Introducing Project 440: The Fan Report

By Tony Miller, Results Editor

Four years and seven days ago, this site's forefather put forth upon the Internet a new portal, conceived in a void of the written word, and dedicated to the proposition that all Bruin sports were worthy of coverage.

In the past two years we have engaged in a great internal struggle, testing whether that portal, or any portal so conceived and dedicated, can long endure. Now we meet on the field of that struggle, reading the space where the work of many met the dedication of few. We have come to dedicate a portion of this space for those who wish and have wished to give their time that this portal may live.

It is altogether fitting and proper, although not without great pain, that we do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot merely desire, we cannot merely admire, and we certainly have not tired of  this portal. While a few of us who toiled here have made this site what it is, each one of you reading this has the power to add to or detract from it. The world may little note or long remember what we say here, both in this space and at Bethany Christian Schools, but it should never forget what we do here.

This space is for us, the present, to dedicate to the task before us — that from the work of few we take increased mass devotion to those teams for which they gave so much individual devotion — that we here resolve that our work shall not die in vain — that this portal, with God's help, shall breathe new breath — and that coverage of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth.

This post marks the beginning of Project 440: The Fan Report, a living and breathing chronicle of the Bethany Christian Bruins in 2012-2013. In the olden days (construed here as 2008), one of us worked to cover 35 teams. That one became two, then briefly three, before falling back to two and again to one. The number of teams has fallen, too, from to 27. For almost 1,500 days, this portal has existed; while there have been periods of expansion, the trend in single-author expectations has been decline.

Today, that changes. As a student and an alumnus, I've been connected with Bethany for nine years; in those years, I've been continuously reminded that, through word and deed, Bethany provides a dynamic community that fosters relationships. The goal of Project 440 is to put that community and those relationships to work for us.

We have all done myriad projects as individuals. Now we have a tangible way to work as one body and tell each other the stories that make up our community. Another great thing about Bethany is that each sport has fans who will support them, regardless of the score. Since many of these fans cross sport boundaries, no cheering section is ever a solo effort.

It is that strength in numbers on which Project 440 hopes to build. In order to do so, however, we will need your support. Anyone is encouraged to contribute by visiting the "Cover Games" page; there you will learn how, when and what to contribute. Every one of you has a unique perspective on an event, and I hope we can merge these perspectives into our group narrative.

Why Project 440? According to our composite schedule, the Bruins have 420 athletic events scheduled this year. Factoring in rain, snow and tournament play, 440 games seems like a reasonable estimate of the number of games we'll play. So our goal is to recap that many events. I know it sounds like a lot, but it is quite plausible — even the busiest of days, after all, can be summarized in fewer words than this post. We have plans in place so that some of our events are sure to be recapped, but more than one write-up per event is great. Just like a camera requires multiple perspectives to form a 3-D image, we want to have multiple perspectives behind our version of the Bruins.

With these words I conclude — again — my tenure as the sole voice behind Bleeding Bruin Blue. I'm not going anywhere, but we are. I will still be here to steer our collective ship (especially behind the scenes) and to add a number of contributions, but it is my hope that, from this day on, Bleeding Bruin Blue's driving force can be plural instead of singular.

See you at the field, the court, and the course.