As of today, Year 1 for House of Strauss is in the books. I don’t want to get too self-indulgently nostalgic about August 23rd, 2021, but some reflection is probably in order.
Really happy for you Ethan. I think of you, Marcus, Tim and Slater in a similar way as I do my college friends. We don’t speak often (I’m 50) but every time I do hear from them it doesn’t seem that so much time has past. I don’t know you guys at all but when I hear or read something you produce my desire to consume is more substantial than content produced by others. I signed up the first week (I think) you moved to Substack and I’ve had mild regret that in didn’t spring for the “Founding” subscription. Continued success.
It's been a great year! Looking forward to running it back. The pods are fun, you and Royce are doing a great job - somehow I even enjoyed your pod with the animal rights guy. Year 2 needs to be the year you get Jeff from the plane on the pod.
Great work, Ethan. I drop everything to read a new HoS post when it reaches my inbox. You're the No. 1 sports Substack, and HoS is actually a few dollars more a month than the top competitors. This tells me there's a massive "silent majority" who gravitate toward the topics you discuss.
I subscribed very very early on - then various 'life happened' and I had to unsub. I planned to rejoin as soon as as I could come up for air. Thrilled to be back. For a full year, hopefully more. Always one of my favorite writers before HOS substack and definitely once I subscribed to the early days. Congrats on the crazy awesome growth in year 1 - all of it is tremendously well deserved.
I enjoy this site a lot. You and Whitlock explore social issues and avoid the woke. If I want to be called a racist mysoginyst homophobe islamophobe colonialist xenophobe dead-namer transphobe -- I know where to go. I can go to ESPN.
Here, there is a nice mix of issues with sports as the common denominator. Here, sports is our first language.
Podcasts are great - keep them coming. And whatever you do, remember that not only is Twitter not a real place (D. Chappelle), but if you succumb to the blue check pressure you will lose all of this.
This is why your decision to travel around is brilliant. You'll meet real people.
Congrats on reaching the one year mark. Hugely impressive.
I don't always agree with your positions or views but I fully support the way you present them and are willing to engage with commenters. It's vitally important that media are able to say hang on a minute let's actually debate this thing that had somehow become mandatory group think.
Your post on the utterly pointless scandal of the baseball players refusing to wear pride flags was the best example for me of what you do.
Congratulations Ethan. Your thoughtfulness, attention to detail and ability to see connections and contradictions in sport and wider culture has been wonderful to read. As you’ve said multiple times, you don't have to agree with everything to be open to other perspectives. We collectively need more of that in the ways we see the world. Looking forward to year 2.
Congrats Ethan! You're influential as well. ESPN even acknowledged KD backed off his trade demands in a timely manner even though Shams was first to get the scoop.
It's a privilege to read your work Ethan. Thank you for inspiring and re-invigorating the writer in me! I am proud of the thought leader you are emerging into. And, don't feel like you have to limit yourself to sports either, or have that always be the overarching theme.
Don't get me wrong, I love your angles and perspectives you provide in sports. But, also just know that you have a lot to offer your subscribers and the world at large. I'm looking forward to seeing your further growth and development as a writer and in the podcast/video realm.
I subscribed because your content is interesting and thought-provoking, both inside of sports and out of sports. I've gotten my money's worth and then some. Thought-provoking, even when I disagree, is absolutely worth it.
Congratulations Ethan on a great year, for you and for us. The web has almost infinite quantity but quality is hard to find. Most importantly, congratulations on a coming addition to the Strauss family.
Congratulations, Ethan. I'll be honest, when I first heard that you were doing this as a Substack, I wasn't sure it was going to work, either, but the guest appearance on BaR got me to click over, the articles have been incredibly good from the outset, and you've gone and built a heck of a niche. Enthusiastic and excited to stay subscribed for Year 2. (If there's anything I'm hungry for more of as a reader, maybe it's an occasional guest post or something taking the same sort of loosely-defined viewpoint or perspective or "house brand" (HoS brand?) you bring and applying it more frequently to issues of the day in other sports you are less versed in (soccer; baseball; hockey?) -- I'm still convinced that there's a market for that if you can find a way to do it intelligently and find its audience, because fans of those sports are just as tired of ESPN/ post-Deadspin-style baloney as e.g. basketball fans are, and don't necessarily want to turn to Outkick and co -- and these sports have their own AWoj figures, juicy conflicts of interest that lend themselves to "inside baseball" reporting, etc.) But whatever tweaks you make or don't make -- I'll be reading and keeping up. Well done.
Really happy for you Ethan. I think of you, Marcus, Tim and Slater in a similar way as I do my college friends. We don’t speak often (I’m 50) but every time I do hear from them it doesn’t seem that so much time has past. I don’t know you guys at all but when I hear or read something you produce my desire to consume is more substantial than content produced by others. I signed up the first week (I think) you moved to Substack and I’ve had mild regret that in didn’t spring for the “Founding” subscription. Continued success.
It's been a great year! Looking forward to running it back. The pods are fun, you and Royce are doing a great job - somehow I even enjoyed your pod with the animal rights guy. Year 2 needs to be the year you get Jeff from the plane on the pod.
Great work, Ethan. I drop everything to read a new HoS post when it reaches my inbox. You're the No. 1 sports Substack, and HoS is actually a few dollars more a month than the top competitors. This tells me there's a massive "silent majority" who gravitate toward the topics you discuss.
I subscribed very very early on - then various 'life happened' and I had to unsub. I planned to rejoin as soon as as I could come up for air. Thrilled to be back. For a full year, hopefully more. Always one of my favorite writers before HOS substack and definitely once I subscribed to the early days. Congrats on the crazy awesome growth in year 1 - all of it is tremendously well deserved.
I think it's pretty awesome Ethan has more subscribers than some writers with fairly large Twitter accounts.
"And it’s with that discharge of sentimentality that I announce I’m raising prices." Perfect timing with that one, I laughed out loud IRL.
I enjoy this site a lot. You and Whitlock explore social issues and avoid the woke. If I want to be called a racist mysoginyst homophobe islamophobe colonialist xenophobe dead-namer transphobe -- I know where to go. I can go to ESPN.
Here, there is a nice mix of issues with sports as the common denominator. Here, sports is our first language.
Podcasts are great - keep them coming. And whatever you do, remember that not only is Twitter not a real place (D. Chappelle), but if you succumb to the blue check pressure you will lose all of this.
This is why your decision to travel around is brilliant. You'll meet real people.
I'm in for another year.
Congrats on reaching the one year mark. Hugely impressive.
I don't always agree with your positions or views but I fully support the way you present them and are willing to engage with commenters. It's vitally important that media are able to say hang on a minute let's actually debate this thing that had somehow become mandatory group think.
Your post on the utterly pointless scandal of the baseball players refusing to wear pride flags was the best example for me of what you do.
Congratulations Ethan. Your thoughtfulness, attention to detail and ability to see connections and contradictions in sport and wider culture has been wonderful to read. As you’ve said multiple times, you don't have to agree with everything to be open to other perspectives. We collectively need more of that in the ways we see the world. Looking forward to year 2.
Love this, Ethan. You’re doing something nobody else is.
Congratulations. I really enjoy your perspective on things and wish you an even better second year.
Congrats Ethan! You're influential as well. ESPN even acknowledged KD backed off his trade demands in a timely manner even though Shams was first to get the scoop.
It's a privilege to read your work Ethan. Thank you for inspiring and re-invigorating the writer in me! I am proud of the thought leader you are emerging into. And, don't feel like you have to limit yourself to sports either, or have that always be the overarching theme.
Don't get me wrong, I love your angles and perspectives you provide in sports. But, also just know that you have a lot to offer your subscribers and the world at large. I'm looking forward to seeing your further growth and development as a writer and in the podcast/video realm.
Mazel Tov!
- JJ :-)
I subscribed because your content is interesting and thought-provoking, both inside of sports and out of sports. I've gotten my money's worth and then some. Thought-provoking, even when I disagree, is absolutely worth it.
Congratulations Ethan on a great year, for you and for us. The web has almost infinite quantity but quality is hard to find. Most importantly, congratulations on a coming addition to the Strauss family.
Congratulations, Ethan. I'll be honest, when I first heard that you were doing this as a Substack, I wasn't sure it was going to work, either, but the guest appearance on BaR got me to click over, the articles have been incredibly good from the outset, and you've gone and built a heck of a niche. Enthusiastic and excited to stay subscribed for Year 2. (If there's anything I'm hungry for more of as a reader, maybe it's an occasional guest post or something taking the same sort of loosely-defined viewpoint or perspective or "house brand" (HoS brand?) you bring and applying it more frequently to issues of the day in other sports you are less versed in (soccer; baseball; hockey?) -- I'm still convinced that there's a market for that if you can find a way to do it intelligently and find its audience, because fans of those sports are just as tired of ESPN/ post-Deadspin-style baloney as e.g. basketball fans are, and don't necessarily want to turn to Outkick and co -- and these sports have their own AWoj figures, juicy conflicts of interest that lend themselves to "inside baseball" reporting, etc.) But whatever tweaks you make or don't make -- I'll be reading and keeping up. Well done.