Dear Readers,
Tomorrow, Hound Dog’s LPGA Blog will celebrate its second anniversary. Little did I know in July 2006 what I was getting into. The vast majority of it has been great – a fulfilled ambition of writing (and actually being read), studying a field that few others seem inclined to delve into, and making acquaintances with folks online around the world.
At times, keeping up with it has become a little unwieldy. I’ve talked before about “real life” or my “paying job” interfering, and I’ve certainly short-changed each to some extent working on HDLPGA. You probably noticed I didn’t post video highlights for the Jamie Farr Classic. Each round would take me about two hours to clip, download and link to YouTube, in addition to being forced to watch the entire TV coverage and make time-notes for potential clips. Six or eight hours a week (and sometimes more) eats up a lot of time that I needed to allocate elsewhere. While I won’t say that I’ll never post highlights again, I decided to stop doing that as a regular feature.
But that doesn’t mean I’m stepping back. A couple of weeks ago, a lady by the name of Karen Palacios-Jansen e-mailed me. She recently began doing a weekly internet radio show about the LPGA at www.primesportsnetwork.com and asked if I would consider co-hosting with her. I was excited about the prospect and after a couple of days’ thought, agreed to do the show. We did our first one together last night and I think it went pretty well. Have a listen and let me know if I babble as much as I think I do. I’m hoping I’ll grow into it with practice – in retrospect, I’m pretty sure that tactic worked on the written side.
And finally…while thinking about doing the show, I realized that it would probably be a little strange for Karen to call me Hound Dog all the time. It works fine in print but in casual conversation, not so much. So I’m coming out, as it were. Those of you who have e-mailed me already know that my name is Ken Hartis, but here’s a little more info: I live in Douglasville, Georgia with my wife and son, and I’ve worked in IT systems administration for the last 20 years.
There. I’ve completely blown my cover. I’ll still be posting under the same old alias but from now on, “Hound Dog” is really just the blog’s name.
Thanks,
Ken
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10 comments:
Wow, it seems like it's been longer than two years. Congrats on the new gig.
Congrats on the radio gig and on your 2 year milestone- i'm a fan of the LPGA and greatly appreciate your efforts- don't know what i'd do without HDLPGA and Mostly Harmless-- so, thank you!
Great news, Ken! Congrats!
Just listened to the podcast. You have a great sound. And, you were pulling old facts out of nowhere.
You are going places!
I'll take streaming audio (podcast) over YouTube any day. Next stop, Golf Channel!
Enjoyed the show a lot, Ken! I think as you and Karen get more used to working together, it can only get better. Liked your low-key approach and command of the facts a lot. Also liked hearing the odds of victory of various players in the preview--would love to hear in later shows a more Daniel Wexler-style "HD's odds" approach (as he does for the majors over at his blog).
I learned how to pronounce Evian correctly from you! It's never been my strong suit, so I appreciated how you nailed Eun-Hee Ji's name. Maybe you can enlist the Seoul Sisters gang for a pronunication guide on other Korean players. Just read how Na Yeon Choi's last name is more "chae" than "choy" (and I'm pretty sure her 1st name is "na yun"). Thanks to courtgolf at Waggle Room, I learned Shanshan Feng is "shenshen fung." Following the LPGA is truly an education! Thanks!
All these congrats and compliments are much appreciated! Keep in mind I'll also accept your constructive criticism if you have any.
TC, the pronunciation stuff is a worry for me. I learned how to say "Eun-Hee" from the recent item at the Seoulsisters board. I doubt that I'll be able to modify "Choi" at this point but you never know. The last thing I want to do is act like Grant Boone and start mangling people's names unnecessarily. And if it's pronounced "Fung", it really should be spelled "Fung" (like Chung?!?) shouldn't it?
Don't be assuming GC just yet, Diane. While my voice might be suited for TV, I seriously doubt that my face is!
My guess is it's really somewhere between feng and fung--some vowel sound that doesn't exist in English! But I have no background in Chinese at all, so I have no idea--all I know is that there are at least a couple rules for transliteration (or whatever the right term is--that's what came to mind). I did check her LPGA bio page, and "shenshen fung" is what they say. Maybe this will require a sequel to your immortal "freebird" post?
Congratulations on your new gig, sounds like alot of fun. Thanks for all your hard work.
Paula
ken,
Happy blogging anniversary
Bill
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