Category Archives: Blogging

10th anniversary of blogging

Posted on by

“We are approaching a decade since the first blogger — regarded by many to be Jorn Barger — began his business of hunting and gathering links to items that tickled his fancy, to which he appended some of his own commentary. On Dec. 23, 1997, on his site, Robot Wisdom, Mr. Barger wrote: “I decided to start my own webpage logging the best stuff I find as I surf, on a daily basis,” and the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as the primordial root of the word “weblog.”

[WSJ Online Thanks, Henry]

Blurring the lines between fan and sportswriter

Posted on by

Thanks to Edward for pointing to this story on the Kansas City Star website about sports blogging:

Meet the new American sports fan — an Internet-induced mix of sportswriter, play-by-play announcer, talking head and regular guy. His name is Will McDonald and, from his one-bedroom apartment in Cleveland, the University of Iowa doctoral student, painstakingly records, on his blog, the comings and goings of each Kansas City Royals game.

For the sports world — the fans, the players, the leagues and the teams — the rise of the blogger has raised complicated questions about broadcasting rights, how to reach an audience, and where the sports fan stops and the journalist begins.

The lines have blurred so much, in fact, that the New York Islanders plan to give bloggers their own box next season. So much that the NCAA escorted a reporter out of the press box two weeks ago for blogging a live baseball game. So blurred that sports teams are holding meetings about how to handle the rise of the blogger, and no one seems to know what comes next.

I could be wrong, but I think the Islanders are on the right track.

Self-portrait

Posted on by

Self-portraitDeLoss asks: “Whatever happened to that picture of you staring at a monitor? The background was dark and you were quite close to the screen, as if trying to detect something. I always thought that was a good shot for your
blog.”

Me too. When I started blogging, I thought I should include a photo but didn’t want to look like more of a dumb-ass than necessary. So I sat my camera (on timer) on a stack of books, turned off the lights and came up with this. Still pretty much how I see myself.

Not for sale

Posted on by

I received the following email today:

"I can pay you $35 for a text ad on your (website). The ad –for a free personals web site– would consist of a couple of lines of text with links to the web site. I can pay via PayPal, or send you a check. Would you be interested?"

The post on which he wanted to place an ad was about the anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The only possible connection I could see was "lonely hearts" and "personals" but that’s a reach.

I thanked him for his interest but turned down the $35. But it got me thinking. Would I have taken $350? No. $3,500? I know it’s ridiculous, but I don’t think I would. This space just ain’t for sale.

Blogger removed from NCAA baseball game for blogging

Posted on by

A blogger from the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky., was expelled from a college playoff game for live-blogging.

According to the Courier-Journal, staff blogger Brian Bennett was approached by NCAA officials in the fifth inning of a game between the University of Lousville and Oklahoma State, told that blogging “from an NCAA championship event ‘is against NCAA policies (and) we’re revoking the (press) credential and need to ask you to leave the stadium.'”

This hits close to home. The company I work for is one of half a dozen big players in collegiate sports marketing. We pay millions for exclusive broadcast and marketing rights for the sporting events at our partner schools. Does that extend to a reporter blogging int he stands? Does it extend to a fan blogging in the stands? I think our “company position” would be that it does. If and when it comes up, I think we have to handle it correctly but I’m not sure just that would be.