It's here. Follow the 2024 NFL season with Go Long
It's here. Follow the 2024 NFL season with Go Long
Your home for longform enters Season No. 5. Join a community of readers from around the world.
Whenever I sit down with a player for a profile here at Go Long, you know what I always love most? Romeo Doubs… to Yannick Ngakoue…. to Wyatt Teller… to David Long Jr. … to Damar Hamlin — close to 100 percent of the players we’ve met at Go Long — tuck their phone away. It may buzz. And buzz. And ring. They don’t answer. Seeing a 25-year-old completely engaged at the dinner table is always encouraging for mankind.
It’s also a striking departure from the sad scene we all see play out at our local coffee shop or youth soccer practice: humans scrolling hours of their lives away. Algorithms, AI and corporations all do their best to dumb down the populace because that makes us easier to control and manipulate.
But exactly as players are dying to hit pause on their chaotic lives to share their odyssey — if I’ve learned anything into Season No. 5 at Go Long — it’s that far, far more people out there want to take their brains back. The majority of us holding phones do not want to live in a dystopia, fattening up on 280-character tweets or hearting an infinite number of Instagram posts. Upon launching this longform site in November 2020 after a decade at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Buffalo News and Bleacher Report, I wasn’t sure if Go Long was “niche-y” enough to gain momentum in the Substack world. Most all independent-media sites zero in on one team.
Turns out, we do have a vibrant audience of our own:
Fans who harbor an intense curiosity to learn more about the game they love.
Fans who want to go deeper.
To the subscribers determined to read, to learn, to join a community of football fans around the world, we write for you. You’ve made the calculation in your mind that 25 minutes of free time are best spent with us at GoLongTD.com, and that’s something I sincerely cherish. The goal — always — is to deliver NFL storytelling and analysis worth your valuable time.
This is the most popular sport in America, and it’s not close. You’re investing $60 to park, $150 for a ticket, $18 for a beer and, give or take, 97.8 percent your sanity to this sport. A sport, let’s face it, that’s more of a religion in America. You deserve real, raw storytelling and reporting. Not pandering. Not social-media slop.
There’s always palace intrigue that demands digging into corners of the league others avoid. We’ll spend weeks working on those team deep dives.
There’s always a player with a riveting story to share. They don’t want to be swallowed by an amoeba of cameras at their locker. A lengthy conversation is a refreshing departure for all parties involved… consumers of the NFL, first and foremost.
In 2023, we explored plenty. A quick sampling:
How C.J. Stroud took the NFL by storm, and Bryce Young did not.
Why Orlando Brown Jr., son of “Zeus,” was born for the storm.
Now, it’s on to 2024.
To our returning subscribers, it’s a pleasure to have you back.
To new readers, welcome. We’d love to have you as a paid subscriber.
Here’s what you can expect.
Our plan.
Friday Feature. We always pour our most reporting, writing and travel into this piece that goes live every Friday AM. Go Long relentlessly hunts for stories that peel back the curtain on this sport. Your investment is put directly back into the company.
“How the NFL Works” (Podcast and Q&A) We’ll take you beyond the press conference to bring the good, bad and ugly of this league to light with this new feature for paid subscribers. The show will drill down a specific angle through the eyes of a player/coach/scout.
Morning After Column. Each Monday AM, we’ll have a lengthy column recapping everything from Sunday. This is something we’ve had since Day 1, but expect more from our columnized recap in ‘24.
“Ty & Bob Pod.” Once again, I’m joined by Pro Football Hall of Famer Bob McGinn, my former Journal Sentinel cohort. Every single week, we’ll dissect the NFC North (and more, of course) for roughly two hours. You won’t want to miss McGinn’s knifing analysis. The North promises to be a brawl.
Mailbag! Time to make this a regular staple. Submit questions/thoughts any time to golongtd@gmail.com, and I’ll answer them every other week.
Gameday Chat. Hang out with fellow members from around the world every single Sunday inside the chat.
Happy Hours. Once per month, we’ll welcome on a former player for you to hang out with on Zoom. Warren Moon. Richie Incognito. LeRoy Butler. Ryan Leaf. We’ve had a little bit of everything over the years.
NFL Draft Series. For 40 years, McGinn has delivered an unparalleled draft series to readers. He’ll bring the 41st edition to Go Long next spring. And throughout the course of the season, expect more “McGinn Files” columns looking back at how scouts viewed players today — with a modern twist.
Live hangouts. Always keep an eye out. We love hanging out in person here in Western New York.
Go VIP!
If you REALLY want to blow a gust of wind into the pirate sails, may we recommend a VIP subscription? Upgrade to our top tier and you’ll get even more:
Go Long sweatshirt. Hoodie or crew.
Signed copy of “The Blood and Guts: How Tight Ends Save Football.”
A complementary annual subscription for a friend.
Virtual press pass. Have a specific question for a player? Let me know.
Thanks, everyone.
Enjoy the games.
A few of our most-read stories right here, icymi:
