We're going to be running plenty of panel recaps from Blogs With Balls' fourth edition (which I'm in New York City for) here this week, but the best moment actually came in the final panel of the day yesterday. Thus, to borrow from a famous quotation, "the last shall be first and the first shall be last". The most newsworthy moment of the whole day came from Josh Elliott, former ESPN SportsCenter anchor and current ABC Good Morning America co-host, who was on the final BWB panel ("Rising Stars") and candidly responded to my question about how he handles criticism of ESPN (along the lines of what I've delivered in a couple of pieces at The Good Point).
"I absolutely understand why people criticize ESPN," Elliott said. "It’s so pervasive and there are certain decisions it makes that are so terrible it sets itself up."
Elliott was particularly bothered by his colleagues' reactions to his GChat interview with Deadspin's A.J. Daulerio, shortly before he left to work at sister company ABC.
"I did an interview with AJ, but I got a torrent of criticism when I walked into the newsroom the next day," Elliott said. "It spoke to the knee-jerk response of this 1000 pound gorilla. They’d trust me to go on live TV for three hours but they wouldn’t trust me to GChat with somebody."
Elliott also criticized ESPN for its decision to start putting Chris Mortensen "reports" that were reworkings of other organizations' football stories on their ticker.
"They just started stealing scoops," he said. "It was a practice I never agreed with. ... I felt horrible."
Showing posts with label J.E. Skeets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label J.E. Skeets. Show all posts
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Monday, November 02, 2009
Fear, Loathing and Blogs in Las Vegas, Part IV: The Future of the Sports Blogosphere
A couple of weeks ago, I traveled to Las Vegas for the Blogs With Balls convention and had a great time. There was so much that came out of it that was worth writing about, as evidenced by all the great pieces that have showed up in the blogosphere on the conference since then. You can find most of the recap pieces linked at the official conference site here, and you can also look at parts I, II and III of my series if you're interested. I've been working on a final piece from there since then, but haven't had time to put it up yet, and in some ways, that's probably good, as it gave me time to reflect on it. This is the last official part of the Feat, Loathing and Blogs series, but I'll certainly be touching on some of the panelists' remarks and some of the things that came out of the conference more briefly in future posts as well. This series isn't just about conference recaps, but rather where the sports blogosphere may be going, so I hope it's still relevant. As always, leave feedback below or get in touch with me via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook.
Perhaps the most important panel of Blogs With Balls 2.0 was the "State of the Union", featuring Jamie Mottram of Yahoo! Sports and Mr. Irrelevant, J.E. Skeets of Ball Don't Lie, A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin and moderated by Spencer Hall of Every Day Should Be Saturday and SB Nation. These four guys are obviously luminaries in the blogosphere, so it was quite interesting to hear their thoughts on its evolution to this point and where it might be going.
Hall got a good laugh when he opened the panel with the line, "I think the state of the union is strong, strong like an adolescent chimpanzee that has just learned it can rip the arms off everything." There's more to that than just a throwaway gag in my mind, though; it isn't such a bad mental picture of what many sports blogs are like these days. Blogs as a whole, but especially the big ones, have an incredible amount of influence considering how new their medium is. The longest-running sports blogs have been in operation for around 15 years, and very few approach that level. Even sites that have been running for a couple years, like this one, are somewhat old by blogosphere standards. By contrast, consider how long it took for newspapers, magazines, radio and television to gain the same levels of relevance and market penetration that blogs have today. What's even more astounding is that the sports blogosphere is still very young and undeveloped compared to, say, the technology blogosphere. There's tons of room for growth, but sports blogs have really managed to do incredible things in their reasonably brief existence so far.
With that power can come consequences, though. George Orwell once wrote that "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely", and this is often true in life. I don't think there's necessarily a lot of corruption in the sports blogosphere, but there is a lot of power, and the exercise of that power often has some unforeseen side effects. One example is the Jerod Morris/Raul Ibanez controversy I wrote about this summer. Morris wrote a solid piece looking at the unlikely stats Ibanez had put up at an advanced age and the potential explanations for it. He criticized the idea that steroids were clearly responsible, but mentioned that in our era, it's impossible to definitively rule them out. Several mainstream media outlets took a couple of lines from Morris' piece, completely disregarded the context in which they were written and turned it into a full-blown controversy that was used to blame any and all bloggers for being irresponsible. In my mind, Morris didn't do anything wrong, but his case shows the power even less well-known blogs can suddenly find themselves with, and the unforeseen consequences that can follow. There's the old famous quote about not picking a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, and that's even more the case with blogs; everyone now has unlimited ink, and some of that ink can have an impact on a scale you never imagined before it was spilled.
Another interesting test case that was discussed was Deadspin's coverage of Josh Hamilton doing shots off of scantily-clad women after his supposed repentance. "I do think there is news value in that," Daulerio said. "Everyone else covered it right after we ran it."
Mottram picked that up, mentioning that the very journalistic institutions that often decry blogs are more than happy to pick their stories up and run with them, sometimes at the same time (as happened in both the Hamilton case and the Ibanez case). He said this allows for plausible deniability by mainstream media outlets, as they're not the scumbags digging up the dirt, but just reporting that other people are doing it.
"These stories reverberate on SportsCenter, on Outside the Lines, but it’s pinned on blogs as evildoers," he said.
Daulerio agreed with that line of thought.
"They’re talking about 'Should we be talking about that?', so I don’t see the point," he said.
There was also a significant discussion of if blogs need journalistic standards, and the answer was largely no. Hall said he doesn't see himself as a journalist, and Daulerio said he isn't particularly concerned with journalistic standards.
"I do a lot of things that are journalistically deplorable," he said.*
*This is interesting in light of the recent Deadspin-ESPN controversy, which many have used to criticize Deadspin's supposed lack of standards. I'm working on a longer piece on that as well, so I don't want to get into it too much right now, but I think in some ways, Deadspin is more journalistically inclined than many other blogs.
The problem with this line of conversation, though, is that there isn't really just one set of journalistic standards. The standards of The New York Times and The New York Post are incredibly different, as are those of CNN, Fox News and Entertainment Tonight. This is why it's silly for people to complain about "blogs" or "the blogosphere", as you never hear people just talking about "newspapers" or judging the Times by what the Post prints. In my mind, each site sets their own standards, and they should be judged by what they do, not what the rest of the blogosphere does. The public at large and the mainstream media may not see it that way at the moment, but here's hoping they will with time.
Hall made another interesting point here, saying that "The ghost a lot of bloggers have lingering over them is Hunter S. Thompson." There's a lot of truth to that statement, as anyone who's read Thompson's work will realize; he went out and shook up the journalistic establishment, frequently crossing and readjusting the lines of the day and paving the way for a new breed of writers in the process. He made use of access at times, but at other times disregarded it and went his own way entirely, and he was never afraid to interject opinion into his work. Pretty much all of those statements could also apply to the sports blogosphere, and in my mind, that's probably a good thing in many cases.
I think Skeets made the key point of this part of the discussion, though, saying that certain settings (and the ones involving access in particular) do require certain standards of behaviour. "When you go into the locker room, you have to play by the rules," he said. In my mind, that isn't such a bad idea. There's plenty of room for creativity and gonzo blogging, but access to players and coaches isn't really going to help with most of it, especially in these days where athletes are constantly surrounded by PR officials and trying to stay on message. It will be tough for the bloggers who can work with access effectively to earn respect and trust and do their jobs if access becomes an anything-goes zone. Most bloggers don't need access in my mind, and much of the best blogging can be done without access, but there are some who can work very well within that framework; I'd hate to see them lose their access thanks to someone else disregarding the established standards for that area.
The last crucial element of the panel discussed the merits of generalist sites versus those that are hyper-specific. Obviously, it's tougher to find an audience without a particular topic, but Hall said he thinks it can be done if the writing's good enough and has a unique spin.
"I think there’s room for generalists," he said. "The problem is it can be very voice-dependent."
Dan Shanoff made a point from the floor about the merits of good writing versus good distribution, arguing that many good pieces go unnoticed while less-stellar ones may receive more traffic thanks to plugs from major sites. Hall said he thinks well-done writing will eventually find an audience regardless of subject, though.
"If people are interested in something, they’re going to find it."
Mottram backed this up, saying that the wide horizons of the Internet make it so there's really nothing that's too obscure, too random or too well-covered already any more.
"With anything people are passionate about, there’s an endless glut of want," he said. "It doesn’t matter how much there is. There’s still room for more."
To me, these last comments really caught the theme of the weekend, and they reinforced what I really believe blogging is really all about. I hate the notion that there's one right way to do things or one legitimate path to blogging success; it's a huge world, and there's room for all kinds of different approaches. I'd rather read a wide array of sites with unique perspectives than have the Internet turn into a cookie-cutter approach, and I don't want success to be defined just by who you know or how long you've been blogging for. That's one thing I really enjoyed about Blogs With Balls; it wasn't a set hierarchy of well-known types lording it over us peons, but rather an open discussion and get-together. It seemed more like cooperation than competition, and in my mind, that's the way it should be; we're all in the same boat. There's plenty of room for newcomers and unique and unusual approaches, and for me, the goal at the end of the day is just to produce something I'm happy with. The blogosphere is ever-changing and ever-expanding, but the possibilities seem wide open at the moment. As Daulerio said, "There’s always something better on the horizon that could blow everything out of the water."
Perhaps the most important panel of Blogs With Balls 2.0 was the "State of the Union", featuring Jamie Mottram of Yahoo! Sports and Mr. Irrelevant, J.E. Skeets of Ball Don't Lie, A.J. Daulerio of Deadspin and moderated by Spencer Hall of Every Day Should Be Saturday and SB Nation. These four guys are obviously luminaries in the blogosphere, so it was quite interesting to hear their thoughts on its evolution to this point and where it might be going.
Hall got a good laugh when he opened the panel with the line, "I think the state of the union is strong, strong like an adolescent chimpanzee that has just learned it can rip the arms off everything." There's more to that than just a throwaway gag in my mind, though; it isn't such a bad mental picture of what many sports blogs are like these days. Blogs as a whole, but especially the big ones, have an incredible amount of influence considering how new their medium is. The longest-running sports blogs have been in operation for around 15 years, and very few approach that level. Even sites that have been running for a couple years, like this one, are somewhat old by blogosphere standards. By contrast, consider how long it took for newspapers, magazines, radio and television to gain the same levels of relevance and market penetration that blogs have today. What's even more astounding is that the sports blogosphere is still very young and undeveloped compared to, say, the technology blogosphere. There's tons of room for growth, but sports blogs have really managed to do incredible things in their reasonably brief existence so far.
With that power can come consequences, though. George Orwell once wrote that "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely", and this is often true in life. I don't think there's necessarily a lot of corruption in the sports blogosphere, but there is a lot of power, and the exercise of that power often has some unforeseen side effects. One example is the Jerod Morris/Raul Ibanez controversy I wrote about this summer. Morris wrote a solid piece looking at the unlikely stats Ibanez had put up at an advanced age and the potential explanations for it. He criticized the idea that steroids were clearly responsible, but mentioned that in our era, it's impossible to definitively rule them out. Several mainstream media outlets took a couple of lines from Morris' piece, completely disregarded the context in which they were written and turned it into a full-blown controversy that was used to blame any and all bloggers for being irresponsible. In my mind, Morris didn't do anything wrong, but his case shows the power even less well-known blogs can suddenly find themselves with, and the unforeseen consequences that can follow. There's the old famous quote about not picking a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, and that's even more the case with blogs; everyone now has unlimited ink, and some of that ink can have an impact on a scale you never imagined before it was spilled.
Another interesting test case that was discussed was Deadspin's coverage of Josh Hamilton doing shots off of scantily-clad women after his supposed repentance. "I do think there is news value in that," Daulerio said. "Everyone else covered it right after we ran it."
Mottram picked that up, mentioning that the very journalistic institutions that often decry blogs are more than happy to pick their stories up and run with them, sometimes at the same time (as happened in both the Hamilton case and the Ibanez case). He said this allows for plausible deniability by mainstream media outlets, as they're not the scumbags digging up the dirt, but just reporting that other people are doing it.
"These stories reverberate on SportsCenter, on Outside the Lines, but it’s pinned on blogs as evildoers," he said.
Daulerio agreed with that line of thought.
"They’re talking about 'Should we be talking about that?', so I don’t see the point," he said.
There was also a significant discussion of if blogs need journalistic standards, and the answer was largely no. Hall said he doesn't see himself as a journalist, and Daulerio said he isn't particularly concerned with journalistic standards.
"I do a lot of things that are journalistically deplorable," he said.*
*This is interesting in light of the recent Deadspin-ESPN controversy, which many have used to criticize Deadspin's supposed lack of standards. I'm working on a longer piece on that as well, so I don't want to get into it too much right now, but I think in some ways, Deadspin is more journalistically inclined than many other blogs.
The problem with this line of conversation, though, is that there isn't really just one set of journalistic standards. The standards of The New York Times and The New York Post are incredibly different, as are those of CNN, Fox News and Entertainment Tonight. This is why it's silly for people to complain about "blogs" or "the blogosphere", as you never hear people just talking about "newspapers" or judging the Times by what the Post prints. In my mind, each site sets their own standards, and they should be judged by what they do, not what the rest of the blogosphere does. The public at large and the mainstream media may not see it that way at the moment, but here's hoping they will with time.
Hall made another interesting point here, saying that "The ghost a lot of bloggers have lingering over them is Hunter S. Thompson." There's a lot of truth to that statement, as anyone who's read Thompson's work will realize; he went out and shook up the journalistic establishment, frequently crossing and readjusting the lines of the day and paving the way for a new breed of writers in the process. He made use of access at times, but at other times disregarded it and went his own way entirely, and he was never afraid to interject opinion into his work. Pretty much all of those statements could also apply to the sports blogosphere, and in my mind, that's probably a good thing in many cases.
I think Skeets made the key point of this part of the discussion, though, saying that certain settings (and the ones involving access in particular) do require certain standards of behaviour. "When you go into the locker room, you have to play by the rules," he said. In my mind, that isn't such a bad idea. There's plenty of room for creativity and gonzo blogging, but access to players and coaches isn't really going to help with most of it, especially in these days where athletes are constantly surrounded by PR officials and trying to stay on message. It will be tough for the bloggers who can work with access effectively to earn respect and trust and do their jobs if access becomes an anything-goes zone. Most bloggers don't need access in my mind, and much of the best blogging can be done without access, but there are some who can work very well within that framework; I'd hate to see them lose their access thanks to someone else disregarding the established standards for that area.
The last crucial element of the panel discussed the merits of generalist sites versus those that are hyper-specific. Obviously, it's tougher to find an audience without a particular topic, but Hall said he thinks it can be done if the writing's good enough and has a unique spin.
"I think there’s room for generalists," he said. "The problem is it can be very voice-dependent."
Dan Shanoff made a point from the floor about the merits of good writing versus good distribution, arguing that many good pieces go unnoticed while less-stellar ones may receive more traffic thanks to plugs from major sites. Hall said he thinks well-done writing will eventually find an audience regardless of subject, though.
"If people are interested in something, they’re going to find it."
Mottram backed this up, saying that the wide horizons of the Internet make it so there's really nothing that's too obscure, too random or too well-covered already any more.
"With anything people are passionate about, there’s an endless glut of want," he said. "It doesn’t matter how much there is. There’s still room for more."
To me, these last comments really caught the theme of the weekend, and they reinforced what I really believe blogging is really all about. I hate the notion that there's one right way to do things or one legitimate path to blogging success; it's a huge world, and there's room for all kinds of different approaches. I'd rather read a wide array of sites with unique perspectives than have the Internet turn into a cookie-cutter approach, and I don't want success to be defined just by who you know or how long you've been blogging for. That's one thing I really enjoyed about Blogs With Balls; it wasn't a set hierarchy of well-known types lording it over us peons, but rather an open discussion and get-together. It seemed more like cooperation than competition, and in my mind, that's the way it should be; we're all in the same boat. There's plenty of room for newcomers and unique and unusual approaches, and for me, the goal at the end of the day is just to produce something I'm happy with. The blogosphere is ever-changing and ever-expanding, but the possibilities seem wide open at the moment. As Daulerio said, "There’s always something better on the horizon that could blow everything out of the water."
Friday, December 12, 2008
Psychoanalyzing the blogosphere
The great Tom Benjamin found this site a little while ago, and I was intrigued. Basically, you type in a blog URL and it gives you a readout of the personality of the blog's author. I figured I'd try it with my site and some of the sites I read regularly. Results are below.
For myself, Sporting Madness:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://sportingmadness.blogspot.com is of the type: INTP - The Thinkers."
"The logical and analytical type. They are espescially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.
They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about."
And the brain-analysis photo (click to expand):
Comments: Pretty dead-on. I'm definitely into the logical analysis and speculation about the future.
Neate Sager and co., Out of Left Field:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://neatesager.blogspot.com is of the type: ESTP - The Doers."
"The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.
The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time."
And the brain-scan:
Comments: Maybe it was the Snark Breaks that got the "joking" part played up?
A.J. Daulerio, Rick Chandler, Dashiell Bennett and co., Deadspin:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://deadspin.com is of the type:
ISTP - The Mechanics."
"The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment and are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.
The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters."
And the brain pic:
Comments: "Masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously." Sounds reasonable; they've managed to survive a lot of design changes and Nick Denton's messages of doom so far.
Joe Posnanski, Joe's Blog:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/ is of the type: ESFP - The Performers"
"The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.
They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions."
And the brain pic:
Comments: Entertaining and friendly definitely describes Joe's blog.
James Mirtle, From The Rink:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://fromtherink.com is of the type:
ESTJ - The Guardians."
"The organizing and efficient type. They are especially attuned to setting goals and managing available resources to get the job done. Once they´ve made up their mind on something, it can be quite difficult to convince otherwise. They listen to hard facts and can have a hard time accepting new or innovative ways of doing things.
The Guardians are often happy working in highly structured work environments where everyone knows the rules of the job. They respect authority and are loyal team players."
And the brain scan:
Comments: Organized and efficient sounds like a good description for James' work, which I highly recommend.
Eyebleaf, Sports And The City:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://www.sportsandthecity.com/ is of the type: ISFP - The Artists."
"The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.
They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living."
And the brain pic:
Comments: Hmm, not sure how this one applies.
Others of the aforementioned types:
- Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: Mechanic.
- Jason Brough and Mike Halford, Orland Kurtenblog: Doers.
- J.E. Skeets and Kelly Dwyer, Ball Don't Lie: Mechanics.
- Will Leitch, WEEI: Doer.
- Amrit Ahluwalia and co., There Is No Original Name For This Sports Blog: Doers.
- Tom Benjamin himself, Canucks Corner: Doer.
- David Berri, The Wages of Wins Journal: Mechanic.
- Dan Shanoff, Dan Shanoff: Doer.
- PPP and Chemmy, Pension Plan Puppets: Guardians.
- Darren Rovell, Sports Biz: Doer.
Interesting; out of the sports blogs I checked, I'm apparently the only one who falls into the "Thinkers" category. Most people seem to be doers or mechanics. Not sure how much credence I give this, but it was worth a look, and some of the descriptions seem to fit pretty well; I'm happy with mine.
For myself, Sporting Madness:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://sportingmadness.blogspot.com is of the type: INTP - The Thinkers."
"The logical and analytical type. They are espescially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.
They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about."
And the brain-analysis photo (click to expand):
Comments: Pretty dead-on. I'm definitely into the logical analysis and speculation about the future.
Neate Sager and co., Out of Left Field:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://neatesager.blogspot.com is of the type: ESTP - The Doers."
"The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.
The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time."
And the brain-scan:
Comments: Maybe it was the Snark Breaks that got the "joking" part played up?
A.J. Daulerio, Rick Chandler, Dashiell Bennett and co., Deadspin:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://deadspin.com is of the type:
ISTP - The Mechanics."
"The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment and are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.
The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters."
And the brain pic:
Comments: "Masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously." Sounds reasonable; they've managed to survive a lot of design changes and Nick Denton's messages of doom so far.
Joe Posnanski, Joe's Blog:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/ is of the type: ESFP - The Performers"
"The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.
They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions."
And the brain pic:
Comments: Entertaining and friendly definitely describes Joe's blog.
James Mirtle, From The Rink:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://fromtherink.com is of the type:
ESTJ - The Guardians."
"The organizing and efficient type. They are especially attuned to setting goals and managing available resources to get the job done. Once they´ve made up their mind on something, it can be quite difficult to convince otherwise. They listen to hard facts and can have a hard time accepting new or innovative ways of doing things.
The Guardians are often happy working in highly structured work environments where everyone knows the rules of the job. They respect authority and are loyal team players."
And the brain scan:
Comments: Organized and efficient sounds like a good description for James' work, which I highly recommend.
Eyebleaf, Sports And The City:
"The analysis indicates that the author of http://www.sportsandthecity.com/ is of the type: ISFP - The Artists."
"The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.
They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living."
And the brain pic:
Comments: Hmm, not sure how this one applies.
Others of the aforementioned types:
- Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: Mechanic.
- Jason Brough and Mike Halford, Orland Kurtenblog: Doers.
- J.E. Skeets and Kelly Dwyer, Ball Don't Lie: Mechanics.
- Will Leitch, WEEI: Doer.
- Amrit Ahluwalia and co., There Is No Original Name For This Sports Blog: Doers.
- Tom Benjamin himself, Canucks Corner: Doer.
- David Berri, The Wages of Wins Journal: Mechanic.
- Dan Shanoff, Dan Shanoff: Doer.
- PPP and Chemmy, Pension Plan Puppets: Guardians.
- Darren Rovell, Sports Biz: Doer.
Interesting; out of the sports blogs I checked, I'm apparently the only one who falls into the "Thinkers" category. Most people seem to be doers or mechanics. Not sure how much credence I give this, but it was worth a look, and some of the descriptions seem to fit pretty well; I'm happy with mine.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Intertubes Roundup: CIS media coverage expansion and more
Seeing as I'm spending so much time writing for other sites and publications these days, which means this blog doesn't get updated as often as I liked, I figured I'd bring in a new feature and rework an old one. I'll try to do a Bucholtz Roundup post every week with links to some of the pieces I've written (for any readers who want to see what else I'm doing and why I don't have much time to write here). To keep it from getting too self-promotional, I also plan to include a Best of the Intertubes section, where I highlight some of the most interesting pieces I've seen over the last week (it's pretty much the old Links of the Day, but that never turned out to be daily and I like this title better). Collectively, I'll call the combined post the Intertubes Roundup. Here's the first one.
Bucholtz Roundup:
Out of Left Field/The CIS Blog:
- "More coverage of CIS Sports on the way?": This is a piece based off of the feature I wrote for Friday's Journal about the potentially expanding media coverage of the CIS. It includes quotes from CBC Sports executive director Scott Moore, Score Media chairman and CEO John Levy and Streaming Sports Network Canada president Bengt Neathery. The Journal piece is written as a traditional news story, while the blog piece features more analysis, so feel free to look at whichever one suits your fancy.
Queen's Journal, Friday, September 12:
- "Football prepares to face Golden Hawks": This is a preview of today's football game between Queen's and Laurier, featuring quotes from quarterback Dan Brannagan, running back Mike Giffin and head coach Pat Sheahan. It also includes the details of the last times Queen's played Laurier. The last Gaels' victory came on October 11, 2003 during the Tommy Denison era. Dan Pawliw was nice enough to link to this one in his excellent Queen's Football Newsletter.
- "An ugly mark on a beautiful game": This is a column I wrote about Canadian investigative journalist Declan Hill's allegations of match-fixing during the 2006 World Cup. I highly recommend Stephen Brunt's piece on the same subject in The Globe and Mail (which includes an interview with Hill) for those looking for more information on the topic. This interview with Hill in Der Spiegel (a German news magazine, but the article's in English) is also very interesting.
- "Gaels fall to Trent in regular-season opener": This is a game recap of the women's rugby team's loss to the Trent Excalibur Wednesday. It features interviews with co-captain Shauna Geerts and head coach Beth Barz. The team plays again at home tomorrow against the York Lions.
- "Rock and Roll Report Card": Yes, it's not sports, but this review of Alice Cooper's new CD Along Came A Spider is the first album review I've ever had published, so I thought I'd include it.
Queen's Journal, Tuesday, September 9:
- "Football defeats Guelph": My game story on the football team's 41-30 win over the Guelph Gryphons. Includes quotes from centre Dan Bederman, quarterback Dan Brannagan, running back Mike Giffin and head coach Pat Sheahan.
- "Baptism by fire": My game story on new Queen's men's soccer head coach Carlo Cannovan's first win over the Trent Excalibur Saturday, and the team's loss to the Carleton Ravens the next day. (My earlier thoughts on Cannovan's appointment can be found here [Out of Left Field]). The story includes quotes from Cannovan, defender Andrew Nador and midfielder Grame Webber, a new transfer from Cornell.
- "A win and a loss for women's soccer": A game story on the women's soccer team's victory over Trent Saturday and loss to Carleton the next day. Includes quotes from head coach Dave McDowell, midfielder Jenn Pentesco and striker/defender Sara Buckham.
Best of the Intertubes:
-"The Brief Wonderous Life of Angel Berroa" [Joe Posnanski, September 7]: Posnanski delivers his usual excellence with this post about Dodgers' shortstop Angel Berroa. He covers stats, fandom, bizarre stories, and the unusual places you have to turn to for hope when your franchise falls on tough times. Highly recommended.
-"The Hunted" [Ivan Solotaroff,Details (I don't usually read Details, so hat-tip to Deadspin's Clay Travis for picking this up), October issue (yes, it's from the future)]: A fantastic profile of Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who's been described as "the next Vince Young and the next LeBron James—in one".
-"Twelve-Year-Old Girl Kicked Off Boys' Basketball Team For Being Too Good" [Clay Travis, Deadspin, Sept. 12]: Clay makes another solid pickup, this one from The New York Times Magazine. Both his thoughts and the original article are well worth a read.
"Zen Dayley: Manny is taking it easy for all of us sinners" [Neate Sager, Out of Left Field, Sept. 12]: Neate has a great deconstruction of Daily Breeze writer John Klima's article that alleges in the lede, "Manny Ramirez is the worst ballplayer I have ever seen." What I like about Neate's piece is how he gets why Klima would write that and why Ramirez is frustrating to watch, but still exposes the illogical nature of Klima's arguments.
"Still dreaming of the Ontario Derby" [Duane Rollins, Out of Left Field, Sept. 13]: Duane comes through with some good insight about why an Ottawa MLS franchise may not be a ridiculous idea.
"Angst Over Sonics' Departure Drives Local Man To Reach For New Heights...With His Feet!" [Damon Agnos, Buzzer Beater, Seattle Weekly, Sept 11 (via the fabulous J.E. Skeets at Ball Don't Lie)]: This is a hilarious but sad post about a Seattle resident who's started kicking his ceiling to cope with the loss of the Sonics.
Bucholtz Roundup:
Out of Left Field/The CIS Blog:
- "More coverage of CIS Sports on the way?": This is a piece based off of the feature I wrote for Friday's Journal about the potentially expanding media coverage of the CIS. It includes quotes from CBC Sports executive director Scott Moore, Score Media chairman and CEO John Levy and Streaming Sports Network Canada president Bengt Neathery. The Journal piece is written as a traditional news story, while the blog piece features more analysis, so feel free to look at whichever one suits your fancy.
Queen's Journal, Friday, September 12:
- "Football prepares to face Golden Hawks": This is a preview of today's football game between Queen's and Laurier, featuring quotes from quarterback Dan Brannagan, running back Mike Giffin and head coach Pat Sheahan. It also includes the details of the last times Queen's played Laurier. The last Gaels' victory came on October 11, 2003 during the Tommy Denison era. Dan Pawliw was nice enough to link to this one in his excellent Queen's Football Newsletter.
- "An ugly mark on a beautiful game": This is a column I wrote about Canadian investigative journalist Declan Hill's allegations of match-fixing during the 2006 World Cup. I highly recommend Stephen Brunt's piece on the same subject in The Globe and Mail (which includes an interview with Hill) for those looking for more information on the topic. This interview with Hill in Der Spiegel (a German news magazine, but the article's in English) is also very interesting.
- "Gaels fall to Trent in regular-season opener": This is a game recap of the women's rugby team's loss to the Trent Excalibur Wednesday. It features interviews with co-captain Shauna Geerts and head coach Beth Barz. The team plays again at home tomorrow against the York Lions.
- "Rock and Roll Report Card": Yes, it's not sports, but this review of Alice Cooper's new CD Along Came A Spider is the first album review I've ever had published, so I thought I'd include it.
Queen's Journal, Tuesday, September 9:
- "Football defeats Guelph": My game story on the football team's 41-30 win over the Guelph Gryphons. Includes quotes from centre Dan Bederman, quarterback Dan Brannagan, running back Mike Giffin and head coach Pat Sheahan.
- "Baptism by fire": My game story on new Queen's men's soccer head coach Carlo Cannovan's first win over the Trent Excalibur Saturday, and the team's loss to the Carleton Ravens the next day. (My earlier thoughts on Cannovan's appointment can be found here [Out of Left Field]). The story includes quotes from Cannovan, defender Andrew Nador and midfielder Grame Webber, a new transfer from Cornell.
- "A win and a loss for women's soccer": A game story on the women's soccer team's victory over Trent Saturday and loss to Carleton the next day. Includes quotes from head coach Dave McDowell, midfielder Jenn Pentesco and striker/defender Sara Buckham.
Best of the Intertubes:
-"The Brief Wonderous Life of Angel Berroa" [Joe Posnanski, September 7]: Posnanski delivers his usual excellence with this post about Dodgers' shortstop Angel Berroa. He covers stats, fandom, bizarre stories, and the unusual places you have to turn to for hope when your franchise falls on tough times. Highly recommended.
-"The Hunted" [Ivan Solotaroff,Details (I don't usually read Details, so hat-tip to Deadspin's Clay Travis for picking this up), October issue (yes, it's from the future)]: A fantastic profile of Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor, who's been described as "the next Vince Young and the next LeBron James—in one".
-"Twelve-Year-Old Girl Kicked Off Boys' Basketball Team For Being Too Good" [Clay Travis, Deadspin, Sept. 12]: Clay makes another solid pickup, this one from The New York Times Magazine. Both his thoughts and the original article are well worth a read.
"Zen Dayley: Manny is taking it easy for all of us sinners" [Neate Sager, Out of Left Field, Sept. 12]: Neate has a great deconstruction of Daily Breeze writer John Klima's article that alleges in the lede, "Manny Ramirez is the worst ballplayer I have ever seen." What I like about Neate's piece is how he gets why Klima would write that and why Ramirez is frustrating to watch, but still exposes the illogical nature of Klima's arguments.
"Still dreaming of the Ontario Derby" [Duane Rollins, Out of Left Field, Sept. 13]: Duane comes through with some good insight about why an Ottawa MLS franchise may not be a ridiculous idea.
"Angst Over Sonics' Departure Drives Local Man To Reach For New Heights...With His Feet!" [Damon Agnos, Buzzer Beater, Seattle Weekly, Sept 11 (via the fabulous J.E. Skeets at Ball Don't Lie)]: This is a hilarious but sad post about a Seattle resident who's started kicking his ceiling to cope with the loss of the Sonics.
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