In the nearly two years since Canes and Coffee was founded, we have made a reasonable effort to try new things here and there. There have been some failures maybe most notably the attempt to do a bracket style all-time Hurricanes player event just after launching the site. Just thinking of the ratio of hours writing past 12am compared to the lack of volume of enthusiastic reader participation induces sleep deprivation type headaches to this day.

But along the way, we also happened upon some winners. Easily one of the best ‘let’s try this’ projects was the guest article series that we ran last August. (Links for those articles can be found HERE.) Based on how much fun the 2016 version was, we are starting earlier this summer with the aim of possibly doing a short run of articles in July and again in August.

So if you have always wanted to write an article for a real life (err…ummm…pretend/hobby) sports media venture, here is your big chance!

The details

* Send your article of 100-1200 words in MS Word or Google Docs format to us at canesandcoffee at gmail.com by Monday, August 15.

* Include a short bio (3-6 sentences is fine) that includes your age and where you live (city, state/province/country). The bio is NOT intended to be a writing resume. A little bit about who you are and why you are a Canes fan is great.

* After the bio include 1-2 sentences of why you would like to have an article published at Canes and Coffee.

* Include a simple statement in the email that says, “I agree to the Terms of Use for the Canes and Coffee web site for the use of my submitted content and understand that I will not be compensated for its use.”

* If you are younger and/or just more visual than word-inclined, feel free to submit Canes art/pictures instead. We received exactly NONE of these last year but still think the idea has huge potential.

* The deadline for consideration for the July reader week is Friday, July 21. We will also consider those articles plus others received by Monday, July 31 for a few more articles sometime in August.

* Canes and Coffee will post some of the best submissions in late July and possibly also after a break in August too.

Potential categories (IMPORTANT!)

Please do NOT feel limited by the common angles of Canes and Coffee that lean toward hockey analysis. Just because the random guy who started the site is off the deep end in terms of analyzing and overanalyzing ever bit of Canes hockey minutiae that he can find does not mean this is the aim of our guest/reader writer week.

Quite the opposite actually…

It would be refreshing to include some things that are different and not even necessarily related to on-ice Canes hockey. Ideas could include:

* Articles on your Hurricanes fandom including how it started, traditions, stories, growing up as a Canes fan, etc.

* Humorous (but respectful) takes on Hurricanes hockey. Think ‘The Onion.’

* Fun fan stuff.

* If Ron Francis, Bill Peters and and other Hurricanes’ characters were to be inserted into a movie, what movie would it be and who would be which character? Reworking famous movie quotes?…Tons of potential here.

* Tailgating recipes?

…You get the point.

Hurricanes or broader NHL hockey articles are fine too

By putting mostly “off ice” categories first, the intent is not to say that Hurricanes and NHL hockey content will not also be considered. Rather, the intent was to make it clear that it was not the only possibility.

Closer to the ice, any thoughts or analysis of Canes hockey are also fair game, but a couple interesting ideas might be:

* Are the 2017-18 Hurricanes as currently built a playoff team?

* An assessment of the other Metropolitan Division teams heading into the 2016-17 season.

* Anything stats and/or analytics-related.

* What must happen for the Hurricanes to break their playoff drought?

…Etc.

Thanks and Go Canes!