Inside Scoop

Everyone,

Just want to say a quick "thank you" to all our VIP members – new and old. We are very happy to have each of you and promise never to take you for granted.

If you have been a monthly subscriber and know you like the site and plan to stick around, it is a benefit to both you and us to upgrade from monthly to annual. You actually save money with an annual subscription. It amounts to $8.95 per month instead of $9.95. The only difference is you get billed once a year for the full amount ($107.40) instead of being billed 12 times. This can be a benefit for some, too, because they only have to explain once charge to their significant others.

In addition to the cost savings, annual subscribers are eligible to sign up for our text alert service free. We know you're not always online (except Hogie), so when news breaks -- whether it's a new commitment or breaking news such as Maryland's move to the Big 10 -- we'll let you know as it goes down. Because of the costs of building, using and maintaining this service, right now text alerts are only available to annual members.

Having more annual members also allow us to plan for the future, budget and determine if/when we might be able to hire additional staff and make other upgrades. The stability of annual memberships gives us a much better idea of what we can and can't afford in the future.

If you are a monthly subscriber and wish to upgrade your account to annual, you should see a big green UPGRADE button at the top right of the site. You can also upgrade through your user options on the full site by clicking on “My Account” and clicking the "Plans" tab. After clicking on the button, you should see details on our annual offer. Click on "upgrade now" and you’ll successfully upgrade your account with us from monthly to annual and will be eligible to set up text alerts.

If you are already an annual member, thanks again. If you are an annual member that HASN'T signed up for text alters, just click on My Account and then click on the Alerts tab. At that point you just enter the mobile number you'd like to receive the alerts. The boxes below should be checked by default if you are visiting there for the first time. Just enter your number and hit save and you should be all set.

Thanks again for everyone's support, and let me know if you have any questions.