Athletes Will Be Allowed to Blog at Beijing Olympics
Athletes will be allowed to blog at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This is the first time athletes will be allowed to blog their experience. There were some unofficial blogs at previous olympic gaes. The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) guidelines do permit audio or video of events to be used.
The IOC has set out guidelines for blogging at the Beijing Games to ensure copyright agreements are not infringed.
They include bans on posting any audio or visual material of action from the games themselves.
The move follows the increasing use of unofficial blogs by athletes in previous Games, including Athens in 2004 and the Turin Winter Games.
"It is required that, when accredited persons at the games post any Olympic content, it be confined solely to their own personal Olympic-related experience," said an IOC statement.
A Reuters story on the IOC guidelines says "Athletes or officials who blog can only post still pictures taken outside accredited areas or their own pictures taken within these areas that do not contain any sporting action." So pictures can be used but only of the athletes residence or of sightseeing - no sports photos or photographs of the opening or closing events.
The IOC also does not want advertising on the blogs and wants the blog to be in "good taste."
Blogs should not have exclusive agreements with any company and there should be no commercial reference or advertising either, the IOC said.
Blogs should also adhere to the Olympic spirit "and be dignified and in good taste."
Yet another article on the story - this time from the Canadian Press - says bloggers should avoid disclosing security information. The IOC also does not want bloggers to use the word Olympic or Olympics in their domain URL.
Here's a summary of the information contained above and from reading other other articles.
Olympic athletes will be allowed to blog.
Blog domains should not contain any word similar to Olympic or Olympics.
No audio, photo or video of olympic or sports events.
Other photos are fine as long as they are not photographs of Olympic areas or sports activity.
Sports athletes need to get permission to take photographs of other athletes.
Blogs should be about the athlete's personal experience.
Blogs should not contain advertising or have exclusive agreements with any company.
Athlete bloggers should be careful to avoid disclosing security information.
This year's Super Bowl will decide whether the New England Patriots will finish undefeated or not. Lose and their perfect season and Super Bowl dreams go down in flames. Win and they may be considered the greatest team ever. There is no team better to try and take it all away from the Patriots than the New York Giants who have been on a record winning streak. That's Team Captain Spike pictured on the right. Here are some Super Bowl highlights from the blogosphere.
The Super Bowl just barely beats out Super Tuesday as the most interesting event.
Super Bowl over Super Tuesday by a late field goal 40 to 37. There's no polling to help us find a Super Bowl winner like we can on Super Tuesday.
Glosslip wants to know who is hotter: Eli Manning or Tom Brady? Brady may be taunted during the game with people wearing Bridget Moynihan masks.
Have you seen Spike, the Super Ball? You can see him here on Deadspin. Spike's also on the Arizona Super Bowl XLII website. Actually, his name is now Team Captain Spike because the NFL thought Super Ball was too close to Super Bowl.
Firebrand will be featuring the best commercials on its website. They also have some commercials of their own called the Road to Firebrand -- see here. YouTube is also having a Super Bowl AdBlitz.
Valleywag has posted ten memorable tech-related Super Bowl ads.
A weblog by a surfboard maker 42 Surfboards is showing the construction of surfboards from start to finish using photographs and text. The blog debuted earlier this year according to Surfers Village.
42 Surfboards, one of the world's few builders of traditional chambered wood surfboards, has a brand new website. In a nice synergy of old and new, you can now check out the latest wood fishes, single fins, longboards, and big-wave guns without getting covered in wood chips and sawdust.
At 42 surfboards.com, you can see some of the more common custom shapes that 42 Surfboards has been turning out. And at 42surfboards.blogspot.com, you can see some of Lars Bergstrom's clients' unique wood boards as they make the transition from log to longboard or from sapling to singlefin.
Some of Lars Bergstrom's boards are sold directly from the 42 Surfboard blog. Based on this message on the blog it sounds like the boards are selling very well.
The boards you see posted are the ones that are available. There were 21 boards available between October and December. All of those except the 5'10 Fish that was finished on 11/23/07 have now been sold. If we are able to finish anything else between now and the end of the year, it will be posted here. If you see something you want for Christmas, it is first come first serve as the boards are posted.
This is a very smart use of a blog. It is similar to what you see on some of the craft blogs where crafters show off their designs and creations and also sell them directly from their blogs.
The Boston Red Sox made it look easy with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series. That seemed impossible going into the series with The Rockies losing just once in 38 days. Once the hottest team in baseball the Rockies came up empty in their final four games.
Curt Schilling, the Red Sox's blogging pitcher, blogged that the 8 day break may have hurt the Rockies.
"God has his fingerprints all over this game."
I stole it. Clint Hurdle said that about game 4 and it resonated with me all day long. What Aaron Cook and Jon Lester went through to get to this point, to get the ball, was God's work. What they did after "Play Ball" was awe inspiring in a million ways.
Hate to see the cheap shots taken by fans and writers at what went down over the last 5 days with regards to the series and Colorado's team. They may not use it as an excuse, I certainly don't expect to hear it from Helton, Holliday Hurdle or any others, but the 8 days between games, in my opinion, had a negative effect on them. I still believe we are the best team in the world, and 8 days or not we would have won, but I think it did impact them in many different ways. 8 days off and then you step in the box and have to face the best pitcher on the planet? Hats off to the NL Champions for redefining comeback and "against all odds". What they did to even get to the 2007 World Series needs to be etched in stone. I think it will be lost over the next few months because of the outcome of the Series but it shouldn't be, they did it with class and style. They played the game right and hard. Seeing true, old school, blue collar guys like Todd Helton finally getting into the World Series after putting up Hall worthy numbers his whole career is a cool thing.
The Rockies aren't the champs but they had a great season and won the pennant. Some Rockies blogs/websites can be found here, here, here, here, here and here.
Baseball Musings says it was fun while it lasted: "The team that pulled rabbits out of hats since the middle of September lost the magic in the World Series."
Will the Red Sox get used to winning? Some are suggesting a Red Sox dynasty is emerging but they will need to win at least another World Series or two to be like the Yankees were in the late 90s.
Purple Row blogs a list of some of things The Rockies need in order to win next season.
A baby giraffe born at Zoo New England in Boston was named Sox.
Presidential candidate Rudolph W. Giuliani said earlier that he would be rooting for the Red Fox - a statement that infuriated some Yankee fans.
Some coverage of world series stories here and here on Ballbug.
Bloggers Cover Appalachian State's Stunning Victory Over Michigan
Sports bloggers have been covering the stunning upset the University of Michigan Wolverines suffered at the hands of the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Never before has a Division I-AA team defeated a ranked Division IA team. Some are saying that the upset was so big that Michigan may never recover from the embarrassment of the loss. They will certainly have to live with the misery of the loss for the rest of this season anyway. Technorati shows over 4,000 posts for a "Michigan Appalachian" search.
Obviously a historic defeat like this results in a lot of sad and angry Michigan fans. Some posts by them can be found here, here and here. It's even emo week on the MGOblog (via Fanhouse). Some upset Michigan supporting bloggers are calling for Michigan's coach Lloyd Carr to resign -- see here and here. Some bloggers who are not sad by Michigan's defeat are talking about how historic the victory was for Appalachian State -- see here, here and here. A few sports bloggers are making jokes at Michigan's expense. There has been much use of the hot hot hot video, a recruiting video made by Appalachian State. It was modified to include references to the Appalachian's win over Michigan. There is even a Michigan LOLcats.
More links to other blog posts about the game can be found on Sportsosphere and on Technorati.
The Courier-Journalreports that the NCAA has issued the following statement to explain why a Courier-Journal reporter Brian Bennett was recently booted from live-blogging a NCAA baseball game. The statement says the reporter's press credential were revoked because he was live-blogging play-by-play reports from the press box. That is not allowed under NCAA rules. However, it is okay to issue in-game updates that include the score and time.
"Coverage of a recent incident involving a reporter having his media credential revoked at an NCAA championship requires clarification on both why this action was taken as well as current NCAA policy. The reporter's credential was revoked because he continued to blog live play-by-play reports from the press box after being repeatedly asked to stop. Any transmission of live play-by-play information by any entity other than a media rights holder is prohibited.
Following this incident, the NCAA issued incorrect information to credentialed media which stated that in-game updates of any type are prohibited. In fact, in-game updates to include score and time remaining in competition are permissible by any media entity whether credentialed or not.
We apologize for any confusion that may have resulted from the incorrect information."
Score and time are allowed but who gets a home run or swings at a pitch and misses is not? It seems like it would be very hard for the NCAA to stop this information from being live blogged from a cell phone should someone want to do it. An ESPN article about the issue called Step Away from the Laptop! lists one of the posts that got Brian Bennett tossed from covering the game.
"The Cards didn't get this kind of pitching in Missouri. If they can pitch like this and keep hitting like they do, whoa."
It is absurd that the NCAA thinks blog posts like this would lower attendance or keep people from listening to the game on the radio or watching a game on television.
The Associated Press is reporting that a journalist from the The Courier-Journal was booted out of the press box at an NCAA baseball game for blogging about the game. The NCAA policy is that there is to be no blogging about NCAA baseball games during the game.
NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said Monday that Bennett was asked not to blog about game action before Sunday's game.
"In a nutshell, we asked the blogger repeatedly not to cover it in that manner, because it violates the policy, and he continued, and his credential was revoked," Williams said.
Williams said it didn't matter that the newspaper had blogged at other NCAA events, like the Orange Bowl and NCAA basketball tournament.
"Essentially, we enforce the policy when we learn of violations," Williams said. "So the fact that he may have blogged at a championship before really has no effect on the policy."
The newspaper said the university circulated a memo on the issue from Jeramy Michiaels, the NCAA's manager of broadcasting, before the first super regional game Friday. It said blogs are considered a "live representation of the game" and blogs containing action photos or game reports are prohibited until the game is over.
TThe newspaper's lawyer, Jon L. Fleischaker, said the right to report during the game is a First Amendment issue.
"It's a real question that we're being deprived of our right to report within the First Amendment from a public facility," Fleischaker said. "Once a player hits a home run, that's a fact. It's on TV. Everybody sees it. [The NCAA] can't copyright that fact."
What's the purpose of preventing live blogging of NCAA baseball games exactly? Do they really think it will somehow limit the turnout?
Jason Lee Miller at WebProNews has a nice headline for this story: There's No Live Blogging In Baseball. Editor and Publisher also has an article. Baseball Musings says, "Let Them Blog!" Deadspin has a roundup of some more coverage about the NCAA's anti-blogging policy. Still more coverage can be found here on Technorati.
A company named Sports Media Challenge has compiled a list of what they say are the top ten best baseball websites. They call the index the Sports Blog Index (SBI). They plan to use the SBI to identify the top blogs "across all sports and in each major sports category." You can read a press release about the SBI here. Here are the top ten baseball blogs according to the SBI.
Here is the criteria Sports Media Challenge says they use to rank sports blogs.
There are three criteria that Sports Media Challenge use to rank blogs for the top 10 - Influence, Fan Engagement and Quality. These criteria combine quantitative aspects, including the number of incoming links that connect to the blog, number of fan comments as well as qualitative measurement by Sports Media Challenge analysts.
Sports Media Challenge says the will update the SBI each month.
A new blog called The View from Here: The Business of NASCAR from two Virginia Commonwealth University professors is discussing the business behind the popular sport of NASCAR racing. Richmond.com reports that the blog is an offshoot of a NASCAR business class taught by the two professors.
Here in Richmond, at Virginia Commonwealth University, professors Jon Ackley and Michael Pitts decided to explore the business of NASCAR by creating a class titled "From Dirt Tracks to Madison Avenue." The class, a five-week honors module, has been offered three times during the fall semester and will be offered again in the fall of 2007.
The class featured a variety of speakers from all different aspects of NASCAR, including Katherine Wintsch from The Martin Agency, the advertising firm that handles the NASCAR account, and Nate Ryan, motor sports columnist for USA Today.
"Our goal is to give the students an overview of the business side of NASCAR," Ackley said. "We talk very little about actual racing although we don't bypass that discussion when questions are raised. In the end, when students indicate that they might still not be fans but appreciate the magnitude of the sport, we believe we have accomplished our goal."
Now the two professors have broken out of the classroom and onto the Internet with a new blog. The blog, "The View From Here: The Business of NASCAR," was launched on Feb. 15. Like the class, it explores the money end of NASCAR.
The blog is updated weekly instead of daily. There are already some interesting posts like this post about driver's salaries and this post about Daytona 500 infractions.
The Web 2.0 savvy National Basketball Association (NBA) has launched a social network on its website and cut a content deal with YouTube.com. The NBA's social network is called Fan Voice (hat tip Micropersuasion). It has profile feature typical of social networks. It also has a video mixer tool called the NBA Highlight Mixer.
The NBA already has about three dozen videos on its YouTube channel. Most of them are clips of great shots. There's an over-the-head shot, a circus shot and a 3/4 court heave. The NBA has not turned off the embedding feature so sports bloggers can embed the video clips on their blogs. You can also upload a video clip of one of your own great moves. The EcommerceTimes reports that the NHL also recently cut a YouTube deal. The NHL's YouTube channel is located here.
ESPN Acquires Independent TrueHoop Basketball Blog
ESPN has acquired the TrueHoop basketball blog (hat tip Micropersuasion) from Gekko productions, a company founded by husband-and-wife team Henry and Jessica Abbott. ESPN has also hired the blog's author and former owner Henry Abbott to continue writing the blog. Abbott writes about why he sold the blog and what changes will be made in this detailed explanation post.
For me personally, there will be some change. For the first time in nearly a decade, I'll have a regular paycheck, benefits someone else pays for, and paid vacation. And TrueHoop will, I would assume, reach a bigger audience than ever. It will soon be moving to ESPN.com (although you will always be able to reach it at this address, which will redirect).
I'm very excited that TrueHoop is just going to be better than ever, honestly. Not to sound all cornball about it. But I really buy that. The timing here is perfect: I'm joining a respected mainstream media site with a massive audience, working alongside some professionals I deeply respect, just at the moment in history that mainstream media sites are really starting to appreciate the power of the blog. My job description is essentially self-created and it's my dream job--which I know because I have already been trying it out for nearly two years.
If this doesn't turn out to be fun, then I'm doing something seriously wrong.
Abbott also admits that he needed some income out of TrueHoop: "To be honest, I wasn't looking to sell TrueHoop, and I liked owning it. But TrueHoop needed a new model (besides the zero income one) if it was going to pay my mortgage."
There hasn't been much of mainstream media companies buying up independent blogs yet -- mostly they have been trying to launch blogs of their own. But the pace of these types of acquisitions could quicken as media companies realize it is sometimes easier to simply acquire an already established blog than to try and create interest in a brand new one.
International Olympic Committee Considering Allowing Athletes to Blog
The Associated Press is reporting that one of the many issues the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is looking into the issue of whether or not Olympic athletes should be allowed to blog.
In between debating weighty issues like whether solo synchronized swimming is actually a sport or whether gymnastics really is fixed, the International Olympic Committee is looking at allowing athletes to blog.
It's a delicate issue. The IOC doesn't want to step on the toes of the traditional media, and there's a fear the athlete's village could turn into a battle zone of dueling blogsters.
Imagine Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis going after each other online before they meet on ice.
"We want to avoid a free-for-all situation," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.
Blogging was banned by the Olympic Charter at the 2006 Olymics in Turin, Italy and some countries discouraged their atheltes from blogging. If blogging is allowed in 2008 it will be interesting to see if any countries encourage athelete blogging at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Update 2-10-07: The BBC is reporting that the Australian Olympic Committee is banning Australian athletes from blogging in Beijing. They are afraid blogging could turn the Olympics into a reality TV show.
Thankfully not all blogs are about gadgets, technology or celebrity gossip. In the Riding through College blog Sara Gumbiner, a student at Delaware Valley College, shares how she balances college and horses work as an Equine Studies student competing in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association. Equisearch says 18-year-old Sara Gumbiner is trying to obtain both an equin studies degree and compete at the IHSA regionals.
Take an inside look at the teamwork, practice, disappointments and rewards of competing on an Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) team in Delaware Valley College freshman Sara Gumbiner's Riding through College blog on EquiSearch.com.
Born in Somerset, N.J., Sara is working toward an equine studies degree, while riding on both the hunt seat and western IHSA teams and adjusting to college life. Follow the 18-year-old freshman as she attends tryouts, runs for a team officer position and rides toward her goal of competing with her team at IHSA Regionals and Zones.
Sara Gumbiner has been posting about once every week since the blog debuted. There are bound to be some young girls out there curious about riding that would be interested in her new blog.
Super Bowl XLI is already underway. The Bears picked up a quick touchdown by returning the opening kick-off for a touchdown but Colts fought back and have a 16-14 lead at half-time. The rain is already causing problems in the game with three early fumbles. Here are some Super Bowl highlights from bloggers.
Macrumors reports on a possible digital deal for Apple and the Beatles.
Keeping the Castle describes Martha Stewart's super snacks.
Adweek and its daily blog, AdFreak, have launched a blog devoted exclusively to the
Super Bowl called Superadfreak.com.
Jessica Simpson has more ads coming with Cheesy Bites pizza from Pizza Hut. You probably remember this one from 2006.
The NFL doesn't want a church to broadcast the Super Bowl on a 60-inch plasma screen. Wired Listening Post says the NFL doesn't want anyone to run the game on TV's larger than 55 inches.
This year you don't even have to watch the game to see the commercials. A lot of the
commercials are already on YouTube.
The Super Bowl stadium website was hacked and malicious code was placed on the website.
A TechCrunch post has several video ads from companies that could not get in the Super Bowl including Meebo, Meez, Multiply, Plaxo, RockYou and Technorati.
Here are some direct links to Bears, Colts and Super Bowl blogs where you can find ongoing coverage about the game.
Blogging Sports Fan Plans 366 Sports Events in 366 Days
Joe McMackin, a huge sports fan, is trying to get people and sponsors together to help him attend 366 professional sporting events in 366 days beginning January 1, 2008. McMackin says the trip will consist of "every Major Sporting Event which will include the Superbowl, World Series, NBA Finals, The World Series of Poker, Major Horse races, etc."
How would you like to watch 10 people travel across the Country and see 366 professional sporting events in 366 days starting Jan 1st 2008? That is what I, Joe McMackin, am setting out to do. Why 366 days? Because 2008 is a leap year. In regards to the other nine people that go with me, it will be a mix of friends and people who can bring me value. Being a great driver, film editor, writer, website designer/developer, or bringing in a large sponsor are the types of value you can bring to this trip.
McMackin already has a schedule posted on his blog but it is still just a promotional idea at this point. The biggest problem here will probably be getting tickets to the major sports events. That would also be a very hectic travel schedule. More discussion at Baseball Musings and Blueseam. (via Micropersuasion)
InternetNews.com reports that the Portland Trail Blazers have added a social network for fans to their website using software from Affinity Circles.
The Affinity Circles software platform is designed to let basketball fans connect with one another online, create profiles, join groups, share photos, and post blogs.
Phil Taylor, a Senior Writer for Sports Illustrated, said the Blazers investment should be popular with fans.
"I think the fans would love anything that lets them communicate better with each other," Taylor told internetnews.com. "But with a team like the Blazers it could backfire if they give fans an easier way to gripe and complain about the team.
"Web sites and blogs are icing on the cake if you're a good team, but if you don't win it doesn't help."
Jeff Clark, the author of CelticsBlog.com, told InternetNews.com that it will be important how the social network is moderated.
"It shows they understand and respect the growth of message board and blog communities," Clark said in an email to internetnews.com.
"On the other hand, I have to wonder how it is going to be moderated. If the team restricts negative comments about the organization, people won't respect the credibility of the site. But if they don't moderate it, the site will fall into chaos and nobody will want to participate. It all depends on the people that help out," said Clark who relies on several regular volunteer contributors for content at CelticsBlog.
Now it is just a matter of time before every sports team has a social network for fans. It is also just a matter of time before social networks are a ubiquitous as message boards.
The International Herald Tribune (IHT) has an article about blogging athletes and sports stars. One of the issues the article discusses was the blog ban imposed on athletes by the International Olympic Committee during the Winter Olympics. Fortunately, it wasn't enforced -- several athletes at the Winter Olympics had blogs.
The article says athletes blog for different reason. Some, like Barry Bonds, want access to the public without having to deal with the media.
The answers are varied. Some athletes, weary of dealing with the traditional media (imagine that), crave unfiltered access to their public. The baseball slugger Barry Bonds has been in this category for some time, and although his reality television show - another form of direct contact with an audience - did not endure during his latest allegation-filled season, his blog continues on his eponymous Web site.
Barry's journal can be found here. An athlete's blog also conveyed what it is like for a pitcher to eliminate the Yankees in the playoffs.
"That's what it's all about, man," wrote the Detroit Tigers pitcher Nate Robertson on mlbplayers.com after his team had eliminated the Yankees from the baseball playoffs. "I can't really explain the feeling to be able to go out there in that situation and get the job done."
The IHT says some athletes also blog for money. The article says Brazil's soccer star Ronaldinho was paid to post at msn.com during the World Cup. Another reason athletes blog is to help promote a sport that could use more attention -- such as an extreme sport or relatively unknown outdoor or water sport.
Some athletes want any kind of access to their public. This includes those whose sports have yet to break into the mainstream, such as the reigning kite- surfing World Cup champion, Kristin Boese of Germany, whose travelogue of a blog appears on mountainzone.com, despite the fact that mountains do not have much to do with kite surfing.
Kristin Boese's blog can be found here on mountainzone.com. Mountainzone.com also runs blogs for several other athletes. Wet Dawg also maintains a few blogs for athletes.
One interesting sports star blog concept mentioned in the article is Andy Roddick's Club Roddick which charges a subscription of $29.95 for access to exclusive blogs and content. Roddick isn't trying to make money from his blog -- the money goes to his
charitable foundation, the Andy Roddick Foundation. Andy Roddick also has another blog on his site that is free to read.
Also coming soon according to the IHT is a group of NHL bloggers that will mimic the NBA's Blog Squad concept on the National Hockey League's website at NHL.com.
iVillage has launched The Female Fan, a new blog targeting female NFL football fans. The blog is promising stories about the players, game basics and big game coverage. iVillge also says the blog will report on celebrity romances and offer tailgating tips and recipes for football parties.
"The Female Fan' is the place to go for women who want to talk football," said Kellie Gould, Editor-in-Chief, iVillage.com. "Whether they simply want fun facts to impress friends or if the goal is gaining more game insight, Betsy's blog is their source."
The blog is written by author Betsy Berns. Berns was grew up with three brothers who used to test her football knowledge so she could even out the touch-football teams. She is also the
author of The Female Fan Guide to Pro Football, Win, Place and Show: A Female Fan's Guide to Thoroughbred Racing and The Female Fan Guide to Motorsports.
An The Ann Arbor Newsarticle says a 12-year-old named Nick Barnowski has one of the most popular sports blogs on AOL. Nick's blog is called Sports Nut's Sports Blog.
On any given day, Nick opines about anything from his favorite Detroit sports franchises to NASCAR to which players have the best and worst hair in the World Cup. On average, he makes two posts a day, combining his love of writing and sports to create what has already earned the designation of AOL's Sports Blog of the Week.
"I'm most impressed with how prolific he is," said Jamie Mottram, who appears on ESPN2's "Cold Pizza" as the program's blogging expert.
"Nick posts something just about every day and offers a nice mix of commentary, links, photos and quotes."
Unfortunately, Nick says he won't be able to post as much because he is about to start school.
When I get home.....I will be doing my homework, because school comes before everything. Then with other stuff, I have hockey and friends.
So don't expect me to make as many entries and I usually do.
The article says Nick hopes for a future job as a "newspaper sports reporter or SportsCenter anchor." He seems headed in the right direction. It also sounds like he has the right attitude about school.
AOL is launching a network of sports blogs despite the fact that sports doesn't have any endemic advertisers. AOL sports blogs will start with a football sports network called Fanhouse. Fanhouse includes a blog for each of the 32 NFL football teams. MediaPost reports that AOL is paying bloggers for each post they make. The new blogs are not linked with the Weblogs, Inc. blogs that AOL also owns.
The first set of blogs--which quietly rolled out last week--are devoted to the NFL, with AOL Sports now hosting one blog for each of the 32 professional NFL teams as well as a handful of other blogs devoted to subjects like fantasy football. The new blog section, dubbed "Fanhouse," will soon add more than 40 additional blogs devoted to college football. AOL is paying all of the new bloggers for each entry they write.
The goal, says Neal Scarbrough, General Manager of AOL Sports, is to increase the amount of time users spend on AOL's sports section. "AOL wants to crank up our sports coverage as a whole," he said, adding that the company specifically wants to boost user engagement.
AOL will promote the blogs through partnerships with other online sites, including fellow Time Warner property SI.com--the Web site of Sports Illustrated magazine.
MediaPost also says AOL plans to allow video uploads from users on the blogs. AOL is also planning similar networks for the basketball season. The AOL blogs will be new competition for sports blog networks like Sports Cartel and SportsBlogs Nation.
Chat With a Star is a celebrity blogging site that currently features blogs by several sports stars. They also claim to have the first BlogMobile. That's a picture of Chat With a Star's mobile blogging rig on the right. And here is a picture of the three guys (Andy Goodwin, Billy Wagner, Burton Rocks) that own the truck.
ChatWithAStar.com is the premier destination for fans to get up close and personal with athletes and entertainers through online interactive chats. The chatwithastar.com website features weblogs and interactive chats by celebrities, beginning with current and former professional athletes, to enable them to tell their stories "in their own words" and interact more intimately with fans.
In addition to chats, www.chatwithastar.com features trivia contests and memorabilia auctions. Among the initial celebrities featured on www.chatwithastar.com are: Billy Wagner of the New York Mets; NFL veteran Kevin Mawae, who has just signed with the Tennessee Titans; New York Yankees announcer John Sterling; Andy North, former pro golfer and commentator for ESPN; boxer Gerry "King of the Left Hook" Cooney; and Pittsburgh Pirate Hall of Fame player and Hall of Fame broadcaster for the New York Mets, Ralph Kiner.
The celebrities blogging on the site are primarily baseball stars so far. There is also one model blogging -- Beverly Johnson. You can see a list of upcoming celebs here. A good question to ask is do the Chat With a Star celebrities blog inside the truck or from the comfort of their own home?
Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is using his blog to voice his opinions about the drug charges he now faces. Floyd blogs that he is innocent and will be vindicated.
In the past week, I have gone from the “Top of the World” to the depths of scandal. I have been thrust into the international spotlight and am being asked to defend myself against something that I did not do, for reasons that I do not understand. Although this has been a hard time for my family and me, we are confident that I will be vindicated. I am innocent of any wrongdoing and want to take an opportunity to clear up some misconceptions that exist regarding the situation.
It is widely known that the test in question, given as a urine sample after my victorious ride on stage 17 of the Tour de France, returned an abnormal T/E ratio from the “A” sample. I want to be entirely clear about one point of the test that has not been fairly reported in the press or expressed in any statements made by international or national governing bodies; the T value returned has been determined to be in the normal range. The E value returned was LOW, thus causing the skewed ratio. This evidence supports my assertion that I did not use testosterone to improve my performance. I emphatically deny any claims that I used testosterone to improve my performance.
USA Today has article about Floyd Landis and the charges made by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency, that say he used illegal doping products. (via The Blogging Times
France plays Italy for the World Cup Final today. Billions are watching around the globe. Then its four more years until the next World Cup match.
USA Today's Soccer Sweep has the starting lineups.
France: (G) Fabien Barthez, (D) Eric Abidal, William Gallas, Lilian Thuram, Willy Sagnol, (M) Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda, Frank Ribery, Zinedine Zidane (captain), (S) Thierry Henry.
Italy: (G) Gianluigi Buffon, (D) Fabio Grosso, Fabio Cannavaro (captain), Gianluca Zambrotta, Marco Materazzi, (M), Mauro Camoranesi, Gennaro Gattuso, Simone Perrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Francesco Totti, (S) Luca Toni.
Some live-blogging of the final can be found here, here, here and here.
Here is some more World Cup coverage from bloggers:
Mike Cardillo is live-blogging the game for Deadspin: "The game is at
2 p.m. ET on ABC, and our man Mike Cardillo of That's On Point
will be live-blogging the game right here at this bat station.
If you like soccer, it'll be as exciting as one could possibly
hope for, and if you don't, well, you don't have to hear about
soccer for a while. It's win-win!"
That's on Point analyzes the Italy and France teams and predicts Italy will win 2-0.
Michel Platini says the final is the only match that matters. He also says he used to love beating Italy.
Did you try to score a goal on Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon yet? With this game you have a much better chance of scoring a goal on Buffon than France does.
Beckham retires as England's captain. At the top of Dayorama it now reads, "The Website Where England Beat Portugal." Meanwhile, in the alternate sports universe that is Dayorama, Ollie plays American Football in the name of journalism.
Lots of glory for Italy predictions: Who Ate All the Bratwurst predicts Italy will defeat France 2-1. The World Cup Soccer Fan Blog has Italy 1-0. World Cup Access also says Italy. Deadspin has Italy winning 2-0. My Soccer Blog says Italy 2-1.
It all depends on your point of view. The Guardian's World Cup Blog explains in a post called "It was the best of cups, it was the worst of cups."
The Sports Blog makes a fairly obvious prediction: Expect a low scoring final they say.
The World Cup Soccerbrawl says no one expected France to be here, even France: "Absolutley no one - particularly the French - believed they would make the final, and they now enter the final game as both the betting and sentimental favorites." They also predict an Italy win.
Rox Populi wonders if we will have to endure commericals on ABC today.
Football365 lists some of their favorite World Cup moments.
Footballspectator explains why they think Brazil failed to win.
The World Cup Final will determine whether or not The Soccer Weblog author believes in ghosts: "There's a lot at stake on Sunday. There's the World Cup final of course, which is fairly important, but we'll also know once and for all whether ghosts exist or not."
Our earlier World Cup coverage, including a list of World Cup blogs, can be found here.
Update: The final goes to Italy who won the game in penalties. The second overtime included a bizarre headbutt attack by France star Zidane that had him sent out of the game. It was a vicious headbutt and a very silly move considering what was at stake. It was Zidane's final game and the final World Cup Game.
110th minute: Elizondo goes over to talk to the line judge. He's reaching for his pocket. And it's RED! Oh my! Zidane is sent off! In what is likely his final match as a professional player, the French legend is sent off disgracefully in overtime of the World Cup final! That was one of the most bizarre plays you're every going to see, and it's made 100 times worse by the timing of it. I'd love to know what Materazzi said to bring that on.
109th minute: WOW! Zidane literally head-butts Materazzi in the chest! But the ref didn't see it! The big Italian defender goes down.
Here is how the New York Times blogger explained it:
110 red ZIDANE IS OFF! RED CARD! BUFFON WENT OVER AND ASKED THE REF TO CHECK WITH HIS LINESMAN! And the linesman said send him off!
109 An Italian is down. The heat and the exhaustion is taking its toll.
Oh my God! Zidane head butted an Italian in the chest! Brutally! And that's the Italian who's down! What was that about? It was Materzzi that Zidane speared! Unbelievable!
109:40 The side official caught Zidane's head butt and he is shown the red card. That is it for his career and it is a horrible way for him to go. The red is justified. He really hit Materazzi.
108:23 Del Piero goes down but is called for holding the ball. Meanwhile, Zidane takes Materazzi with a head butt. Wow, that was not a classy move at all. Materazzi is down in pain. Zidane might get away with this one.
Kodiak points out that Zidane has been red-carded for heatbutts before.
DeadSpin calls it the "Head Head Round the World" and writes, "If only we could all walk out of our careers by headbutting somebody in the chest. Soccer rules." It will be talked about for years to come but the headbutt probably didn't make France soccer fans happy.
Update 2
Zidane's headbutt has made him the top search on Technorati. A clip of the video can be found here, here and here.
Update 3, 7-10-06
Reuters reports that Marco Materazzi apparently called Zinedine Zidane a "dirty terrorist" before the now famous headbutt was delivered.
France captain Zinedine Zidane was apparently called a "dirty terrorist" by Marco Materazzi before he head-butted the Italy defender in Sunday's World Cup final, the anti-racism group SOS Racism said on Monday.
"According to several very well informed sources from the world of football, it would seem that the Italian player Marco Materazzi called Zinedine Zidane a 'dirty terrorist'," SOS Racism said in a statement.
Zidane, the son of Algerian immigrants, was shown a red card after the incident and Italy went on to win on penalties after the match was tied 1-1 following extra time.
Update 7-12-06
Reuters reports that Zidane said in an interview that Materazzi insulted his mother and sister during the game. He apologized to fans and children for the headbutt but not to Materazzi.
"He (Materazzi) pronounced very tough words about my mother and my sister. I tried not to listen to him but he kept repeating them," Zidane said in a live interview on French television channel Canal Plus.
Zidane offered an apology to all children and to all fans for his behavior but he said he did not regret it.
"This was not something to do. I want to make it clear because it was watched by two billion people and by millions of kids," Zidane said.
"I want to apologize to them but I can't regret what I did because it would mean that he (Materazzi) was right to say what he said."
A BBC article says Materazzi denys insulting Zidane's mother.
A Technorati Zidane search now shows over 36,000 English language results and 109,000 all-languages results. BlogPulse says Zidane made it up to No#2 on the most-blogged about people list.
Dayorama is offering daily World Cup coverage. Ollie also started the
DayoRimet after Dayorama fans nagged him by email for World Cup coverage: "On the right hand side of the homepage for the duration of the competition we'll be keeping score between the BBC and ITV coverage -- who'll get more goals? And every day I'll be posting a DayoRimet round-up of worthwhile World Cup tidbits I've found." The BBC is ahead of ITV as of this writing.
ReadersRead.com reports that
Franklin Foer, the Editor of the New Republic and the
author of How Soccer Explains The World, is also blogging about the
World Cup.
Online game: Can you score a goal on Italy's great goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon?
High-Tech Socceroos: How good were the
Socceroos against Brazil? They lost but at least the Socceroos are
tech savvy.
The Simon chooses Soccer in a well-written essay: "Many American sports fans think the World Cup is too boring. But the drama and athletic skill are unparalleled -- and there aren't so many stupid commercials, either."
There is no Naked World Cup. It's a nasty worm trick!
Thai Monks succumb to World Cup hangovers.
Thai Monks aren't the only people staying up late.
World Cup Blog Buzz: BlogPulse finds that the Germany, England, Brazil and Italy teams are generating the most buzz. BlogPulse also says the most cited World Cup sources are Handelsblatt.com, the BBC News and Sports Illustrated.
(via Blogspotting)
LiveScience.com explains why goalies hate the new World Cup soccer ball.
There's a little love for World Cup mascot Goleo.
There are about 600 Goleo posts according to
Tecnorati.
Search Engine Journal explains Google's Soccer Scores plug-in for the Google Desktop.
Some soccer sites may be hazardous to your PC. Sites about the Angolan team are the most likely to contain malware according the to they study. The danger appears to primarily be in screensaver websites.
The 2006 World Cup is here. There are many bloggers discussing the game and rooting for their country's team. Mainstream media sites have also launched blogs dedicated to the World Cup. This post discusses a few items of interest to blogs and the World Cup. It also includes lists of blogs covering the World Cup. Note: when we refer to football in this post we are talking about soccer not American football. Like the name of one blog suggests: Footballs are Round. Footballs will always be round in our World Cup blog coverage and not oblong like in our Super Bowl coverage. Tony Karon at Mother Jones explains just how important this game is worldwide to its three billion viewers.
No global event commands anything close to the attention paid the World Cup on all five continents. As many as 3 billion people are expected to watch some of it on TV, while 250 million more will cluster around radios to follow every play.
World Cup is the top search today on Technorati and one of the top tags. BlogPulse has a graph that shows how the World Cup dominates over other events like the NBA championships and the French Open.
The World Cup got off to a grim start when the manufacturer of the Goleo mascots went bust.
Adidas has made a special golden ball called Teamgeist Berlin for use in the final game. More about the Teamgeist ball can be found here.
Health Risks: The World Cup Blog reports that watching the world cup could kill you. Hearts attacks rose 25% in England when their team was in the finals. (via The Blogging Times)
Boing Boing received a pre-emptive warning not to use soccer videos from a lawfirm. It made Boing Boing angry: "Oh brother. I don't even know what the FIFA World Cup is. I'm guessing it's soccer, which I hate just as much as any other pro sport. Every editor at Boing Boing detests professional sports, and we would sooner stream a video of a crumpled up paper napkin in the corner of a room than show some jackasses running after a ball."
Editor & Publisherreports that the New York Times will be liveblogging the World Cup. They already live blogged the opening ceremony.
Athletes will be allowed to blog at the 
This year's Super Bowl will decide whether the New England Patriots will finish undefeated or not. Lose and their perfect season and Super Bowl dreams go down in flames. Win and they may be considered the greatest team ever. There is no team better to try and take it all away from the Patriots than the New York Giants who have been on a 
A weblog by a surfboard maker 42 Surfboards is showing the construction of surfboards from start to finish using photographs and text. The blog debuted earlier this year according to 
Sports bloggers have been covering the stunning upset the University of Michigan Wolverines suffered at the hands of the Appalachian State Mountaineers. Never before has a Division I-AA team defeated a ranked Division IA team. Some are saying that the upset was so big that Michigan 
A company named 
The Web 2.0 savvy National Basketball Association (NBA) has launched a social network on its website and cut a content deal with YouTube.com. The NBA's social network is called 
The NBA already has about three dozen videos on its 
ESPN has acquired the 
Thankfully not all blogs are about gadgets, technology or celebrity gossip. In the 
The International Herald Tribune (IHT) has an 
AOL is launching a network of sports blogs despite the fact that sports doesn't have any 
Tour de France winner Floyd Landis is using his 
France plays Italy for the World Cup Final today. Billions are watching around the globe. Then its four more years until the next World Cup match.
USA Today's Soccer Sweep has the 
Update: The final goes to Italy who won the game in penalties. The second overtime included a bizarre 
Reuters 