Who Shot Mamba? Drama Continues...

Guest Bias: Price Above Bip Roberts

I finally am evening up my account with Ted by writing on his site after he guest-posted here. I wrote about major media mogul The Cavalier from Yaysports.com. When I first found his site I was completely in awe of the Cavalier; he did graphics, video, and text! It must be the feeling Atari fans had when the first Nintendo came out, ha. Thankfully, the Cavalier has since developed a weak point or two in his blogging game, which I mercilessly mocked in the article, but he's still one of the greats. Read the article here.

Bloggolalia: Game Respects Game

I wanted to thank some sites that have linked to me in the last few months. I’m terrible at linking, partly because I didn’t know how for the first month or so of having the blog (go back and laugh at my typed-out links), and partly because I usually have so little time to blog that I don't feel I can afford links. But I don’t wish to appear unthankful; I appreciate you all. Here’s my list of major league gamers who have linked to me in the past: dear reader, please visit them too when you can.

Babes Love Baseball : I don’t cover baseball, but Sooze was a huge, huge inspiration in starting this blog with her witty comments on my old blog. A tip of the hat as well for her now-retired collaborator, The Critic, who helped me get started. Lizzy’s sweet too.

The Starting Five : They let me come off the bench for perhaps my best serious post ever (I got 50+ comments, which of course I really appreciated), and probably have the most intelligent comment section in sportsblog land (due respect to Free Darko as well on that point). Also, thanks to Mind Pinball, whose thoughtful comments on a related issue helped inspire the post in the first place. He's relatively unknown but another skilled blogger.

The Big Lead : I criticized them pretty hard once, and yet they still linked to me three different times. Those guys are not afraid of controversy, and are a must-read whether you agree with them or not. Due respect to The Comission and Leave The Man Alone, who were the guest bloggers letting me in twice.

Cobra Brigade : Some think the Cobra rambles in his posts, but I think he slithers and strikes. Check out his Chicago-centric lair, now complete with blog allies!

The Extrapolater : Thoughtful and a progenitor too! Eric’s blog chronicles rising stars before they shoot across your horizon. Check it out.

A Price Above Bip Roberts : Ted guest-blogged about Roy Hibbert around NCAA Finals time, and it was great. He has the right idea in guest-blogging for other sites to get the word out about his considerable talent; keep your eye on this blogger.

Pacifist Viking : Fear the rabbit! Those may be bunny ears, not horns, but the Pacifist Viking’s rhetoric should be respected by any blogger older than five-and-twenty. His historical takes on the NBA is particularly enjoyable. Put Artis Gilmore in the Hall!

The Serious Tip : Jordi is shattering stereotypes left and right by having more female than male comments on his Myspace. Jordi, we’re supposed to be social recluses! Stop raising expectations, or my parents will raise the rent again! He and I also had some great e-mail conversations about a blogger’s vocation that you’ll be seeing somewhere sometime soon.

If I Ran... : These managerial wanna-bes were fooled into accepting two articles from my absolute power-loving self. Of course, that may be (IS!) because I am their only reader who wants to run the WNBA and the National Spelling Bee, but I'll still take it. Thanks to Sam and Eric!

Yaysports: I know I’m in the minority, but I like Brian’s words even more than his pictures nowadays. The man is a hilarious, schizophrenic mix of hater love (just ask Lebron), and the later the post time, the crazier the analysis. If he (and his attractive sis…err, just kidding, taller and stronger than me Brian!) are not part of your upscale lifestyle, you’ve got several stories to go to get to the penthouse, my friend.

Deadspin : An argument with a fellow commenter in the comment section is my sole deadspin.com link, but that link was vital in starting to amass a core of consistent readers. Taught me a valuable lesson that very little Internet controversy is truly bad controversy, as long as you truly believe in what you’re arguing about and will say sorry when you’re wrong.

And finally, bring in the NOIS, bring in the FUNK! Err, so I'm a decade behind on my Broadway shows. Those bow-tie wearing bloggers will never link to my white, Judeo-Christian self, but my respect for their haterade game transcends any fatwas on me. (kidding) Look, sometimes they overdo it (intentionally mostly, but not always) in trying to fix perceived racism in sports coverage, but their A-game would get them into any Ivy League school, err, Historically Black College, of their choosing. Seriously, go read their Duke lacrosse post NOW NOW NOW.

Bloggolalia: Blogging Sans Hat

I decided to put up a late Friday post for weekend discussion, and see what the response is. The term "Bloggolalia" is a word mash that literally means "talking about blogs." (Lalia is a Latin/Greek word that means talk, more or less). I think it looks cool, so there you go.

Usually, MC Bias writes as if other sports blogging sites don't exist. (He also spends a lot of time listing the pros of cons of "I", "we", or "MC Bias" as terms to refer to oneself while blogging, and is giving serious consideration to the fourth-person "you" or "one"). However, a recent controversy on
http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=2218 drew his attention. (FYI: The comments and/or post may offend you if you are sensitive to foul language or the abortion issue. Proceed.) The author made this comment: "Let this be the 1000th reminder that nothing -- nothing -- on this site is serious unless I make it an explicit point to "take off my With Leather hat."

I thought the throwaway reference to hats was an excellent metaphor for a dilemma that occasionally annoys me in sports blogging. Many of the best sites employ "hats"; that is, the author is talking in a very distinct style. That style often isn't how the person actually lives/talks in everyday life. The styles can be intriguing and entertaining, or irritating and biased, depending on your preferences. A short listing of "styles" would be Leave the Man Alone's or The Big Lead's sports media surveillance and analysis, Deadspin's self-depreciating, whimiscal humor, KSK or With Leather's testosterone rush, This Suit is Not Black's cross-out self-exultation/depreciation, and Nation of Islam Sports Blog's over-the-top and yet internally consistent exultation of the black race. I think that's enough mischaracterization of one's blogging elders for now, so I cease and desist.

However, what bothers me about a blogging hat is that a style, by definition, is often imitable. So if you wear the same blogging hat all the time, it gets very easy for someone to borrow that hat. Additionally, if we were to hold a contest, long-time readers of each site listed above could dredge up a passable imitation of that site's writing style. Plus, as the sites grow in popularity due to their hats, they attract detractors who have caught on to what hat the blogger is wearing. After all, isn't this the knock on Simmons? That he became popular because of his hat, but isn't changing the hat anymore? Perhaps the only difference between today's new sports bloggers and Simmons is longevity.

In the end, I think the right way is to begin by blogging with a hat, but to discard the hat once the site reaches a certain age or level of notoriety. I think Yaysports and Slamonline do this well. You may argue that Yaysports has the blogging hat of Photoshopping sports pictures, and that Slamonline has the blogging hat of supporting hip-hop ball. They may have started that way in the eyes of some, but there's been a lot of evolution since then. Explore the text, and you'll find variety in writing style and posts from each.

Of course, I blatantly disregard my own conclusion, and enjoy blogging hatless myself when no one is reading. :-) Let's hear it for blogging ADD!!! So, for your discussion this weekend while I attempt to school kids a decade younger than me in my high school's annual alumni game; hats, or no hats? And if you feel I have unfairly characterized your hat, by all means, comment.