dead. It’s not, it was just in a coma, but it lives now!!!

Clearly there’s some stuff to work out, and Tom and I are still probably going to combine sites, but in the meantime, WE’RE BACK!

Stay tuned.

Interview Review

The interview with Gourlay was a hit. I had more traffic that day than any other in 2018.

There are two explanations here:

Gourlay is a star

This actually isn’t that ridiculous to suggest.

Gourlay’s blog was great and people actually want to read what he writes.

But this doesn’t help my blog all that much if this is true.

Different / creative things works

This is what can be helpful to me. I’ve pumped out thousands of posts and 90% of them are similar.

This one was different. Food challenges are different. Guess & Win is different. Combining the blogs is different.

Different is good. Creative is good.

I plan on doing more interviews, but it has to expand beyond just that. There are other ideas out there.

Please tell me what they are and I’ll do them!

An Interview with Gourlay

The first-ever blog interview, and who better than Gourlay! This will be the first of hopefully many thrilling interviews (or last if everyone hates it).

Shout out to Luke for the idea.

Below is the unedited email response from Gourlay.

Sorry it took me so long to do this. I actually deleted your email the day after you sent it because I never planned on answering the questions. You’re welcome.

1. Which blog is better, bansheemann7 or rnningfool?

They both suck but I’ll say yours because I get mentioned more.

2. Why don’t you comment on our blogs anymore?

My computer broke like a year ago and I never got it fixed. I really only read the blogs anymore on my phone and commenting from there is a pain in the ass. I could read the blogs on my work computer but the last thing I want is for me to open up Running Fool and my boss to walk by as a big pair of boobs pop up on the screen.

3. Gourlay’s Goodies (your blog) was a objectively better than Tom or I’s blog, are you ever going to start it up again?

Yea my first post back will be any day now. Tune in.

4. You moved to Richmond like 3 years ago while all of your friends were in Philadelphia, why?

It’s weird that you only mentioned my friends being in Philly and not my family.

I moved because I was bored and hated my job. I thought it was better to move to a different city and pursue a stupid dream job rather than killing myself.

I also lived in the Philly area my entire life and figured if I wanted to live somewhere else I better do it soon. Initially I didn’t plan on staying in Richmond this long. I didn’t really have a plan at all but if you asked me back then where I’d be in three years I would have guessed back in Philly.

I miss home a lot, more my family and friends rather than the city itself, but I am happy down here. Or at least as happy as I can be. I love Richmond and am at peace here. If I could transfer a few friends and my family down here I would feel complete.

5. Outside of Jessi (your girlfriend), how many friends do you have in Richmond?

I had three genuine friends,  the type you would invite to your wedding but one moved to Chicago and the other two moved to Charlotte. So the answer is 0. Jessi has friends but that doesn’t count. I have “friends” here or there but no one really I can (or want to) text and be like “hey wanna grab and a beer and watch some sports?”

6. What’s the number one thing you do that pisses Jessi off?

I asked her this and she just started rattling things off but ultimately said when I treat her like a bro and get all aggressive. Since I lack friends here I treat her like a guy friend and just tackle her and she hates it.

7. What’s the number one that Jessi does which pisses you off?

Surprisingly not much. You’d think living with her everything would bother me, but it doesn’t. It’ll bother me for a day or two and then I get over it and don’t care. Like she has so much stuff, just like crap, in our apartment. It bothered me the first week but now I’m used to it and oh well.

But the one thing, and probably the only thing really that bothers me, is her dramatics. Everything is the end of the world or the biggest deal ever. Like oh my god shut up I don’t care.

8. You recently started taking boxing lessons, do you think you could beat up Dale now?

In a refereed boxing match? Yes. He has like 30-40 pounds on me but I actually know what I’m doing (somewhat) and he doesn’t. Any other type of fight he would win.

9. If you had to pick one friend to keep, would you choose Dale or Jonny?

N/A

10. How confident are you in your bet with Dale about the Sixers making the playoffs? (Gourlay bet Dale $100 that the Sixers would not make the playoffs. Fivethirtyeight has the Sixers at 99% to make the playoffs).

I stopped paying attention a few weeks ago and then the other day I looked at the standings and was like wtf. Regardless, I am more confident than I have ever been.

11. What’s your betting strategy for the World Cup this summer?
The over? Why is this a question?

12. What’s your crypto strategy for 2018?

Forget that I own it and then look at it in like 3 years hoping that it went up.

13. How long do you think it will take until too many people are into crypto in which case you’ll start hating it because it’s too mainstream?

Ignoring this question.

14. What was the highlight of your running career (and you can’t say the end of it)?

The end of it.

15. Where do you want us to take you for your bachelor party?

The Kentucky Derby

16. 10 years ago, when you were a junior in high school, where did you think you’d be now. 

I don’t know but back then 27 sounded so old. Like I should have a house, wife, kids, and almost ready to retire. Or that I’d be this mature adult who knows what he’s doing. I’m not there yet. So whatever I thought, or hoped for in high school, I’m not there. I’m not saying I failed, high school me was just an idiot.

17. If you could’ve asked yourself one question here, what would it have been?

Why did you volunteer to answer these stupid questions?

18. Last question, favorite Trump tweet?

“I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke.”

Blog Brothers

I have a blog.

Tom has a blog.

If you like the content in one, you’d probably like the content in the other.

I’d argue most of our readers overlap too.

So yesterday, it hit me like a ton of shit:

Why do Tom and I have two separate blogs? Why don’t we make our posts on ONE awesome Stortz blog?

Pros

Reduced friction for readers. No more going to two separate places, everything’s in one place.

Cross pollination of readers. People who only know me probably don’t go to Tom’s blog and vice versa. Now we’d expose both groups to the other’s talent.

Twice the content. If I go a week without writing a post, I don’t feel obligated to post because Tom will still be putting out content. Readers don’t start think “This is Deer Tick all over again, I’m done with this shit”.

Post collaboration? Our dialogue now is about post structure, but rarely post content. We could write posts together, where we’re both creating content on a single post / topic.

New Name. The only thing dumber than rnningfool is bansheemann7. Tom suggested rnningmann which I thought was hilarious.

Cons

Lost independence. No longer can I think to myself “Sheesh, I’m glad that’s not on MY blog!” when Tom posts something stupid. My posts reflect on his brand and vice versa, for better or for worse.

Potential strain on the relationship. There are a billion examples of siblings getting into business with one another and it goes sour. I’m not sure what we’d fight over, but it’s a risk. Jeff and Tom have made it work in real business for years so maybe this won’t be an issue.

As a reader of my blog – your thoughts?!

Top 8 places I want to get stuck during a snow storm

With Hurricane Johnson right around the corner, this seems like a timely topic.

8. Barnes & Noble

Just kidding. I’d rather freeze to death outside naked in the snow than be stuck in a god damn Barnes & Noble for even 30 minutes.

7. Strip Club

You’d think this would rank higher, but after a few hours I think this would go south really quickly. I’d start getting hungover and the women would start getting really annoyed with me.

6. Arcade

Give me skee ball, Guitar Hero, and some House of the Dead or something and I could KILL a lot of time, ha!

5. SPiN

Ping Pong is one of those things that I never get tired of and I’m physically durable enough to play for a while. I’d just need to get stuck with the right people…

4. Guitar Center

By the end of this we’d be playing Sgt. Peppers in its entirety better than Pink Floyd themselves.

3. Bowling Alley

The only reason this isn’t number one is because after about 8-10 games I physically couldn’t bowl anymore. If I didn’t have a 300 by the end I’d probably quit bowling.

2. Any bar during the first weekend of March Madness

I may be bias since this is right around the corner and I just took of next Thursday / Friday for this, but the first weekend of March Madness is a top 3 sports weekend of the year.

1. Casino

Obviously this is number one. Winning money is so fun and easy. I’m not even considering the fact that I might lose money while choosing this.

People think they’re interesting

The blizzard on Friday is the talk of the town.

On Preston & Steve this morning, dozens of people called in speaking with a passion about how the blizzard affected them, and they all said the same thing:

“It was crazy! I drove to the turnpike but it was closed so I had to u-turn but a tree was down and a car was stuck so I had to u-turn again and the turnpike was closed!”

Every person spoke as if their story was the craziest thing that’s ever happened to anyone. And to them, it probably was.

But it goes to show how our perspective is so twisted into thinking what we experience is so much different (or perhaps more significant) than what others experience.

This is why people tell you to just keep asking questions when you’re on a first date, because people love talking about themselves.

Why do you think I started this blog?