Want to write for DBB? Here's your chance!

Next week Detroit Bad Boys will officially enter its 11th season covering the Detroit Pistons, and next month we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of Matt Watson opening the doors to an outstanding Pistons blog and community.  I've been Matt's left-handed right-hand man the last five years during some dark times for our favorite basketball team. (Hopefully the timing of my arrival is just a coincidence!) Our anticipation, however, is that a corner has been turned and the team is headed for better days. Stan Van Gundy has tinkered with his roster, so we feel we must do the same to keep pace. Not that we don't already have the building blocks, but we need to continue improving the supporting cast. This is where you come in...

We're looking for passionate Pistons fans who have a particular set of skills, skills one acquires over a very long career. Skills that make one a nightmare-- wait, that's not what I was trying to get at; that's a quote from the movie Taken.  What we really want are passionate Pistons fans who know how to write and/or edit, and who want to be heavily involved with this site. While we have a lot of the major stuff already covered with our already-excellent staff, below are some more specific roles we are looking to fill:

Editor

Basic responsibilities:

Edit front-page posts within our editorial before they go live, checking for potential spelling, grammatical and factual errors
Optimize headlines, URL slugs and social media copy
Occasionally volunteer to produce front-page posts as they become needed
Work in specific shifts (morning, afternoon, games, etc.) at least 2-3 times a week

Writer (short-form news)

Basic responsibilities:

Efficiently produce front-page posts that are based around shorter news updates (daily roster moves, injuries, quotables, former Pistons in the news, etc. -- stuff we'd normally put in the FanShots) 
Occasionally volunteer to produce long-form posts as needed
Work in specific shifts (morning, afternoon, games/practices, etc.), producing at least 1-2 posts per shift
(Looking for 2-3 short-form posts a day, min 150 words each, so this position can be filled by multiple people)

Writer (Game previews)

Basic responsibilities:

Produce timely game previews or Q&As with opponent team sites that are to go live no later than 3 p.m. ET on game days
Occasionally volunteer to produce other posts as available
(Currently have a need for Heat, Lakers, Celtics, Pelicans, Rockets and Raptors games specifically for general previews. Other teams may become available as the season wears on)

Writer (long-form game recaps)

Basic responsibilities:

Produce timely long-form game recaps that are to go live no later than 9 a.m. ET the day after a game
Occasionally volunteer to produce other posts as available
(Looking for applicants to cover 1-2 game recaps per week, so this can be filled by multiple interested parties)

Writer (analysis)

Basic responsibilities:

Produce 1-2 front-page posts per week that are based around in-depth analysis of the Pistons and/or the NBA (film breakdowns, statistical analysis, etc.)

Writer (Pistons/NBA history)

Basic responsibilities:

Produce This day in Pistons history or general historical features
Ideally we have something daily for TDIPH, at least 1-2 features a month

Writer (daily links)

Basic responsibilities:

Produce daily links to relevant and/or interesting content to be ready to go live first thing every week-day morning
Five links and 150 words minimum

Writer (humor)

Basic responsibilities:

Produce funny content 1-2 times a week
Be funny
Make us laugh, ideally when we lose
Ball

Social Media coordinator

Basic responsibilities:

Coordinate social media posts to ensure front-page content is posted to Detroit Bad Boys' Twitter and Facebook
Occasionally post to Detroit Bad Boys' Twitter and Facebook
Work in specific shifts (morning, afternoon, games/practices, etc.) producing posts on Twitter and/or Facebook

How to apply:

Send an email to writeforDBB@gmail.com, list what role(s) you're applying for in the subject line and respond to the following questions:

1. Are you sure you want to apply for the role(s) you listed in the subject line of the email? Please specify preference if applying for more than one and be sure to detail which basic responsibilities you can fulfill.

2. How much writing and/or editing experience do you have? Please provide examples of your work. If you don't have any, create something new. If you are applying for the social media role, please link your social media pages.

3. What is your availability to work specific shifts? (Please be as specific as possible about daily availability. The staff also uses a mobile and desktop app called Slack to keep in contact on a daily basis, so also consider this and address any potential issues.)

4. Why do you want to join Detroit Bad Boys?

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Emails that do not sufficiently answer the above questions in sequential order will not be considered. These are simple instructions, so we need to know you can follow them when given.

These positions are unpaid to start, but could turn into paid positions down the road. We do offer a cool benefits package of experience and significant exposure, though. DBB has grown every year since its start, racking up close to 20 MILLION page views in the last five years and almost 5 MILLION in the last calendar year alone. Several people who have started as unpaid bloggers in the SB Nation network have gone on to get full-time jobs at Vox Media or other mainstream media companies. I know at least a few who have gone on to work for NBA teams. This could be a launching pad to your career.

The deadline to apply is Wed., Sept. 30.

I will do my best to respond to all qualifying applicants shortly after the deadline.

If you have any questions, please let me know via email or in the comments below.