It’s been a daily spot for Philly sports fans.
And now it’s celebrating a huge milestone with giving back to the city it covers.
Crossing Broad, best known as “Philly’s irreverent sports blog,” is turning 15.
The site, which is one of the most well-known Philly sports websites, started in 2009 as a “basement blog.” And to celebrate, editor Kevin Kinkead isn’t going into his goodie bag to raise money for a good cause, he’s giving away the whole bag.
Anyone who donates $10 or more to Manayunk’s Starfinder foundation will enter a drawing for the 25 or so gifts. The value is estimated to be about $500, however that’s not really true because many of the items aren’t sold in stores. They’re promotional giveaways, which means unless you win them, you can’t get them on the street.
If you want to have a limited-edition can of Jason Kelce “Legend Edition” Campbell’s Chunky Soup or a Kyle Schwarber “Philly Standard” Yards merchandise that includes two T-shirts, a sticker, keychain, pin and two free beer tickets, you need to enter the drawing, which will take place in about two weeks.
To enter the contest, send the donation, then screenshot the receipt, and email it to k.kinkead@sportradar.com.
“I’ve been a soccer guy since Day 1, and I covered the Philadelphia Union and love soccer,” Kinkead said. “I played in a men’s league at Starfinder in Manayunk, and I got to know the people and see the facility, it’s a great operation. After school and weekends, they serve the underserved youth.
“Kids go there, play soccer, learn the game, take those skills and go off to college. It’s really cool, an opportunity to build a foundation of discipline and hard work and fitness. Starfinder builds those programs. So I thought we could use the platform that we have here to help.”
Crossing Broad certainly has a huge platform thanks to the hard work of the small staff.
When the blog was in its infancy, most of the posts were tabloidish, but always entertaining. The site really took off when it posted a video of former Eagle Riley Cooper using a racial slur at a concert. The site has gone from a lot of gossip to a more newsy feel, which makes sense because Kinkead is a journalist.
The blog was started by Kyle Scott Laskowski, and just the fact that it’s still alive and kicking shows he was on to something. Laskowski owned and ran the site for years until it was sold about four years ago.
Laskowski stuck around for a while, but later left to pursue other interests. Kinkead has been at the helm of the Crossing Broad newsroom ever since, and while he’s made changes, the one thing that has stayed the same is the popularity of the site.
“I’m really proud, it’s been a lot of hard work by a lot of people, a lot of smart decision making behind the scenes,” Kinkead said. “We’re irreverent and goofy and don’t take ourselves too seriously. We try to have fun, but behind the scenes guys are busting their ass. I have a brilliant content creator in Kyle Pagan, he comes up with great video ideas. Whatever appearance we give off, there’s a lot of hard work. It’s a small staff, and everyone contributes.
“It’s good to see the fruits of that pay off. We are a bit adversarial, we butt heads with some people and we’ve called out people historically. That’s part of the brand. But that’s one part of what the site is, it’s not the be all and end all, we try to do a lot of different things. If you can get a laugh and learn something at the same time like a stat or a fact or something about the sports teams you didn’t know before, that’s mission accomplished.”
That’s also why the website has had a few makeovers during its run.
You don’t see as much “Radio Wars” content, which was something Crossing Broad was known for when the two sports stations – WIP and the Fanatic – were at odds with each other.
Now, the site focuses on news. Few covered the new Sixers arena saga better than Kinkead. That’s journalism.
But they’ll also have lists of best things about being a Philly sports fan, stories on viral incidents that happen around Philly sports or even local Philly news that doesn’t have a Philly connection, like Kinkead’s opinion piece on why kids should enjoy snow days and not learn virtually.
The style has changed, but the stories are just as entertaining as the day it began.
“There have been various versions of Crossing Broad and all of them were really good,” said Kinkead, a Boyertown High School graduate. “I loved Kyle’s version of Crossing Broad. We had a lot of great freelancers. I’m always mindful of understanding what Kyle started from a brand perspective and if we’d take out the cheeky part, we’d lose our identity.
“I read Radio Wars like everyone else. I would sit at my desk when I worked at Channel 3 and read Crossing Broad. It was a Phillies blog, mostly at the start. When I came on, Kyle wanted to grow it and make it bigger.”
The site is now a news site, but the entertainment is still there. That was something Kinkead was adamant about when he took over.
“We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Kinkead said. “I have a journalism background but Kyle Pagan doesn’t. We don’t look at our profession like that, we are Philly sports fans and we try to write what’s interesting to them.”
Kinkead would know. The Gilbertsville native and Montgomery County resident loves the Flyers, Sixers, Phillies and Eagles, and that’s whom the site caters to.
“My dad was a classic four-for-four guy,” meaning he supported the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers and Sixers. “We grew up watching the Legion of Doom and ‘93 Phillies and Richie Kotite and Ray Rhodes. My dad was a Norristown native so he was a Philly guy. He emails my stories to everyone still, which I love. He’s very proud of the work that his son has done. I appreciate him being my biggest sharer of content.”
Kinkead is now excited to share the goodie bag with a Philly sports fan. And he’s even more excited to help a great cause.
“They just have to make a $10 donation, screen shot it and send it to me, and I’ll put them in the drawing for all the limited-edition and super-unique items,” Kinkead said. ”It’s a great organization and I thought this was a cool way to raise some money for them.”
