They are, in no specific order, Awful Announcing, The Big Lead, Neil Best's WatchDog, Sports Media Journal, The Hook and Lateral, and The Orange Blaze. OK, the last one has nothing to do with the 'Cuse (oh how I hate that abbreviated name), but is my daughter's first crack at blogging book reviews). At the end, Eye on Sports Media will explain what makes us different.
Awful Announcing
Started in 2006, this site pulls no punches when critiquing the on-air performance of play-by-play announcers and color analysts. I think they are too hard on Pam Ward, but they never had the privelege of spending 3.5 hours with her on a sideline in a driving rain with no umbrella (not allowed per stadium policy). To each their own. This is a site that can make you just plain old laugh out loud. website | rss feedThe Big Lead
As they say on their site:"The Big Lead is an independent sports blog. We will provide breaking sports news and analysis on a daily basis, as well as critique the sports media. In addition, we will periodically interview members of the sports media. The Big Lead consists ofthreetwo 20-something friends, one of whom was previously a sportswriter. We will post anywhere between 8-12 times on weekdays, and sporadically on weekends."
I do find it disconcerting that as an independent blog, they have a huge ad from the NFL Network urging people to contact the FCC. This kind of skews the notion of independence. Even so, it is a great source of information. They do have a great footnote in that Colin Cowherd called for and instigated a denial-of service attack on their site earlier this year. Cowherd did not get punished because ESPN radio did not have a policy covering such behaviour. But they do now! website | rss feed
Neil Best's Watchdog
You have to love New Yorker's, especially if they work for Newsday. He calls it as he sees it and tells it like it is. Gosh, it is one of those things that makes Eye on Sports Media homesick for New York and the cold Northeast. Neil has excellent material on this site, as well as insights he is able to obtain that others cannot. website | rss feedSports Media Journal
Similar to Eye on Sports Media in some ways, different in others. This site interviews people from the media and have posted their first podcast with Newsday's Neil Best. website | rss feedThe Hook and Lateral
These guys are great. They write a lot about football and do so in an enjoyable way. Of course Eye on Sports Media is a little biased as they let us reprint one of their posts when this site was in its infancy less than a month ago. website | rss feedThe Orange Blaze
Yes, this is the shameless plug for my daughter's new blog focusing on book reviews for young readers like herself. This is her first attempt at something like this, so please be kind and considerate. website | rss feedSo what makes Eye on Sports Media different?
For starters, we go beyond the headlines to give you background information on the people we write about. When we wrote about Tom Hammond filling in for Bryant Gumbel on the NFL Network this week, we are the only site that also provided you with a profile of Hammond with the story.
Every day we are adding to this information, including profiles of executives and production staff. Nobody else is doing that.
Eye on Sports Media is also different in that it is the only site published by someone who has worked in the TV and radio production side of the business for over 25 years. No, not as a producer or director, but in positions that give the perspective on how demanding and difficult it can be to broadcast live events. So in some cases, we may be more forgiving, but we will still crtique and criticize when the need arises.
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