Three posts to make you think:
First, MCBias made a guest appearance at The Starting Five about 2 weeks ago with an excellent post about how “hating” seems to be more popular than reasoned critical analysis in sports media and blogging.
The HCIC of Leave the Man Alone made a very interesting point about the perceived lack of African-American and other minorities in sports blogging.
Finally, Linda Sharp at Don’t Get Me Started posted about how she dealt with a recent case of how comments at her blog descended into name-calling, insults and personal attacks.
All three posts are fine examples of good writing and better yet, topics of interest that can inspire conversation and debate. Often, though when the subject is race or hot topics of the day, the discussion can get heated, and the hate is often brought out in the comments. I spoke a little about this some time ago, and especially reading some of the comments at DGMS, found the same type of situation I discussed in that post. Come on, folks, it’s time to get civilized! There is no need to put others down if their opinion is different than yours. Just agree to disagree and move on.
The piece at Leave The Man Alone, speaks to me on a different level. As an African-American (or black if you prefer), I started this blog as an opportunity to write, not necessarily with sports in mind. I have liked to write since my school days and I haven’t had much opportunity to do so. I also have multiple interests that I like to comment on, so that’s why this blog is not sports-centric. That, and the fact that many things bounce around in my noggin at any given moment, hence the name of the blog. I am also of the mind that of the many sportsblogs that I look at, there are probably hundreds, nay thousands more out there that could probably do a better job at that type of writing than me.
Which brings me to MCBias’s post. He has commented on my earlier piece and I find that he is on point with his. It seems that there is indeed a recipe for sports blog popularity and he hit the nail on the head with it. Whereas good sports analysis, like that found at TSF, doesn’t seem to be quite as popular, although I enjoy it more. Don’t get me wrong, The Big Lead, Deadspin and others of that ilk have their place and I enjoy reading them. It’s not something that I want to pursue, and hopefully my writing will not devolve into mere snarkiness. There is a time and place for that, just not for me at this time or on most topics.
Big ups to all three bloggers for good writing. I will keep reading you all.
I have not read Linda Sharp before, but if she’s in the same conversation with MCBias and HCIC, I’m going to start.