By now everybody’s heard. ESPN denied the Steve Phillips banging a chick on the side story when Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio called to inquire. Then the story turned out to be true so Daulerio called to ask ESPN about a few other rumors and by “called” I mean he posted them on Deadspin. Caught in the collateral damage were Erik “I’m a lawyer” Kuselias and Katie “Who am I and who gives a damn?” Lacey..

The Tubes nearly exploded-

The Deadspin Backlash [SB Nation]

AJ Daulerio Is An Asshole [MGoBlog]

Deadspin Embarrasses Itself With ESPN Posts [The Sporting Blog]

Phillies Return to World Series, Robots Taking Over Press Box & What ESPN Axe is Daulerio Grinding at Deadspin? [On The DL]

- but not everybody was putting Deadspin down or sticking up for ESPN.

DEADSPIN IS DOING THE LORD’S WORK [With Leather]

The outrage seems to go in one of two directions. They’re pissed because they feel A.J. and Deadspin crossed a line by delving into the personal lives of ESPN employees, or because those posts will make all sports bloggers look bad. I agree to an extent with the first take but not at all with the second.

I caught Daulerio on IM Thursday to get his thoughts on the kick in the balls he gave to ESPN.

HG: IMO… i thought you guys were trying to pull them in
not quite a publicity stunt
but definitely an act designed to raise awareness

Daulerio: I guess you could see it that way, sure. Did I lash out a little bit and create a spectacle? Yeah. Do I think there’s a larger issue here that’s being overlooked in the arbitrary nature of their policy? I think that’s in play as well.

HG: What was your intent, Nick’s (Denton) too if any?

Daulerio: Cause chaos, make news, create talking points. But that’s not Nick’s. In fact, I think he gets a little spooked by how I handle things sometimes. Probably not, though.

HG: What talking points were you hoping to create? You expect a lawsuit?

Daulerio: I think there are media ethics issues here — what’s the give-and-take between PR rep and reporter/writer/blogger and what happens when they steer you off a story due to some technicality even though there’s a long-standing history of transparency between the two parties. And how flimsy this whole “code of conduct” policy at ESPN actually is.
And, no, I don’t expect a lawsuit. I never expect a lawsuit.

ESPN issued a statement late Thursday:

A.J. says he lashed out, I call it overreacting. Posting the info only because ESPN dogged him on a story makes AJ and Deadspin seem petty. I’m not saying everybody would’ve been on board- because some people just don’t like to hear about guys cheating on their wives, women sleeping their way to the top, and the traveling crews flying in road beef- but more people would’ve been receptive to the posts if they had been rolled out normally instead of vindictively.

As far as making all sports bloggers look bad.. In the same way The Enquirer makes all print media look bad. It doesn’t. What we write and how we handle topics on our sites is what makes us look good or bad. I’m not hinging my credibility on the rest of the blogosphere. If somebody lumps all sports blogs together because of the actions of one sports blog, they’re an idiot. Why would I be mad at Plaschke over something Simers wrote? And if you think this is the worst thing Deadspin has done to damage the image of sports bloggers, you must not remember Waxing Off..

BetEd sign up bonus

If H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger, the author of several books including Friday Night Lights, intended to be the voice of reason in the ever growing sports writing field, he failed miserably. If his plan was to embarrass himself, his family, and his friends, job well done sir!

For those that don’t know what’s going on, Bob Costas put together a Town Hall Meeting to discuss the landscape of sports and rise of bloggers and sports talk radio. As you can see Buzz Bissinger had a lot to spew on the topic and Braylon Edwards had nothing to say. DeadSpin’s Will Leitch handled himself well at ground zero, because he easily could’ve done like Bobby Brown at the :50 mark.

What I could take from Bissinger’s rant is that he doesn’t know the difference between a post and a comment, and he was playing to the crowd by repeatedly messing up Big Daddy Drew’s name when Will had clearly corrected him.

BB: Is this guy’s name Balls Deep or Big Daddy Drew Balls?

WL: Big Daddy Drew. It’s Big Daddy Drew.

BB: Ok so Balls Deep.

Hmmm..

Buzz’s disdain for bloggers hinges on cruelty, speed, and journalistic dishonesty. I’ll give him the speed aspect. One of the things I’m most guilty of is rushing a post in order to have something first.. It doesn’t lead to lies or dishonesty, just some shoddy writing. But speed has also led to bloggers breaking news.

Nobody’s perfect.

Buzz thinks bloggers are mean and he’s right to a degree. Some blogs or bloggers can have a cruel slant to their writing, but not all. It’s just like the MSM, some guys are pricks and some aren’t. Outside of the coarseness of the language, I don’t think sports bloggers are any more cruel than their mainstream counterparts. Ask Barry Bonds, Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb, and now Roger Clemens if they’ve received more hate from blogs or the mainstream media. Coaches were being run out of town long before Firesoandso.com came along, and calling guys names isn’t new either.

‘The bloggers made me do it.’

Being the author of Shattered Glass gives Buzz Bissinger the right to speak on journalistic dishonesty, even if he has a selective memory. I wish HGBB was more clear as to which blogs are being dishonest. In my experience the sports blogosphere, Blogfrica, will police itself. I can’t imagine, and I’ve never heard of, a sports blogger writing fake posts and trying to pass them off as real. The community would call bullshit and the writer’s credibility would be ruined. What I have heard of are mainstream writers like Stephen Glass or Jason Blair, writing for major publications and making huge mistakes. These are people that have journalistic credentials. They would meet Bissinger’s journalistic standards. Buzz, IM (instant message) me when a sports blogger writes blatantly false material on the level of Christopher Newton.

The old timers that are lashing out against bloggers are doing so because they’re out of touch and afraid of change. Let’s take a look at it from their side. They’ve been dedicated to doing sports in one way for 20 or more years, and now they have to sit by helplessly as their forum starts to dwindle. Newspaper circulation is down. Newspaper employment opportunities are down. That hurts. So while their world is shrinking, they’re watching a new, lawless form of sports media emerge. Instead of embracing the change they’re trying to fight it, but they’ll soon learn that you can’t ride a horse and buggy on the information super highway.

Bob Costas Town Hall Meeting. Courtesy of Awful Announcing

**If you’re a believer in astrology and junk like that, check this out.. Buzz Bissinger is “H.G.” Bissinger.. I’m H.G. Buzz was born Nov 1, 1954. I was born Nov 1, 1971. He hates blogs, I have a blog. Do-do-do-do, do-do-do-do.

Buzz Bissinger, Will Leitch, video, youtube

I’ve been busy to say the least so I haven’t been running a lot of my normal features. There’s been no Headphones On In The Locker Room, and no luv from me in the form of Bloggas Be Typin.. So here’s my apology, the mother of all BBTs.

The Starting Five:
A must read interview with Rob Parker, and a look at some double standards in Major League Baseball.

Signal To Noise:
The Mansnitch got ratted out by Brian Billick. Plus, a shout out to the WNBA champions..Ahh that’s sweet.

Ball Hype:
A man’s dream… A bunch of female sports bloggers in one place. I don’t know a sexy way to say this one, just more incredible NBA stat breakdowns.

Larry Brown Sports:
LB is all over LT acting like a B-A-B-Y, and Avery Johnson calling out “Lil D” in Big D.

DeadSpin:
Thank God for Isiah Thomas’ sexual harrasment trial. Does Steve Phillips get paid for his opinions?

Epic Carnival:
Hot chicks and all things MMA. Reggie Bush vs. Lendale White..Right now White’s winning.

The Big Lead:
ESPN replaces Byron Leftwich with O.J. Simpson. Elijah Dukes is in the news and it’s not all bad.

With Leather:
Shawne Merriman hanging out with porn stars? Polo on Segways= Watch this video.

The Big Picture:
A conversation between Byron Leftwich and Joey Harrington.

Mr. Irrelevant:
An Eagles’ fan Monday night pain.

Edge of Sports:
Nixon, Belichick, and cheating.

We Are The Postmen:
Taco Bell hopes nachos can ease Charlie Weis’ pain.

The guys over at Five Tool Tool dropped their Top 10 Tips For Sports Blog Traffic a few days ago. I wanted to talk about a few of the things they’ve mentioned and add a couple of thoughts. Here’s a review of the FTT list:

1. Ass Kissing
2. Current Events
3. Whore Yourself
4. Whore Others
5. Whore Strangers
6. Tech Fun
7. Cheap Heat
8. Keywords
9. Gambling
10. Lists!

My list looks like this:

1. Good Material: It doesn’t guarantee traffic, but you have to have something interesting for the masses if they find you. How many boring blogs have you stumbled upon and then bookmarked? Exactly. It doesn’t matter if your post are breaking news, spins on mainstream stories, youtube clips, faux interviews, real interviews, something original, or a crazy story, you want to have something that can keep people’s attention.

2. Ass Kissing/Get Links: If you’ve crafted a masterpiece or you got a story/angle nobody’s going with, you gotta get the word out. The biggest sneezers in the sports blogosphere are DeadSpin, The Big Lead, and With Leather. If one of those sites picks up your story, you’re looking at a good day numbers wise. On the mainstream side of the tracks, your traffic’s gonna boom if you get picked up on SI’s Hot Clicks or The 10 Spot Blog… You’re fooling yourself if you think any of  those folks have time to sit and read through every blog, so your gonna have to point them in the right direction.

3. Be Social: The number one stop for a sports blog trying to get a rep is Ball Hype. It’s the easiest way to connect with other bloggers, and you can check out what everybody else is doing. In a nutshell it’s Digg for sports… Other bloggers see your stories on Ball Hype and they hype ’em up or down. On a good day, a number of sites will link to your story because they saw it on Ball Hype.

Don’t limit yourself to BH and Digg.. Go do some searching around and find which social site works for you. Blog Carnival is another site that can get you some new traffic, but I can’t explain how it works even though I know how it works… It’s just one of those things. All I can say is find a carnival, hop on, and enjoy the ride.

4. Spread Love: Traffic is the ultimate goal, but you have to remember you got brothas and sistas in the struggle for numbers. You see a story you like, link to it, or you can have the increasingly popular ”link dump”. The ”dumps” are a collection of stories from around the blogosphere. I have Bloggas Be Typin but you can check out Cheap Shots or Spanning The Blog as other examples. When you’ve linked to others, it encourages them to link to you. You can call it karma, I call it the Blogger Way.

 Deadspin’s “Blogdome“ is the most popular link dump, even if it’s been getting some neg(ative) press lately. Earlier this week Stop Mike Lupica wondered who’s leg do you have to hump to get a link on Deadspin, and got a few people aggy.. I definitely see certain blogs linked more often than the rest, but it is what it is. Like I said in tip #2, sometimes you gotta point people in the right direction.

5. Cheap Heat/Keywords/Window Shoppers/Current Events: I use this category to draw people that are passing through.. People that are looking for sports but not really. These terms draw the most people to me through search engines:

1. Serena Williams’ ass
2. Nip Slip
3. Brady Quinn’s girlfriend

The key there is the women. They don’t say sex sells for nothing. I wrote about the first story and linked to the last two, and everyday people find my blog by searching for those terms. I’m not saying those are the 3 best, but those perform for me. 

Just like sports radio hosts can yell “Pete Rose” or “Steroids” and watch the phone lines light up, bloggers have some automatics they can go to. I like to call ‘em Kobe and the 7A’s (A-Rod, Arenas, Artest, & African-American Athlete Arrested). Everybody does it in one way or another, and the only down side to this technique is if it’s your only technique.

STAT SHEET

These sites, technorati/alexa, allow you to track your ranking according to their guidelines. If you want all of your numbers delivered to you in one place check out popuri.us. Hopefully all of the tips above will have you climbing up the charts.

Top Ten Tips For Sports Blog Traffic. Courtesy of Five Tool Tool

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE

I’ve been a fan of independent sports writing long before I decided to become a fledgling blogger. Some of my favorite reads over the years have been www.benmaller.com , www.sportsbybrooks.com , and www.deadspin.com. Will Leitch, editor of DeadSpin, is going to be a member of Media Bistro’s “Breaking Into Sports Journalism” panel on April 24th. Just make sure you don’t call Leitch a journalist:

“I proudly proclaim that I don’t work in sports journalism, because sports journalism is no fun. I prefer to just write about sports and apply journalistic practices to my work. But being a sports journalist is a very depressing label. So anyway, I started Deadspin.com, wrote every day for about two years, and then people were calling me a sports journalist. I seriously hope it’s not that easy.”

All humbleness aside, Leitch and crew at DeadSpin have changed the sports journalism landscape, not to mention the comments policy over at ESPN.com. And speaking of ESPN, there’s a number of ESPN employees on the panel with Will. Is WL keeping his enemies the WWL close or chatting with future co-workers?

Will Leitch to appear on sports journalism panel. Courtesy of Media Bistro

DIGG IT  *  DEL.ICIO.US  *  REDDIT  *  BALL HYPE