Sports and...Love: Blogger Valentines

I have to admit, I have nothing today. I wanted to write an story about a romance I had during a game of pick-up basketball, but I can't do justice to it right now. Next week, the site will return to a semblance of order: NBA column on Mondays, Artist of the Week on Wednesdays, and wild-card topics on Fridays. For now, let me instead pass out some blogger Valentine's, a day late, in appreciation for some of my female blogger colleagues. While I've never been of the opinion that my female blogger colleagues have terrible lives (being outnumbered 10:1 by the opposite gender in your field is more the stuff of dreams than of nightmares), it's certainly true that they often are less appreciated and respected than their male counterparts. So here's my small contribution towards recognizing my three favorite female sports bloggers.

Sooze of Babes Love Baseball:

Sooze deserves a blogger Valentine because she was one of the first people to read my blog and comment on a regular basis. She gave me some tips on how to start a blog, and she was one of the first female sports bloggers. If Jamie Mottram is the Blogfather, I think there's a good argument for Sooze getting the honorary title of "Blogmother". She's also genuinely funny and finds a lot of interesting baseball stories on her blog. Sooze, thanks for the help and encouragement and for being a blog friend!

Kristine of This Suit is Not Black and the Fanhouse:

I met Kristine when I was considering whether to start a sports blog of my own or not. At the time, she was posting her sports blog on Myspace; then she decided to move her blog to Blogger. I paid close attention and asked her questions about the experience. Watching her build her blog helped build my confidence that I could do it too. She was also my first interview victim, I mean, subject, on here. What I like best about Kristine is that she is cheerful and friendly, and yet also has a wicked flavor of straight-faced sarcastic humor (see video above) that makes me laugh. Kristine, thanks for the laughs and and for being a blog friend!

Head Chick in Charge of Leave The Man Alone:

That picture she used as her avatar obviously is not HCIC (I think!), but none the less she still gets a Blogger Valentine. I worked late hours this last summer, and spent some time talking to HCIC after I got off work, and it was a pleasure. I believe she was one of the few truly original voices in the sports bloggosphere that often is over-run by Deadspin/Fanhouse clones. Whether it was providing a strong, intelligent voice as a rare black female sports blogger, using technology to pull screencaps of sports announcers for her fashion analysis posts, or relying on her legal training to analyze the Vick case and other situations, her unique talent was a pleasure to read and follow. HCIC, thanks for being willing to be different than the mediocre mainstream, and for being a blog friend!