With all due respect to John Clayton, Michael Silver and Peter King.... sports bloggers rule!
I know, I know.. such a brass statement to start a blog, right?! Well, I am starting to believe this is the way of the world now. Blogs have become the new way to get your sports information.
I have nothing but love for the guys I mentioned, as well as others. They are very good at what they do, without a doubt (well, most of them anyway). But the fact of the matter is, there are so many outlets to getting your sports fix nowadays, you don't have to go to ESPN or CBS Sportsline to get what you're looking for anymore.
This past week, the Baltimore Sun laid off a substantial amount of writers and editors, because of the financial troubles the newspaper has come across. It's been documented that the NY Times and the Chicago Tribune are also in jeopardy. The bad economy could be a major roll in it, no question. But I think the blogging world has also been a contributing factor as well.
While I do tend to read my local paper's sports section daily (online, of course), they don't give me the updates as fast as I like them too. Sites such as Pro Football Talk, message boards and... again... even blogs have become the major way to get my football fix. It's simply the sign of the times.
It's unfortunate for journalists who dedicated their careers on giving us the inside info and their commentary on the teams we love. But on the upside, it allows regular people, like myself, to gain readers and give them what they want to read.
Remember what the acronym FUBU stood for? For Us By Us. I used that analogy simply because that is the world of today's blogging. Blogs are mostly regular folks and read by regular folks. Water cooler talk has now been converted to great blog topics. Not only that, but we can be as critical about teams as we want... because we don't work for anybody. So, if we want to say, "[insert team here] f@*king sucks!", then we can say that in anyway we please and not have to worry about censorship. It's our words, and quite frankly, people love it that way.
Tell me what you think. Do you prefer blogs over newspapers, or vice versa???? Tell me why and give me your explanation. If blogging is what you like, give me a list of your favorite bloggers. I want to know what you guys think.
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I will still read some newspaper/magazine content (online primarily), but I get most of my news through blogs and my RSS reader, though lately, I can get lots of news through Twitter as well.
As for favorite blogs, I read the blogs of people I follow on Twitter, such as yourself, MKRob, etc. I also read the Baltimore Sports Report and MDBirdLover as well.
I choose blogs anyday. I had a call from the AJC asking me if I wanted to subscribe and I told the lady I read blogs and have one of my own and she just said "Oh, have a nice day" LOL.
My main source of information comes from blogs and ESPN text messages. I haven't subscribed to a newspaper in years, but I do read the Washington Post and Buffalo News online.
BLOGS ROCK!
Good post. I don't like sports coverage in the newspapers anymore. It is old. They would best be served if they worked on features and those type of stories. So blogs and forums and all the stuff you mentioned, gets my vote fo sure.
I follow all the links I have on my blogroll. I respect their opinions and know they bring it. I like good writing and opinions.
Blogs get no respect by professional teams. Tho that might have the chance to change seeing is how news outlets are dead and dying. But that is part of the problem, access is always good.
I will say this though, another problem in the blogosphere, is sites that berate and offer up nothing but gobbledegook. (Deadspin) I am not a fan. I want information and opinion. Not bashing. This type of site hinders progress of getting respect...it encourages the bull and tears down athletes and people (why it gets so much traffic). I'm not down with that, but that is just me. For what it is worth, I will check out Deadspin from time to time.