NL Beast

Just finished watching this show and it is a must-see.

The sports blogosphere has been buzzing all week about Buzz Bissinger’s comments on the blogosphere, in which he basically attacked Deadspin’s Wil Leitch. I’m not going to talk about the controversy over Bissinger’s comments because it’s just not worth commenting on, he made an ass out of himself.

What I will say is this. The blogosphere is a great advancement in sports and life in general, but it should not stand alone. Just like every other medium out there, it is best when augmented with other types of media. But I think all in all, the blogosphere has done great things for sports, bringing the average Joe into the equation. Too often on the show, it seemed like the sports establishment was simply jealous that “average” people can sit in their underwear and either call in to sports talk radio or blog. Technology simply levels the playing field, and the fact that athletes like Gilbert Arenas and Phil Hughes have popular blogs of their own should say something. What pissed me off is the generalization that bloggers are much less knowledgable than beat writers or columnists. The fact that I had to hear this from Chris Russo of all people really got me angry, because the amount of absurdity that comes out of Mad Dog’s mouth is laughable. Sure, the “establishment” often has more experience than bloggers, but why should that disqualify us? Like I said, these different media augment each other.

Still, for all my ranting, very insightful stuff and I recommend it to every sports fan.

-Jonathan Kraft