A major announcement (!)

Get ready for more newsletters and more videos from Rodger. Welcome to Sports!

If you’re looking for Rodger’s new newsletter, click here.

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Hey, Rodger here. Over the past few weeks and months, I’ve been hinting at some changes around here. I’m a bit nervous … but it’s time to reveal those changes. (Don’t worry! They’re fun!)

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I went independent in 2023 with the goal of “going to a lot of college football games.” Mission accomplished! Unfortunately, I didn’t really have any content plan or business plan. TBH, I wasn’t really prepared to execute the few things I did have planned. (I’m not exactly a great planner.)

After a few months, I started this Substack as an afterthought. I didn’t have any vision besides “uhh well everybody is starting Substacks so I should have a Substack.” But writing here on a semi-regular basis re-focused me. It made me remember what types of stories I wanted to tell and get a better grip for how I want to tell them.

And now, with some help from people who are great planners, I think I’m ready to tell those stories.

Welcome to Sports!

Sports! is the new name for this newsletter and my Youtube channel. We just released our first video today, about the real inventors of the Tush Push. Check it out!

Along with that change, I’m also switching platforms, moving the newsletter from Substack to beehiiv. That shouldn’t affect the newsletter in any way — I’m subscribed to a handful of newsletters that have switched platforms without me even noticing — but just a heads up, when you get an email in your inbox this weekend from Sports! on beehiiv instead of Read Rodge on Substack, don’t be alarmed! It’s just me!

If you’re finding this newsletter for the first time, you can subscribe here and we’ll make sure you get the first beehiiv newsletter in a few days. It’s free, unless you feel like paying me!

I want to thank the people making this happen behind the scenes: Louis Bien, who’s been editing the newsletter for the past few months, Tom Prizeman, who will be our video editor, and Ben Weiss, who is helping me figure out how to get this off the ground in a bunch of ways. I’d like to thank Homefield Apparel for sponsoring the newsletter AND for all the comfortable stylish college clothes I wear all the time. I’d also like to thank my smarter-than-me-by-a-lot wife, Sarah, who told me to be thoughtful and take big swings instead of just trying to do the minimum.

And most importantly, I’d like to thank everybody who has read my stories, watched my videos, or subscribed to the newsletter in the past two years. You convinced me to keep pushing when I was a little bit aimless. I’d like to double-triple-super-mega thank my paid subscribers, who voluntarily paid me money even though I wasn’t offering any additional benefits to people who paid me money. You literally kept me afloat when you had no reason to do so, and I’ll always be grateful. (And btw, there are still no additional benefits for paid subscribers. You know, besides my aforementioned gratitude.)

Now, some answers to your questions.

What is Sports!?

Sports! is where I’m going to tell fun, unique, untold stories about — you guessed it — sports. It might be a story about the biggest play in the Super Bowl, like our first video up there. It might be a story about a scandal in an Olympic sport you’ve never thought about before.

How is this different from what you’re already doing?

Honestly … it’s not! You’ll still be getting two newsletters a week, plus some additional videos you weren’t getting before.

More than anything, this is just me wanting one name to call all my content. I was tired of having to be like “here’s my newsletter, which has one name and here’s my video channel, which has another.” It’s all Sports! now.

I do have some ambitious long-term goals for this thing — more frequent newsletters and videos, the ability to hire additional writers and pay my editors more — but that’s gonna take a while.

Do I have to write the exclamation point in “Sports!” every time?

Yes! I’m very excited about sports (the concept!) which is why I’m calling the newsletter that.

I’m actually saying the exclamation point out loud most of the time — the official pronunciation is sports exclamation point. (It’s also the official handle of the YouTube channel.)

Rodger, you can’t just name your publication “Sports!” It’s too common a word! It’s going to be impossible to search for!

True. If you’re concerned about how hard it’s going to be to find my content now that it is completely unsearchable, just go ahead and subscribe! It’ll get delivered straight into your inbox!

That’s pretty dumb. You’re an idiot for real.

Always have been, always will be.

Why are you switching from Substack?

A few reasons!

First off, beehiiv is going to cost less money. I get PUMPED about every paid subscription I get — it’s legitimately an honor that some of you pay me money for no good reason! I’m tired of giving a large chunk of that away for little benefit.

Secondly, I didn’t really use any of Substack’s features — I kinda just want to send out a newsletter. This is where I want to say thank you to Jessie and Ben S. for joining me in the live chat through a variety of NCAA championships. In future I’d like to figure out a way to hang out with subscribers during various events in future … but I don’t think the Substack chat was it.

Thirdly, multiple people unsubscribed or otherwise contacted me to say they didn’t want to give Substack any money due to the influence of right-wingers and racists on the platform. That’s kinda hard to ignore!

What will be different about your newsletter now that it’s on a new platform?

Nothing! You’ll still be getting two newsletters a week, written by me, in the same format. But it’ll be prettier now!

If I’m a paid subscriber, am I going to have to re-enter my credit card info?

No! That should transfer over easily.

So what’s next?

On Sunday morning you’ll get my college football wrap-up newsletter from beehiiv, and on Monday morning you’ll get my NFL wrap-up newsletter. In the near future, you’ll get more videos on my YouTube channel. And then things will carry on as usual.

Let’s watch some Sports!