Introducing: Tobacco Road Blues

Moody B's, Powders, and everyone in between:

A launch is coming.

Some of you may have heard rumblings about a supposed new site, SethCurrySavesDuke.com. My plan was to launch it way back in...March? April? I can't remember. One way or another, it didn't happen. Call it distraction, laziness, or the fact that whenever I tried to work on it, my attention was drawn to a quart of ice cream sitting in some cooler only a mile or two away (in other words, distraction plus laziness).

Anyway, that site is DEAD. Sorry. But I'll tell you what's alive:


TOBACCO ROAD BLUES

From the creators of Seth Curry Saves Duke!, as they say, comes a new site devoted to Duke and UNC athletics. Here's how TRB will differ from SCSD:

1 - Focus. As much as I'd like to write about the Yankees all summer, the blog world isn't aligned that way. We're narrowing the field of vision to two schools, and those two schools will be covered like we're Nolan Smith and they're Kendall Marshall, circa 3/13/11. (As you see, a slight Duke bias will remain.)

2 - Voices. I'll be blogging for Grantland full time (check out this week's piece here), and while the majority of posts on TRB will still be mine, I welcome any and all folks* who'd like to lighten my load and write about any subject within the Tobacco Road sphere. I can pay you in gratitude and esteem, and I'll send you an autographed photo of me pretending to kiss a Coach K poster.

*Slight misspeak. There will be standards. But seriously, be in touch. Also, if your name is Laurie, I have this great idea for a feature called "Tuesdays with Laurie." All Lauries will have a huge leg up in the application process. Ditto for anyone named Corey or Tori.

3 - Content. Basketball will always be the jewel in the crown of TRB, but we'll be branching out heavily into football as well. Come the spring, we might delve into baseball and tennis and sports of that ilk. I have no idea what will happen in the late spring and early summer. I shudder to think that we might have to cover recruiting. Surely there's a way around that.

4 - Appearance. Unlike SCSD, which is the blog equivalent of a mistreated, waterlogged notebook, I'm going to try to make TRB look nice. And by that, I mean I'm soliciting help from folks who know how to do that kind of thing. I'm already working with a couple people, but if you feel you have something to offer in that regard, please be in touch.

5 - Car Chases. I've really dropped the ball on this one over the past two years, but believe me, that's changing. Every Wednesday, TRB will feature one of the internet's top car chases. Guaranteed to end in a crash.

Tobacco Road Blues will launch on Monday, August 7th. For a week, I'll be re-posting SCSD posts to ease the transition. Sort of a 'Greatest Hits' type of thing. The national championship post will go up, the Psycho T post will go up, the sportswriting post will go up. Anything that made people glad or mad to extremes. Then, starting August 14th, Duke is going to China! We'll be covering that trip in-depth, and I really, really hope the games are on television. If anybody knows something about that, dish.

Following that, it's football and soccer season, emphasis on football. I will personally be making Duke football my pet project this fall, in part because I love Coach Cutcliffe, and in part because they're at a really interesting crossroads. If we're ever supposed to take this rebuilding process seriously, it has to start this season. I've looked at the schedule, and I'd say there's a fair outside shot at 6 wins and a bowl berth.

So, that's the big news. Let me know what you think of the name. Follow me on twitter: @TobaccoRdBlues. And stay tuned to this blog in the meantime for news and updates. This is going to be good.

(Also: Happy Birthday, Nolan!)