Boilermaker blogger reaches fans - Purdue Exponent

Posted: Tuesday, January 10, 2012 10:00 am | Updated: 11:50 am, Tue Jan 10, 2012.

When it comes to the Purdue affiliated SB Nation blog, Hammer and Rails, a Purdue alum doesn’t run it because of the money, nor does he do it for the behind the scenes perks; he simply does it because he loves Purdue sports.

“I just enjoy it so much honestly,” said Travis Miller, operator of Hammer and Rails blog. “It’s just a hobby really. Being able to go in and write from a fan perspective but still be a fan is fun. I see all these sports reporters not enjoy what they are doing and wonder how they could not enjoy it. I try to write as an incredibly privileged fan.”

Miller said his idea started in 2006 when he started blogging independently during the Purdue football season. Shortly after, he started covering men’s basketball in his independent blog. Once he was invited to join a Google blog, his site blew up.

“I first got an audience when I posted a link on the Gold and Black forum (Purdue’s rivals affiliate),” Miller said. “I didn’t get a Twitter until SB Nation got me for Hammer and Rails in 2009 and it’s just gotten bigger.”

In the last year, Hammer and Rails has blossomed, receiving around 200,000 views per month. In the last six months, the site has been steadily hitting 300,000 and increasing.

The biggest month in the history of the blog was in March of 2011 with the final games in JaJuan Johnson’s and E’Twaun Moore’s careers and the Matt Painter contract rumors. For each Purdue game Miller runs an open thread chat session for Purdue fans. He decided to do an open thread over the four day duration of the Painter rumors and the thread received 5,000 comments.

In October, Hammer and Rails had 302,059 page views which was a 92 percent growth over October 2010 and was No. 19 on SB Nation’s college blogs for the month. In November, the site had 394,703 views, which was a 102 percent growth over November 2010, good enough for the 17th best SB Nation blog of the month.

Miller said that SB Nation informed him that Hammer and Rails is one of the largest sites that one person does the bulk of the work and that he is in awe at how the site continues to grow.

“I’m amazed at when I think it is plateauing I think its gonna stay and it grows,” Miller said. “We’re around top 15 of 90 college blogs. I’d love to get into the top 10 but that would take a huge jump.”

Top 10 sites receive around 1.5 million views per month

Miller does most of the work on his own but has convinced some Purdue alumni who have published blogs of their own to join his staff.

Juan Crespo, a junior studying atmospheric science, is one of the writers Miller convinced to come work for the blog.

Crespo works on the volleyball section, which is fairly new on the site.

“We just started (covering volleyball) this season,” Crespo said. “I would post links on the side every now and then. Travis noticed that and asked if I would cover volleyball for the season.”

Crespo has been in the Boilermaker Block Party for the last two years and he’s been going to volleyball games for the last three. He said he works with Miller simply because he loves Purdue sports. He also likes to able to attract Purdue sports fans on sports other than football and basketball.

Miller seldom gets credentialed for events, including the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl which he had to pay for himself, but his favorite was being able to cover the 2010 men’s basketball Big Ten Tournament.

Although Hammer and Rails isn’t Miller’s full-time job, he wouldn’t object to doing it as a full time job in the future.

“It (the site) has grown far beyond what I ever expected it to be,” Miller said. “If they ever paid me enough to do it full-time, I would do it in a heartbeat.”