Tuesday, October 21, 2008

LA Ball Talk's Top Team Blog Contest

If you didn't know, LA Ball Talk is hosting a Top Team Blog Contest right now. Basically -- from my understanding -- it's a "there can only be one" / Highlander style vote where each of the 30 teams will end up with ONE blog that stands above all. Actually, here's the text from the top of the page that explains it a whole lot better:

The following are the sites that are trying their hand at being named the Top Blog for the team that they cover on a daily basis. Passion, pride, commitment and knowledge of the game are key to a successful sports blog, and every one of these blogs has these characteristics.

Take a look into each of these sites and admire how much work everyone puts into their blogs. Leave these bloggers some comments and help them grow their site in order to bring you the best that they possibly can.

The voting polls will be up and running tomorrow, most likely, and will give all the fans a chance to vote for their favorite blog for each NBA team.  (LA Ball Talk, 2008, from their own blog)

How many can there be? Only one . . . ?

Anyway, some teams have more participating blogs than others:

  • The LA Lakers have 7 blogs (!)
  • The LA Clippers have 2 (even more amusing than the 7 Lakers blogs)
  • I'm pretty sure the 5 Utah Jazz blogs could take the Houston blogs out in the 1st round, then cream the Golden State blogs in the 2nd. (sorry, 2006-2007 playoffs flashback) Nah, both fanbases have really strong followings and entertaining blogs (specifically the Dream Shake and Golden State of Mind)
  • The Charlotte New Orleans Hornets have a whopping 8 blogs, one for every non-bandwagon Hornets fan in human history
  • Some blogs have no other competition, like Indy Corn Rows's dominion over all things Pacers related
  • The New York Knicks have 6 blogs, one for every "point guard" on their roster

Anyway, there are more than 5 Utah Jazz blogs, so I am honored to be selected/nominated or whatever. Alas, I'm one of the newest ones, and I do not have a large following. This hurts me in this competition, as well as the fact that I don't blog everyday. I'm not going to be able to 'out scoop' the other Jazz blogs when it comes to news either. And that's fine. Those blogs are really good for what they do, so I've had to carve out a niche doing something else -- like writing posts with very large word counts.

I don't even look at this as a competition at all, just a chance to get more inter-team blog flow, and to present the Jazz blogging unit (all of us, not just any one particular blog) as the best NBA Team Blogging fans there are!

Seriously? Our Top 5 blogs are better than any other Top 5 team blogs out there.

  1.  SLC Dunk is solid and dependable -- it starts things off, and is there to finish the game when things are tight like Deron Williams. Everyone likes SLC Dunk.
  2. True Blue Jazz, formerly My Utah Jazz, is slightly unpredictable, often controversial, but puts up big numbers and has won the notice of these online blog wars before . . . like how Carlos Boozer is a beast that has been recognized as an All-Star more than once.
  3. The Cowhide Globe is not a blog name that rolls off the tongue for some people who are not familiar with our team, but is capable of posting clutch articles that make a big difference, like Mehmet Okur
  4. UtahJazzBlog.net has long been in the game (2006! wow!), though has not been keeping up with the rest of the starting five of late. Some may argue that The Utah Jazz should be in this starting five even! In this case, UtahJazzBlog.net appears to be the Derek Fisher to The Utah Jazz' Ronnie Brewer (circa 2006-2007).
  5. Last we have All That Jazz, a versatile blog that doesn't get many touches (hits), and wants to play with a spark (write well) but is riddled with translation problems (occasional type-o's) and xenophobia (a Jazz blog written by a Canadian guy living in Detroit). Yes, this is the AK-47 of blogs as I do a little bit of everything, occasionally do something awesome, but over-all am a shadow of my former self. (Back in the early 2000's before Blogs I was really active in writing basketball posts on message boards)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a word of encouragement to keep doin you. ATJ is the best Jazz blog out there cuz you write well, give great insight with real stats/facts to back em up and you keep a sense of humour.

The fact that I'm Canadian too has nothing to do with it ;-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the mention there.
I've got to say... I really love your posts... long word counts and all. :)