The click of a mouse and the punching of keys are sounds all too familiar to students and adults alike these days. With millions of users logging on to the Internet daily, the Sam Houston State Athletic Department decided to further utilize this student-friendly medium by adding a blog feature to its main website, GoBearkats.com, to make SHSU athletics more accessible to fans.
The department joined the booming business of blogging with the Bearkat Bytes blog on Dec. 2, 2008.
While game recaps, signing updates and player profiles make their way to the public through the main website, Media Services Coordinator and creator of Bearkat Bytes Jason Barfield said Bearkat Bytes will present readers and fans with a more detailed and insider view of the athletic department.
With many stories being posted on GoBearkats.com, it is easy to forget about little things that certain fans might have an interest in, Barfield said.
“Many times there are interesting stats or notes that may be included as part of game notes that will not get read by many of the people who frequent the site daily,” Barfield said in a statement from the new blog. “What we want to do is give some of those smaller items a place of their own, away from the bigger stories on the official site.”
Recent postings on the website include information on how to catch the men’s basketball team on television, highlight videos from the baseball team and photos of a 1970s SHSU football logo as part of a mass sports archival effort.
The athletic department strives to keep its fans informed through the GoBearkats.com website, and now with the creation of Bearkat Bytes, they can give fans a little bit more.
Bearkat Bytes will also be the new home of “View from the Corner Office,” a feature about the latest in Sam Houston athletics from Director of Athletics, Bobby Williams. In his monthly online newsletter, Williams discusses anything and everything pertaining to Bearkat athletics, including construction updates, fan attendance, rivalry information and future plans for the department.
With the creation of the new blog, the SHSU Athletic Department joins a growing trend among other Division I schools, such as the University of Kentucky (“Cat Scratches”), the University of Washington (“Dawg Blogs”) and Vanderbilt University (“BarcaBlog”).
To check out the Bearkat Bytes blog, go to GoBearkats.com and click on the link on the right side of the homepage.