In fact, the entire sports world is obsessed with the microblogging tool, through which users update their web audience with frequent messages of 140 characters or less. For example college coaches, who can showcase their programs to web-savvy prospects and their parents, are copycatting each other onto Twitter. Pete Carroll, John Calipari, and Charlie Weis -- screen name "NDHFC" -- are among the big names with Twitter pages (somehow, it's hard to imagine Weis' former boss, Bill Belichick, huddled in his hoodie, tweeting away secrets from the film-room).

The tool is scoring for the pro leagues too. All the majors -- the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR -- shoot their followers useful information like scores, schedules, and highlight clips, and inane chatter like this, from the NFL's Twitter page: "Boomer Esiason sighting here at NFL quarters." Whoopee. What's more relevant is that on draft day, the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets both scooped Roger Goodell by announcing their first-round picks on Twitter before the commish called their names from the podium. According to trackingtwitter.com, the NBA, which claims more than 600,000 followers, has a greater Twitter audience than all brand accounts besides Whole Foods and online shoe retailer Zappos. "Our favorite feed," the site said of the NBA, which sits comfortably ahead of Starbucks in the Twitter top 25. "Great mix of content."

"I've always loved sports. I used to be on a track team in school. And that's probably why I can think to myself now, Yeah, I can do this, which is totally crazy! The team was a big part of my life back then and taught me so many things. When I look back on my life and what I'm able to do, it's partly because of that early training. It taught me discipline, how to be committed, about striving to win, stamina, all that good stuff.

"The sports training also helped me deal with losing and rejection and all the things you go through when starting out in show business. I think that's why I was able to bounce back all the time. With track, I didn't let anything get to me. I would just think, Whatever, tomorrow's the next race, and I'm going to train harder and win next week. And I won maybe 70 or 80 medals and trophies over those years. I should dig those out!

"Now I've come full circle. I don't expect to win this race; my goal is to finish. I'll probably end up crawling across the finish line, but I'll do it!"

Rings is dedicated to the full range of topics surrounding the summer Games in Beijing, from the competition itself to the social, political and economic issues attached to them. Rings brings together analysis and perspectives from sports, foreign and business reporters at The New York Times and in its bureaus around the world.

"We expect the Rings blog, which draws on The Times's talent and resources across all departments, to become a must read for those interested in all aspects of the Beijing Games," said Sandy Keenan, deputy sports editor, The New York Times. "The blog will serve as an engaging platform for continuous sports and news coverage during the Games."

The Games in Beijing are already generating worldwide attention, and Times journalists have begun to post about issues such as the controversy surrounding the torch relay, the intricacies of the Olympic trials in the United States and discussions of Web censorship by China's government.

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.

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."

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.

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.

"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 games were Twittered by @redsoxcast. Some Twitter Red Sox victory tweets can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.



Posted on October 29, 2007
Permalink | | | Comments (View)

"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."

"The Cards didn't get this kind of pitching in Missouri. If they can pitch like this and keep hitting like they do, whoa."

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.

"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."

1. Athletics Nation
2. Baseball Musings
3. MetsBlog
4. Bleed Cubbie Blue
5. Viva El Birdos
6. USS Mariner
7. Lookout Landing
8. Minor League Ball
9. MLB Trade Rumors
10. Baseball Analysts

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

"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.

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.

"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."

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.

"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."

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."

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Here's how Soccer Sweep covered it.

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!

And from the World Cup Blog:

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.

Posted on July 9, 2006
Permalink | | | Comments (View)

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.

"Four years ago we did a very small blog about the World Cup and attracted attention from all over the world. This time we wanted to take things to the next level and to cover every aspect of this global event from a perspective that you rarely find in mainstream media: the fan perspective. The response thus far has been amazing and we expect things to explode as the start of the tournament nears in June," said Sean Keener, President and Co-Founder of BootsnAll.

Foley says that Todd knows the name. Todd says he is trying to let Foley get all the glory. Todd says the choices were "Foley's Hardcore Diary" which Foley liked but no one else liked. Todd says they chose "Foley is Blog." Foley says it's a rib on him because he hates the word "blog." He refuses to call it a blog, instead calling it a web log. He said he had two conditions. He said he would do one in Afghanistan on a one time basis, but he ended up doing three. They were pretty lengthy pieces and he wrote for 6-7 hours on the way back from there. He was really into writing, but there would be long stretches of time when he wouldn't write anything. So this kind of forces him to do something every week and it would be something he would enjoy and hopefully fans will enjoy. So he refuses to call it a blog and if they wanted to put up his column, they would have to decipher it from his handwriting. He fed-exed them 16 pages about Stacy and said "good luck with it."

"What I found is that blogs work really well in hyper-partisan environments," he tells Times Online. "There are three areas of life that are hyper-partisan: there's politics, obviously, religion, and then there's sports."

So runs the sales pitch for SB Nation, Mr Zuniga's planned network of 200 sports blogs. If the business plans come to fruition – and Mr Zuniga succeeds in raising the $1 million in angel funding he requires – by 2007, it will cover every team in every major league in the US. Then, after hooking into America's hugely popular college sides on the way, it will tackle international football – "soccer, that is".

The policy wonk turned sports pundit is banking on one central principal. He argues that a sense of dislocation from the mainstream media has fuelled the explosion of left-leaning blogs - including the Daily Kos - in America during George W Bush's tenure at the White House. He says that sentiment is mirrored by the frustration of smaller-team fans when the media giants skip their results.

The Japanese Olympic Committee is telling athletes competing at the Turin Winter Olympic Games not to open web logs because the Olympic Charter bans athletes' journalist activities when the games are on, and violators will be disqualified.

After Kentaro Minagawa (Albirex Niigata) finished fourth in the Men's World Cup Slalom in Wengen, Switzerland, on Jan. 15, he updated his blog the next day.

He wrote: "This evening, I am relaxing as yesterday's event is finished. I want to win, too. I want to slide down faster than anybody else."

Shin Taira, head of the JOC's business publicity department, said, "We are in trouble because there is no clear-cut standard to judge to what extent journalist activities are allowed, but diaries and detailed reports are no good during the Olympics period."

Athletes may be the center of attention at the Olympic Games, but don't expect to hear directly from them online — or see snapshots or video they've taken.

The International Olympic Committee is barring competitors, as well as coaches, support personnel and other officials, from writing firsthand accounts for news and other Web sites.

An exception is if an athlete has a personal Web site that they did not set up specifically for the Games.

The IOC's rationale for the restrictions is that athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists — and that the interests of broadcast rightsholders and accredited media come first.

Kobe Bryant's 81-point performance the other night against Toronto was certainly incredible, but it is unfair to try and compare what Kobe did to what Michael Jordan did in his playing career or what he could have done for that matter.

In the era when Michael played, it was a physical game. Defense was promoted. Guys took pride in it. Today defense is no longer a part of the game. Guys are driving to the basket. There are rules where you can't step in front of them. To me, it is taking away from the game seeing a guy like Tony Parker taking advantage of the rules. He is shooting 55 percent from the field. That says something about the game itself. In the history of the NBA, I'm sure a point guard has never led the league in field goal percentage. It's a different game now. It's really not about being tough and physical because the NBA isn't a physical game anymore. When you talk about how the Knicks and Bulls used to battle in the early '90s, the Oakleys, and Pat Ewings, the Masons, and how they would have the ability to use their hands to put you in a trap position. There is no way you can even triple team a guy now and stop him. Any contact is a foul. I can't compare the two players because I see it as two different games. If I'm guarding Kobe Bryant in today's game, I couldn't be the defender I was known as.

The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback is writing a journal online as he rehabilitates his damaged left knee in Southern California.

In his most recent entry, Palmer discussed his injury, thanked fans for their support, encouraged the club to re-sign free-agent quarterback Jon Kitna and said he'll be ready to take the first snap of the 2006 regular season.

He also asked fans to "keep the postings coming, as I really enjoy reading them during my downtime back here in Cali."

How can I trust blogs when the reporters and authors are faceless? Who ensures that the information was received in an ethical and proper manner? What agency is accountable to ensure that the information published is correct? The answer is simple: not a soul.

And who has time to read 146 blogs about Duke basketball? I barely have enough time in the day to browse the articles on ECU sports. Unless the faculty went on a year-long strike, I would never have time to read 50 journal entries by random fans claiming themselves as so-called experts. Or even for that matter, 50 so-called reporters blogging themselves as experts.

I agree that print journalism is on the ropes. I do realize that is who pays my bills (still not enough). Nevertheless, it's a simple mathematical equation. The internet has now scooped radio as the fastest medium for people to consume their information. And radio, because of its inaccessibility and diluted choices can't compete with the internet.

But are blogs truly the answer of the next decade? The media has survived for years without them. Saturating the net with journal entries wasn't exactly what I envisioned when I signed up for this journalism gig. And if this trend continues, I cringe to hear what will come next, even if it is five years too late.

God knows you get enough of me four times a week in the newspaper, but this is a chance for me to get a few more things off my chest and for you to do with them what you will. It doesn't cost you a dime and I don't get paid for it -- isn't this a great world!

My only trepidation is that, unlike writing a column, blogging doesn't always take a whole lot of deep thought. Its beauty is in its immediacy. I can spend hours and hours formulating an opinion for the newspaper that is so wrong it should be outlawed in 37 states, but at least I spent some time with it. So this blog comes with a warning: I just might change my mind at times.

"Wake Up, Stupid" primarily is a sports discussion, but there will be times when I'll branch out into other topics. As much as we want sports to be an escape, it has this nasty habit of pulling us back into the real world.

I can't believe that the Olympic Trials are over. This is not the result I was wanting, but I can walk away knowing I gave it all that I could; I have no regrets.

Editor's note: Bridie finished tied for 11th with 4 points; the top five skaters were eligible to make the team.

Sports blogs are one of the strongest niches in the blogosphere and have received a great deal of publicity and notice from the mainstream media. Sports bloggers deserve some respect and gratification for the work they do, and that's what I hope this will accomplish.

Hef is a really good guy. We watched the fight together the other night. I think he's a really special guy - he's the greatest guy ever. He doesn't have his nose up in the air like every other rich guy ... he's down to earth. He eats pizza just like all of us. We go to McDonald's all the time. He's a regular guy.

NBC News announced Thursday that it is launching a "Blogging Baghdad" platform Dec. 5 that will expand its coverage of the situation in Iraq. Available on MSNBC.com, "Blogging Baghdad" will feature additional reporting from the network's team of correspondents led by Richard Engel, video clips and video blogs from members of the network's Baghdad bureau.

Where along the way did they discover these habits? Like putting their left side equipment on first or not shaving or showering. I would not be surprised if it went even beyond that. I guarantee they're dragging their wives into this whole thing too. I'm going to ask them the next time I see them!!!

Look at me I'm slowly turning into a reporter! LOL

But the oddest choice among the league's official bloggers is actress Elisha Cuthbert of 24 and The Girl Next Door. Ok, she's Canadian (has the NHL made it a mission to find every Canadian ex-pat living in Hollywood?) and she's easy on the eyes, but come on.

Then again if they gave her a video blog...

Using the blogosphere as their minor league, Moulitsas, the CEO, and Tyler Bleszinski, the president, recruited an eclectic collection of sports bloggers in the fall of 2004 and offered each a revenue-sharing contract, better blog software and a system for getting ads for their blogs. Eventually, the duo hope to have blogs covering every sport, from NASCAR to professional hockey.

My verdict: MSN Spaces is very well done. It makes it easy to create a simple, attractive blog with text, links and photos, and to customize the blog in interesting ways.

The blogs Microsoft allows you to create in Spaces can be very attractive, but, in my judgment, the system doesn't allow as much customization or tweaking as Blogger does. Still, Spaces offers all the basics.

1. Athletics Nation
2. Baseball Musings
3. MetsBlog
4. Bleed Cubbie Blue
5. Viva El Birdos
6. USS Mariner
7. Lookout Landing
8. Minor League Ball
9. MLB Trade Rumors
10. Baseball Analysts