Follow Friday: Fair to Flair

The quarterly!

Fair to Flair, for those who are just starting to follow this blog or who do follow TWB and missed out on all the posts describing it, is a blog that has set out to raise the bar in wrestling journalism. The premise is quality over quantity, with a focus more on the ephemeral qualities of wrestling, rather than NEWZ and rumors and bitching about ratings or knee-jerk reactions. It's about analysis through the lens of people who love wrestling for what it is, not for what it could be. It consists of five writers. There's myself, who, well, duh, you know me or else you wouldn't be reading. I know I've done this before, but again, it's reboot week and I do have ulterior motives. But anyway, here are the other four contributors to the site.

Jason Mann is the first on the list, found @wrestlespective, and he's the guy behind the idea. He's level-headed and often brings sense to situations where the Internet community might freak out. He also is a purveyor of really bad puns, which is endearing in a way. But yeah, he's the founder and without him, the project wouldn't have even been ideated.

Next up is K. Sawyer Paul, found @ksawyerpaul. He's stepping back from writing for the site because of personal issues, but he's still active in editing for the site as well as on Twitter and Tumblr, reposting articles and live-Tweeting DVD watching, most recently the Nitro DVD. He looks at things from a vastly different perspective than some, and he also HATES Bryan Alvarez's writing.

Third is my blogging Ric-Bro Suave, Mitch, whose handle is the ubiquitous @pizzabodyslam. He's the least active of the quintet, but for good reason. Dude has to do mad traveling for work. However, when he's around, he provides the RAW review in his standard WOO!/BOO! format. He also provides a look at wrestling from the most innocent point of view, in that he's probably the least jaded or "smarky" of the lot.

Last, but certainly not least, is Razor, whom you can find @kickoutblog. His angst and malaise towards Randy Orton is legendary, and it's a feeling I can certainly get behind. He also is the group's go-to personality for Tough Enough, video games and he's also in radio, so that makes him most valuable for podcasting when it comes around.

If you follow those four (and me, follow me!), as well as the actual @FairtoFlair feed, you'll get all the FtF posts, all our insights on wrestling and otherwise and just all the random fun we provide for free. Ah yes, that's the rub, "for free". We do have something that we charge for, and that's the Quarterly. I've pimped this before here, but it's worth doing again. Why? Because it's part of our mission statement, probably the biggest part.

Basically, we solicited for columns that would be memorable, that would be timeless, that would be as poignant five years from now as it is today. We got submissions from 11 of the best writers in the wrestling blogosphere (and from me), and all of them in some way contribute to this love letter to professional wrestling. It's chock-full of positivity and promise with critical thought mixed in. It's so different in tone than what you usually find in pay-for-print in wrestling that I guarantee you'll feel like you're underpaying for the whole thing when you order it. Again, my personal recommendation is to buy the digital copy for the low price of $10. You'll get a copy you can read on your e-Reader or laptop, and it's green to boot.

Listen, I know for a fact that some of you pay for the Observer or Torch. That's all well and good, and for news, yeah, I guess they're worth the money, even if at times, they get worked or report on things like spoilers that might change. Okay. But the commentary? It's often rambling, grammatically poor and so pessimistic, centered on ratings and other bullshit that you might not care about. It feels like it's not edited at times. And you can tell that some of them would rather be writing about MMA or that they disdainfully write about wrestling or they're disappointed that wrestling's not at the top of the world anymore. They don't appreciate the art. So, why not pay for commentary written by people who love wrestling, about topics you care about, and most importantly, edited by someone whose whole field of expertise is the written word? It's seriously professional grade, and at $10-25 an issue, depending on how you buy, that's a steal.

But hey, even if you don't buy the Quarterly, then at least give the FtF crew a follow on Twitter. You'll find that even the stuff provided for free is more than worth the price tag.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!