Regular readers have surely noticed recently that there just aren't as many articles on our blog anymore. And when Corey or I write something new, it's often long past the arbitary deadline we had tried to impose. This has been most obvious in the case of "Born and Raised on the Cleveland Browns"—a weekly football season tradition since 2004. We used to publish "Born and Raised" on the Monday after a game, but those days are obviously long gone.

Why have things changed? I think the easiest and maybe truest explanation is that we simply don't have much to say anymore. That's not so say we're less opinionated about Cleveland sports. Instead, I think you need to understand why we ever started this blog in the first place. Almost four-and-a-half years ago, Corey and I were comparing our favorite Indians, Cavs, and Browns blogs. There weren't many on the list. And of those on the list, few had what we really wanted to see: statistically-informed and interesting analysis. There was a void in the marketplace, if you will, and we decided to try to fill it as best we could.

Today, the situation is completely different. There are many blogs and websites that have come along and they have plenty of things to say about the Indians or the Cavs or the Browns or all three. So when someone else skillfully expresses my opinion about Larry Hughes on their blog, instead of crowding on and saying the same thing in a different way, I would put down my pen and try to find something new to write about.

Corey and I have always wanted our blog to be a place where you'll find something you wouldn't see anywhere else on the web. More than a few times, I think we've really succeeded, and I'm proud of that. But—to give one example—now that Doug Farrar of Football Outsiders is writing a [supposedly] weekly DVOA-flavored Browns preview on the Orange and Brown Report (link goes to the Browns-Colts preview; it's not clear yet whether this will truly be a weekly feature), Corey is a lot less inclined to replicate the work in his weekly DVOA-flavored Browns preview, especially when enthusiasm for Browns coverage is at a low, relative to recent history.

So what does this mean for the future of the Mistake by the Lake Sporting Times? We're definitely not shuttering the site; I'll say that right up front. And we're definitely not quitting. But the recent trend of infrequent posts will continue. I can't say how often we'll have something new on here, because that kind of deadline-centric thinking has made blogging seem less and less appealing. For the rest of the current Browns season (at the very least), we're probably not going to be doing any more "Born and Raised" recaps, nor we will publish DVOA previews unless something truly fascinating jumps out at us. Not all of our "regular" features will be gone forever (don't worry, LeBron Day is here to stay), but we're definitely going to be relaxing the rules we've imposed upon ourselves over the last four and a half years.

There's always a silver lining, however. As I see it, when Corey and I do have something to say, you can bet that it'll be unique and interesting—not the same rehashed and phoned-in comments about the Browns every week. We'll be returning to the truest sense of our unstated motto: to write things about Cleveland sports you won't see anywhere else.

Unfortunately, and undeniably, this will hurt our readership. People who regularly check the site will notice we haven't posted in a long time and will stop checking so frequently. Eventually, they'll stop checking at all. The solution, I believe, is one of the best things to have come out of the "blog revolution" or whatever you call it. Undoubtedly, many of you have already done this, but I know that some still don't: you don't have to check your favorite sites everyday, looking for changes. Instead, sites can notify you whenever there's something new.

Since this site will lie dormant for longer stretches of time, I highly highly highly suggest—nay, beg—that you subscribe to our feed. Feed readers like Google Reader and Bloglines are simple to use and free. And if you aren't totally sure what a feed is, or don't want to bother with a feed reader, you might consider signing up to receive e-mail updates whenever there's a new post. You won't get spammed (we promise!) and you can unsubscribe at any time.

You know what? That message is pretty important for the future of this blog, so I'll repeat it. Please subscribe to our feed or sign up for e-mail updates whenever there's a new post! There are even handy links to both options near the top of our sidebar.

I hope that you understand our decision to scale back our commitment to this blog. And I also hope that you continue to read what we have to say, whatever may come in Cleveland sports. Now, who's excited for the Dorsey Era?

Corey continues: I'm with Alex on everything he says here, but I just want to add my two cents about a couple of things. This was not an easy decision. If we felt comfortable discontinuing "Born and Raised" as soon as it stopped being fun for us, we would have stopped writing it months ago, maybe as soon as Jim Sorgi failed in his bid to bring pancake glory to Cleveland in 2007. But we truly felt an obligation to the loyal readers who have supported us over the years. It still amazes us that people value our opinions about the Browns, Cavs and Indians, and it breaks my heart to think that we may be disappointing some of them. That said, our lives have gotten busier since the carefree days when we started this blog, whereas our passion for blogging—and the feeling that we were doing something truly unique—has grown a bit stale.

It was always in the area of Browns football where I felt like we had the best opportunity to carve out a "niche" for ourselves. Football Outsiders is blazing a lonely trail in a field that many consider to be an impossible quagmire: making sense of football data. I'm really proud of the fact that we've been a small part of their movement, and of the relationship we've developed with Aaron Schatz as a result.

That in mind, I understand if many of you feel it's high time we shift our focus to Cavs basketball, not just because the well of Browns football seems to be drying up, but because the Cavs seem to have embarked on a historic season. It's true that the Cavs will certainly be on our minds in the coming months, so to the extent that we do have blog posts to present, they will more than likely be about the Cavs. But I don't want anyone thinking that we'll be able to pour anything like the time and energy we spent on writing "Born and Raised" into Cavs coverage. We were already over-extending ourselves with Browns content, and I can't stress enough how important it is to us that anything we publish be something unique, of which we can take full ownership. This may seem like a cop out, but we've never been able to just "drum up" Cavs content (and we only managed to force ourselves to "drum up" Browns content—often weak Browns content—thanks to the arbitrary rules of the "Born and Raised" format). Our enthusiasm for the Cavs is on an upswing right now, but that alone doesn't mean we can promise to have unique insights. All my favorite posts of the last three years or so were things that just popped into our heads one day, and I honestly can't predict when the next big idea will hit us. Could be tomorrow, could be next month.

In closing, thank you so much to every loyal fan of "Born and Raised" and of our blog in general. This is not the death of "Born and Raised"—with the pressure now off, who knows—it might be quite fun to resurrect the feature some day, especially if the Browns become good again (I know, ha ha). I hope you'll continue reading our much-less-frequent but hopefully just-as-interesting musings, starting with some Cavs coverage just as soon as inspiration strikes (or on LeBron Day 2008, whichever comes first).

With much love,
Corey and Alex