Voting for the first round of “Blog Sports Ohio” tournament wrapped up at midnight last night, and let’s just say I didn’t go to bed excited.
(image via)
After the first day of the contest, it was pretty clear I wasn’t going to be going very far in this “tournament”.
Ya see, in my opinion, I was the only “blogger” in the group. The other finalists seemed like their ultimate goal was to actually be a sports writer, submitting “pieces” that had a very “sports writer” feel to it.
Immediately, I knew I was out. If Fox Sports Ohio had told me that this was a contest that was trying to seek out an undiscovered, aspiring sports journalist, I probably would’ve declined the invitation. As I’ve stated before, I am not a sports writer, nor would I want to be.
I provide my “everyman” commentary on the world of sports on Tribal Pursuit, not professional observations and opinions. 99% of people who enjoy watching sports fall into this category, I just happen to post mine online. I enjoy reading the comments, stirring up discussion, and letting everyone else’s voice start to drive the conversation.
I tried to duplicate my contest entries here, but I was told I was not allowed to do it. So I apologize for the lack of updated content here. Since I’ve been officially eliminated, I’ll be back to posting daily here. I’ll go ahead and post what I put there, including the post they took down because it wasn’t deemed “professional”.
They actually sent me an email warning me of my conduct, basically threatening me with disqualification.
Tribal readers, I am back, and I will not ditch you again. Check back in a little bit, I’ll post the “banished” submission.
Denny @ WFNY
March 24th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Hey Bill –
I, for one, enjoyed what you did over at the FSOhio site. I wasn’t familiar with your work previously, and found what you wrote to certainly be worthwhile. What’s worth noting, to me, is the notion that “sports blogging” is as broad a gamut of a medium as any.
There are plenty of bloggers who write serious, extraordinarily researched pieces that are statistical in nature, or opinion pieces, or amalgamations of quotes from many sources in order to bring forward a point. There are also numerous bloggers who write satire, or humor, or dick jokes.
It’s a bit shortsighted to write off the other guys as bloggers just because their writing is done in a more serious tone. Similarly, it’s silly to write off someone like Brooks, who writes a sports blog that’s more or less about the periphery of the sports world and is essentially a gossip site. There’s a whole spectrum, and some of the best writers can adapt their style to fit the needs of the piece they’re writing (Spencer Hall, Adam Jacobi, Bill Simmons when he’s not blowing the greater New England area, etc.).
Regardless, I’ve thrown you in my Google Reader an I look forward to reading what you’ve got to say.
Cheers.