Updated 9/30/98
Copyright 1997, Danialle L. Weaver. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited by law.
James Foy, a producer for CNN Sports Illustrated, says he was flabbergasted to discover that one of his newest online columnists was a 16-year-old Florida teenager.
"He's a knowledgeable kid," Foy says. "He's got one heck of a Web site."
Mike Bakas has begun writing a column for the Syracuse Post-Standard, a daily newspaper in New York state. And he's flush with spending money, thanks to his online publication, Eastern College Football Journal (http://mav.net/bigeast).
Bakas, an Edgewater teenager, has grossed more than $4,000 charging college football browsers access to his site. He's a "recruitnik" who ferrets out, before anyone else, which colleges the top high school football talent will attend.
Bakas' site features a weekly commentary, message boards, Fantasy Football and a trivia game. Several Big East football players participate in scheduled chats with fans. Bakas also has a site for fans who follow Florida recruiting (http://mav.net/sunstate).
"When I started the site last spring, it was just a Web page with a few links to college football schedules and news," says the New Smyrna Beach High School honor student, who turned 16 in August. "But during the college football recruiting season, which starts in December and goes through February, I started getting a lot of recruiting fans."
In May, Bakas began charging $10 for access to "the good stuff." So far, he has 300 subscribers and has made about $1,000 from advertising.
He hopes to hit the 500 subscriber mark soon, and to double that number in each subsequent year.
"I've subscribed since the first day he switched to a premium site," says Dave Igoe, 19, a student at the University of Pittsburgh. "You can't find a better deal in the Net."
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Updated 9/30/98
