The two blogs I chose to compare were two popular independent, popular sports sites; The Big Lead and Free Darko. Both blogs are maintained by a team of writers who rarely, if ever, chose to reveal their actual identities, instead relying on catchy tags like The Sports Assassin and McSweeney. They both keep the reader updated on the news in sports, yet their in coverage, writing style and maintenance they are radically different.
The Big Lead is predominately a sports website, but it also incorporates elements of popular culture such as music, movies and politics into its postings as well. The blog is run by a group of three people who have never revealed their actual names, just referring to themselves as the “TBL” crew and mentioning that they run the site from New York City.
Like many blogs today, the stories are written in a very sardonic tone, often making fun of athletes and entertainers after reporting the news about them. The vast majority of the postings are simply to disseminate the breaking sports news of the day. However, for no apparent reason with relation to sports, the site will often add a post simply to put up a picture of an attractive woman in a bikini or lingerie with the caption “Eye Candy” underneath them. This is done obviously to appeal to the site’s main demographic: young males. For example, on February 3rd, the site has a picture of Mandy Moore in a skimpy dress with the caption “Here’s Mandy Moore looking attractive on New Year’s Eve. I thought it would class it up a bit today.”
Free Darko on the other hand, approaches sports reporting and journalism in a very different manner. The site is predominately run by a man who calls himself Bethlehem Longform Shoals and only covers the NBA. Essentially, instead of recapping the day’s events, Shoals or another writer will post very long essays commenting on certain aspects of the sport, whether it is the hip-hop culture of the sport, playing style of a certain player, team chemistry and many other topics. Unlike many other sports blogs, Free Darko shuns sarcasm and instead adopts an early Sports Illustrated type prose. The prose-like style is evident in every single post, as evidenced by a Jan 1st post entitled “FD Guest Lecture: The Death of Superman.” This posting concerned Shaquille O’Neal’s decline, but instead of presenting statistics they go for a much more eloquent approach:
“I don't know if it's fate or laziness that paints me into this corner every late December. But it seems like all I can manage is abject introspection. If I recall correctly, a few years back I offered to renounce basketball in the name of Clinton Portis' costumes. This time, I've been flung into a tailspin by the recent debate over change/authenticity/defiance/basketball.
The way I see it, there are two kinds of revolution: The kind people get from too much art or music, and what keeps others able to believe in social change. Granted, that's an over-simplification, but both are relevant to how I see sports (is it "sport"?). I don't know why readers get surprised when this site smacks of aesthetic criticism, or seems all too eager to lapse into fickle elitism. Duh, that's alien to sports; it's what myself and most of the other FD'ers cut our coming-of-age teeth on, and it's pretty consistent with the credo of liberated fandom. Yes, I want to believe, but I also reserve to right to cash in my ennui. It's bitchy, but it's also the sign of elevated, perhaps foolhardy, standards.”
While both sites provide insight and information into sports, the style of the two blogs is so drastically different that many readers will be turned off by both. Granted, most readers would most likely reject the elitist air of Free Darko, but the Big Lead’s facetiousness and occasional condescension can have the same effect. I personally prefer the Big Lead since it is more news oriented, however, both sites offer much to like.
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