The Bucket Problem Is Going Premium

We'd love for you to join us. Get 20% off an annual subscription this week! That's 12 whole American dollars! Plus: a special perk from Homefield for those who are built different.

Coverage worthy of champions. [Photo: Marc-Grégor Campredon/MGoBlog]

Hello! The Bucket Problem Is Now A Subscription Site.

You may have seen this coming even before I brought it up over the last two weeks. While I’ve loved having my writing and podcasting free to all, I need to make a living, and I strongly believe you’ll find this site worth supporting.

What Are You Supporting?

When John Beilein says you have good tweets. [Dustin Johnston/UMHoops]

Independent coverage of Michigan football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball from me, a person who’s covered U-M athletics in one form or another since 2008, when I interned at The Wolverine. If you’re familiar with my work, it’s most likely from my near-decade spent at MGoBlog.

I’ve worn many hats in my time covering Michigan. I got my foot in the door as a recruiting reporter (by necessity more than choice), recapped football and men’s hoops games from press row from 2012-2019, delved into gridiron schemes for opponent previews, co-hosted the MGoPodcast and MGoRadio, hosted the Not Just A Shooter and The Ace Pod podcasts, and became MGoBlog’s primary basketball writer on both the men’s and women’s programs.

Starting my own project was a very difficult choice. I’ve written extensively about my ongoing battle with chronic illness (ME/CFS); this felt like the time to take control of my schedule so I can provide consistent, strong content while leaving the flexibility to care for myself. I believe this is the ideal outlet for my work.

What Do You Get?

The newsletter and the bonus podcast are going behind a paywall, while the primary podcast remains free to all. Here’s what paid subscribers can expect:

1. Two newsletters each week during football and basketball season. These will include game columns, season previews, historical look-backs, deep dives into numbers and film, the occasional GIF rundown, and opinion posts unaffected by the desire for access. The offseason schedule is to be determined; there will be plenty of offseason content.

2. A weekly in-season bonus podcast that’ll cover listener mailbag questions, feature a guest, and/or provide an instant post-game reaction. The link for the bonus podcast’s TOP SECRET feed will be provided to subscribers and those shows will be playable directly on the site. The bonus podcast will be ad-free.

3. The ability to comment and interact with the author and the community here. As the site grows, I’ll be looking at ways to make this a more integral part of the experience (a Discord server is a strong possibility).

4. Exclusive perks from our current and soon-to-be-announced sponsors. Thank you, Homefield Apparel, for being with us from the beginning — yes, we have a signup deal from them.

While the content will continue to evolve with the site, the output since football season began is what you can expect on a consistent basis.

Those on the free email list will see 1-2 unlocked posts per month.

How Much Is It?

I’m so glad you asked. The subscription is $6 per month or $60 per year if you sign up for the annual plan. Even though the annual plan already saves you money, we’re doing a special discount for launch week: 20% off an annual subscription if you sign up by Saturday.

There’s also a “Built Different” option where you can enter any total you’d like for an annual plan for $90 or above. Why would you do this? For one, to support the site. For another, you’ll receive a $25 gift card from Homefield Apparel, which means this essentially costs you an extra five bucks if you were ever inclined to buy the best licensed college apparel on the planet.

You can also give a subscription as a gift.

I’m really excited to continue bringing you coverage of Michigan football and to dig into hoops very, very soon. I hope you’ll join up for the ride.