New to Inhistoric? Here's the FAQ

Welcome!

Bonjour sports fans. This is Inhistoric, the sports history blog. Nowhere else on the Internet will you find a site as dedicated to what's happened in the annals of sports. From the esoteric to the infamous to the greatest games of all time to the moments that had us shaking our heads, Inhistoric remembers it so that you don't have to.

After all, one of the most essential aspects of being a sports fan is debating. But how can you argue your point without first knowing something about it? Without knowing the past, how could you prove that it's not essential for an NFL team that's going to the playoffs to rest its starters on the final week of the year? With Inhistoric, those answers and more will be unlocked. And by the way, the 2007 New York Giants played all of their starters on the final week of the year and didn't have a bye, and they wound up winning the Super Bowl. So there's your answer.

As Edmund Burke once famously stated, "Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.”

Now before you go any further, there are ten things to keep in mind about Inhistoric.com:

Point No. 1: Inhistoric is ambitious

The goal of Inhistoric is to note every single notable, interesting or famous thing that happened in the world of sports on a given day in history. The main purpose of the site is to expand upon the "Today in Sports History" portion. In instances where a topic or event or game is large enough to deserve its own article, those posts will be noted in "In-Depth" articles, a link to which can be found on the corresponding T.I.S.H. article.

Remember, this is a long and potentially never-ending project. Nonetheless, it is an important one. If, perhaps, you want to teach your son about sports, or learn about it yourself, Inhistoric can make it so that eventually you'll learn everything you need to know about sports, one day at a time.

Point No. 2: Everything is sourced

If you spend any time at all at Inhistoric, you will eventually come across a post about an event or incident that happened in the past. As you read said post, you may ask yourself, "How do I know that this is true? How do I know the poster didn't just make this up?" Rest assured: every single factoid or piece of information can be found at news.google.com/archivesearch. The principle sources of information that Inhistoric uses are the Associated Press, the Elias Sports Bureau, the New York Times, Sports Illustrated and ESPN.com. Occasionally quotes and info will be taken from television broadcasts, though usually in these cases transcripts of the quotes are available elsewhere.

Point No. 3: Contribute, please!

Inhistoric strives to be the leader in sports history, and that goal cannot be realized without the help of other people. If you're ever inspired to write something history-related, or at least vaguely retrospective, by all means post it. If enough effort is put into it, it could wind up on the front page. Don't be shy.

Point No. 4: Mistakes are to be reported

Occasionally even the Associated Press and ESPN are wrong, and there's always the possibility of human oversight or typos. In the rare chance that you come across a misprinted statistic or piece of information that just isn't true, make sure to report it. After all, this site is supposed to be informative.

Point No. 5: No swearing; be civilized

I know it's tough to resist dropping a few bombs when you're online, and I may be willing to let an expletive slide if it comes off naturally. But if you post something that goes something like, "F*** you! You're bull****. What the f*** do you know? Burn in hell!", that post or comment will be deleted, and if you continue doing it you'll be banned. Also, don't target someone or call someone out if you disagree with them, including (and particularly) the authors of the site. Inhistoric promotes discussion and reasonable arguments, not jackasses having flame wars with each other.

Point No. 6: No spamming

If you spam, you will be immediately banned. No questions asked.

Point No. 7: Not everything is historic

There are certain things that are and are not important enough to be mentioned on Inhistoric's T.I.S.H segment. For one, the day that a famous athlete won the Heisman award, or the Cy Young award, or the MVP award or the Coach of the Year award will never be recounted because those dates are never-ending and redundant -- the same thing applies to remembering the day someone was born. Inhistoric focuses on things that, of themselves, were interesting and notable and worth recounting, like the Heidi Bowl or the Hail Flutie Game. Big trades and great games obviously count. The day someone died, the day someone was fired, and the day someone retired are only worth recounting if there's a fascinating story from it or because of it -- for instance, Brett Favre's retirement in 2008 is much, much, much more significant than, say, Jerome Bettis', because Favre wound up un-retiring and Bettis didn't.

Point No. 8: It's Inhistoric, all one word

If there's one thing that separates this site from all the others on SB Nation -- and by the way, do visit the meta site as much as possible, as well as all the other SBN blogs -- it's that Inhistoric is the only one that has a made-up name for its title. Inhistoric was chosen as the name of the site because in 2007, when this site was originally launched on Blogger, there were literally no sports-history-ish domain names available. As such, a new name was invented out of nowhere, ala Kotaku: Inhistoric.

Keep in mind that Inhistoric is all one word, not "In historic" or "InHistoric."

Point No. 9: News is always good

If you want to help the site, one of the best things you can do is to write a fanpost about something historical or record-breaking that's in the news. Without help, a lot of important news will slip through the cracks. And if that news just happens to be that it's someone's birthday, so be it. Any contribution, no matter how small, is a contribution nonetheless and is greatly appreciated.

Point No. 10: Spread the word

If you like Inhistorc, by all means, do what you can to spread the word. If you're in a fairly-empty stadium, run to a section where there's no one around, hold up a sign with "Inhistoric.com" written on the bottom -- with something clever or witty above it of course -- and wait for the cameras to pick it up. Send emails to coworkers ordering them to visit the site. Tell your husband you're divorcing him unless he makes Inhistoric.com his home page. Become a bum and spray paint Inhistoric.com on the side of freight trains and highway underpasses. Create a false internet rumor that the final thing Bill Murray said in Lost in Translation was, "I love you, but you're no Inhistorc." Run naked down your local neighborhood with Inhistoric plastered on your chest, or if you're not so brave, simply start your own religion and make it a rule that those who don't visit Inhistoric cannot enter the assembly of the lord.

That, or you could simply mention it to people through word of mouth. Your choice.