It’s our last week of content for the year on SoBros Network. So, you know what that means – it’s officially in ‘Best of 2018’ season. That, of course, is a nice way of saying, “we’re kind of phoning it in this week.” Nonetheless, I’m going to be taking a look back at some of our best work over the course of the past year.
There are so many different things we do here that it makes it hard to narrow this list down to just 10. We’ve published dozens of good features, stuff that would qualify as actual journalism. But, we’ve also covered some pretty popular topics. I’m also not too proud to admit that I crack myself up and we’ve had some really funny stuff go live this year.
But, there’s work to do. So, let’s get to it.
The Top 10 SoBros Network Articles of 2018
10. We Need to Appreciate “Copacabana” For the Literary Masterpiece That It Is, by yours truly (LINK) – Hardly anyone read this article, but even as I sit here in December today, I still feel it’s some of my best comedic work. It was some of the most fun I’ve had writing something.
9. Derrick Henry Shines, Other Notes From Titans Practice (8/12/18), by yours truly (LINK) – The article’s probably not all that great, but this was the first Titans practice I attended with the intention of covering for the site. No, the Titans wouldn’t give me a press pass, but that didn’t stop me and really – it shouldn’t stop anybody. It’s pretty accessible as is.
8. The Tale of the Point Pleasant Mothman, by Rubber Rooster (LINK) – Rooster’s one of our best pure writers on the site, and her account of the Point Pleasant Mothman was the hallmark of our Spooky Season content plan. I plan on running this piece into the ground every Halloween from here on.
7. Chattanooga Film Festival–You Ain’t Seen the Last of Me, by “Nature Boy” Brandon Vick (LINK) – The whole weekend of the Chattanooga Film Festival was something else, but Brandon’s recap hauled in some major pageviews and was one of his best pieces of the year.
6. Southern Underground Feud: Brett Ison and Righteous Jesse, by “The General” John Mosley (LINK)– Mose has done some excellent work this year, which makes it hard to pick one of his articles that stands out about the rest. The dude just has a natural knack for “the SoBros voice.” But, I’m going with the first piece he ever wrote for us because it marked the beginning of something truly special. That dude has proven himself invaluable this year.
5. Neil Orne’s 440 Tweets Are the Best Thing Going on in Nashville, by yours truly (LINK) – Obviously, I have to put the article that got my name dropped on WKRN’s Good Morning Nashville on the list, right? But, seriously – I couldn’t believe some people were actually criticizing Neil for what I thought were hilarious tweets about 440. I had to stick up for him the only way I knew how.
4. Migrating Our WordPress Site To AWS Lightsail, Route 53, CloudFront, and S3, by Smokey (LINK) – The thousands of pageviews this piece generated were awfully nice. But, the reason I liked it is because Smokey did an excellent job of documenting a process that helped define our entire year. We migrated the site back in the spring, and haven’t looked back.
3. P.K. Subban – The Most Valuable Player In Predators Franchise History, by Herbie Brooks (LINK) – Herbie really kicked our 2018 off on the right foot with this one. As it stands, this is the most-read article of the year on SoBros Network dot com. Excellent take, excellent piece, something people wanted to share with their friends – it was tailor made to take off.
2. The Monkey Races at the Fair are Bananas, by Mack Lunn (LINK) – Smokey put it best when Mack initially published this piece back in August, “this redefines the standard of journalism on this website.” Mack did an excellent job of providing facts and presenting a story. No one was shocked that Mack is capable of such work – he’s been a long time friend of the site and is one of the smartest people you’ll ever meet. But, maybe our readers were a little shocked to see such quality on this website.
1. Nashville, the Prostitutes at the Ravin Hotel Are Taking Over, by yours truly (LINK) – It’s the gift that keeps on giving. Written pretty early in 2018, this pieces has thousands of hits because people won’t stop searching for hookers in Nashville. I love it – it’s kind of surreal to think. We never really know what is going to take off and what isn’t. Sometimes, I’ll write something and think, “oh yeah – this is going to go viral,” only for 12 people to read the article. This was one that was just one of the many stupid quick posts I do. I thought we’d be lucky to have 100 readers, and the next thing I know, it’s exploding. This thing still gets 100+ hits each and every week.
What do you think SoBros faithful? What was your favorite piece of the year?
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
Check out the SoBros Shop. Subscribe to our Patreon. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Listen on SoundCloud. Watch on YouTube.
