📵What is Blame the Phones?

Blame the Phones is a weekly email newsletter about watching Northwestern University sports. It’ll highlight some of the work of Northwestern students covering their beats. It could have some jokes. Hopefully they’re funny. I’ll tell a few stories. I’ll ask you to ask me questions. And, when I do, please indulge me.

Why that name?

Cell phones have been at the center of Northwestern sports culture for a little while now. Especially when it comes to Pat Fitzgerald, a noted phone-shamer. He’s answered phones at press conferences. He’s railed against cell phones as the reason students don’t show up to see his boring football team play. Generally, I’m pro-phone.

Why subscribe?

If you subscribe, you’ll get access to the newsletter and website. You won’t miss an update or a wild Chris Collins GIF. Each new edition of the newsletter will land in your inbox. You’re all set.

Join the crew

Let’s make this a fun and inclusive community. Be nice to each other. You can yell at me though, I guess. Word-of-mouth is the best way for this to grow. So, if you like it, please consider passing it along. Forward it to a friend. Spam your student group listserv. Get that What’s App group hopping again. The best way for this community to grow is organically, through word-of-mouth and honest recommendations if you like what you get. All you have to do is share blamethephones.substack.com.

Also, this newsletter is free — for now. We’ll see how it goes. If you feel so compelled, you can find me on Venmo at @Josh-Rosenblat. You can be my Bag Man.

Who am I?

If you don’t know who I am, I’m Josh Rosenblat. I work at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and I literally do this as my job. I write newsletters. In college, I spent four years following around Northwestern’s sports teams, writing and editing for Inside NU. For some reason, I still watch this stuff. And I know a lot of you do, too. So let’s watch it together. And laugh through the tears.

You can follow me on Twitter and check out some of my work.

Substack is a pretty cool platform. If you want to find out more about what actually allows this newsletter to be a newsletter, visit Substack.com.