LIKE A BOSS
Wanye
July 20 2011 03:09PM
You may be shocked to learn this, but since the departure of bingofuel there has been very little in the way of adult supervision around Nation Central Command. The writers continue to write, the radio continues to radio and thankfully the advertisers continue to pay their bills.
But your ol’ pal Wanye can’t very well be counted on to be “on the ball” or “awake prior to noon.” It just doesn’t work that way. We are far too concerned about Angry Birds RIO HD releasing the next 2 levels or the fact that HMV hasn’t carried any of Gucci Mane’s last three mixtapes to be any sort of help on a regular basis.
And this was starting to be a problem – until the heroic Kent Wilson stepped up to the plate. Under his watchful eye, FlamesNation has grown 16 fold in 16 months and CanucksArmy has been upgraded from “dead” to “very much alive.” TheLeafsNation has seen traction from the start and continues to grow and recently JetsNation had the highest launch of any of the Nation Network sites.
This ain’t your ol’ pal Wanye doing much of much. This is all Kent Wilson being everywhere all at once – and getting it done 24/7.
And getting it done is the name of the game going into this 2011-12 season. There are grand plans for the Nation Network if we can ever get our act together. GRAND plans indeed. We are in 5 Canadian Cities now and are redeveloping NHLNumbers.com for the second time in the past year. The radio show is going to hopefully grow and we have a secret plan being developed in the most underground part of Laboratory Complex C that will take years to come to light if it is even possible in the first place.
There are many miles to go before we can sell out, mail it in and put the glory years of the network in the rear view mirror as it turns into a forum for the hardcore fans of the Klingon Chess Association.
THE PLAN
Yes, there are still a great many things to be done on the Nation Network business plan.
Currently this plan is merely the word “KILL” written in lipstick on a napkin and stapled to the wall over the computer in Wanye Manor. But with the addition of Kent Wilson as the editor of the Nation Network, we will now have the brain power and chemical engineering needed to turn this napkin into a proper plan and then turn that plan into something being killed.
THE INTERVIEW
To capture the historic rise to power of the Editor of the Nation Network we emailed our new boss a couple of respectfully worded questions.
Wanye: Lay your biography out for those of us who are unfamiliar with your gunslingery please Sir.
Kent: I began writing about the Flames at the start of the 2005 season, mostly as a hobby. I wrote about 1,000 articles between 2005 and 2010 at my home site of fivehole fanatics. I eventually began picking up freelance work as well, including a couple of years at fanball.com providing fantasy analysis as well as Hockey's Future covering the Flames prospects.
In 2009, I was approached by Sports Blog Nation to establish and manage their Flames site, Matchsticks and Gasoline. A year or so down the road, our own irrepressible Wanye managed to convince me to leave the site I had so carefully built for SBN to take over Flamesnation. He plied me with wine, women and psychedelic mind-control agents. He also threatened to decapitate my prize race horse. Offers that couldn't be refused, clearly.
I've been annoying my co-bloggers and angering Flames fans at FN ever since.
I also currently contribute to both Hockey Prospectus.com and The Score blog "Houses of the Hockey", but the Nations is my true home.
Wanye: How does it feel to be in control of the Nation Network after your bloodless coup?
A bit like herding cats. In the dark. And some of the cats don't care for me very much.
Wanye: What are the plans of the new regime?
To grow things rapidly and aggressively. Think Genghis Kahn. Also, to give the same sort opportunities to aspiring writers that have been afforded me through the Nations. Finally, in the far-flung future, I would like to grasp total power over the company by leading a bloody insurrection over the current ownersh...err wait. You should probably ignore that last one.
There you have it. All Hail the new overlord.
'Grats, Kent. I once harboured thoughts of taking control of the Nations myself. Then I started to go through my list of reasons I'd have to give Wanye to justify my existence and they all seemed to involve actual work somehow. And that was the end of that.
I hope the whole ‘Dictator for Life’ thing works out better for you in reality than it did for me in my head.
You still could. We could split up the empire into East and West. Kent can take Kentstantinople and you can have EndeRome. I dont think anything like that has ever been done before and if it has it probably worked out well for all parties.
*cracks open that history book he paid for in his 1st year of University*
Uh oh...
Arch,That's funny stuff.
Thanks again everyone.
And to those wishing for site improvements, I'll tell you this - a few weeks ago I sent Wanye and company a multi-page page overview of the network and my recommendations for the platform.
His head exploded but just know we are looking into things now.
Kent, I look forward to many more years of destroying you in the Nacho pool. Also, please make the nation site mobile-friendly. Please.
@Middleborn
My enduring nemsis is that damn pool. I swear Sherwood cheats somehow.
Congrats, sir. You are officially a powerhouse.
Congratulations Kent, I enjoyed reading your articles on the other nation’s site. I look forward to reading more, just as long as they don’t include the Flames! JK
Congrats Kent. I enjoy your articles because I like how you seem to think the game. It's unfortunate that as a young child you were brainwashed into being loyal to the darkside of fandom, but hey - no one is perfect!
Congrats Kent. Though, I must say I am concerned that any power is being wielded by a Flames Fan. heaven forbid.
Edit: that's a joke by the way... kinda...
@Bucknuck
Don't worry. If films have taught me anything, it's that with my ever increasing power I will forget my roots and inevitably become a jerk to everyone, not just Oilers fans.
So let me get this straight...
Kent Wilsson blogs for the Flames and Oil next to Wanye Gretzky?
A hat tip to the Talent Acquisition Department (aka Wanye's 1991 Bud Girls poster).
That's quite a rise to power!
Really got hooked on Kent's stuff and M&G and been following ever since. Can't see but good things with him at the helm of this now.
Good luck Nation Network.
Last name's Wilson, not Sutter!!!
Mobile site (fingers crossed)
MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER! BAN ALL MEANIES! GIVE WANYE A RAISE! THIS PLACE LOADS THE RADIO TOO SLOW!
Well done Kent.
More Flames Nation Radio!!
Congrats Kent!
Well deserved for some of your great work and articles. Kent Wilson the AGM of Feaster(only to become the GM a year later when Feaster is done handing out NMC,NTC and such) sounds much better, but this sounds like a step in the right direction.
Keep up the good work and yes, more Flames Nation Radio indeed!
alright, who is going to be the first one to drop a deuce on the new bosses desk?
(c'mon rosscreek)
Congrats Kent! You're a highly refreshing read from the rest of what's out there, including most of the mainstream. Keep up the good job!
Oh, and you deserve a raise!
@Wanye
Does this mean we have to stop calling you our "Dear Leader"?
Might have to change the avatar buddy.
A bit like herding cats. In the dark. And some of the cats don't care for me very much.
Are you calling us pussies? Screw you Kent! I demand a duel.
Okay I must be drinking too much since July 1st and Tambo's run on Free agents, etc.. What the Heck happened to Bingofuel?
Kent,
Did I congratulate you on this during Saturday night beers? For some reason things are very foggy...
If not, congratulations on the new post. I fully expect to be over here bitching about something at some point so that you can shoot me down with a much more rational and fact based argument. (Really, why would anything change?)
And you know I'm always good for beers in person. Now that you're King, you can hire someone to do the scoring chances so that we can all go over to WI's and watch the games.
LMAO! Now why would I go and do that?!
bingofuel sold his shares in The Nation's for millions and was subsequently struck by lightning while vacationing in Europe. RIP, bingo
@mikeH
Thanks, appreciate that.
And there's no way I'll be able to farm out the scoring chances. Only obsessives like myself have interest in doing it more than once or twice.
Jeebus! I hope he was at least struck by lightning in one of Amsterdam's fine "neighbourhoods"..
Lets hope he had a smile on his face when he went.. :P