Weighing In On Sports Blogging In The Wake of "Bissinger vs Leitch"

I typed "Bissinger vs Leitch" because it was more Bissinger ranting about something he obviously didn't fully understand, and Will Leitch doing his best to defend it without cursing or fighting.

It's been addressed a few times today over at Deadspin, and Brian Powell at Awful Announcing threw in his $.02 in addition to getting footage of the segment on YouTube. Many thanks to him for that.



Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it live, and until the video was put up I really didn't know what to expect. However, after watching it these are my thoughts:

First, Buzz Bissinger's interaction with Will reminds me of just about everyone over 40 years old when I try to explain that I write a sports blog. Granted, most of them don't get so angry, but they do seem bewildered and somewhat lost.

A prime example of this is my father, God bless him. He really tries hard to wrap his head around the idea that you could write something online that millions of people(ok, ok maybe it's more like thousands around here) could read, and do a great job at it without collecting a paycheck for it. Actually, that's usually where any talk of blogging leads. To the question of "yeah, but how much money could you make from that?" He doesn't seem to understand that what ties all of us bloggers together is our love of sports for whatever reason, and our desire to share that with others. Whether it's through rattling off statistics, cracking lewd jokes or something more emotionally connected. Would I like to get paid for blogging about sports? Of course. Is that what's compelled me to keep this site going for almost two years? Hardly.

And seeing Buzzinger lose it on that stage made me realize just how disconnected some people are. You want to know the last time I picked up a hard copy of a newspaper for sports information? Honestly, I can't remember. Instead, I can read the local paper online, and then browse any number of blogs to see what's happening throughout the day. I like blogs because it's up to me to determine what's accurate and what's not. After reading one for a while you can get a good feeling as to whether or not what's being written is truthful and to what degree. I like that. I get to make my own decisions without worrying that some crusty editor somewhere took something out because he didn't deem it newsworthy enough. I hate to tell some of you, but the Internet is here to stay and it's only getting bigger. Sports blogs are also here to stay, and their coverage is expanding. Obviously, you'll get some wackjobs out there writing about sports, but if you take the time to read through some blogs I guarantee you'll find guys and girls that write just as good, if not much better, than what you get on a daily basis from your newspapers and TV coverage. And many of them aren't getting paid to do so either. They do it because of their love for sports, and their passion for conveying that to other people. In the hope that they'll "get it", and be able to take something positive or humorous away with them.

I feel the need to say "thanks" to Will Leitch because the way he handled himself on the Costas Show last night made me proud to be a blogger. Some people(I'm looking at you Bissinger) are never going to get it. Maybe they're ignorant, maybe they're afraid, maybe it's a combination of both. But that won't ever stop me from putting my take on sports out into the world via the blogosphere, and I'm glad that there are others out there like Will Leitch, and Orson Swindle, and Brian Powell(and a lot more) to stick up for the "craft" when others feel the need to attack it.

You Can't Play "Gutless" Against The Patriots

As we were watching the Patriots eek out an ugly victory against the Chargers yesterday, a friend and I couldn't help but think that some of the Pats victories have come because their opponent played timid at a crucial point. As of now, we've termed it "gutless" football because instead of going all out against arguably the best team in NFL history(ugh, it really pains me to type that), they play it safe, hoping to minimize the damage at that point in the game.

Exactly what am I talking about?

Think back to the Jacksonville/New England game last week. Heading into the fourth quarter the Patriots held an 11 point lead. On their first possession of the final quarter the Jaguars drove 86 yards, used up 5:16 of the clock and settled for a 25-yard field goal. At that point, the momentum had shifted over to New England, as they had outscored the Jags 14-3 in the third quarter. Instead of going for it on 4th and goal from the 7-yard line and cutting the lead to 4, possibly 3 with a successful 2-pt conversion, they played it safe. The Pats responded with a field goal of their own, and won the game by 11.

Obviously hindsight is 20/20, but the Jags had to be ready to score a touchdown on every possession, especially that late in the game down by 11. However, they chose to play it safe, and ultimately lost the game.

The same thing could be said about San Diego yesterday. With about 12 minutes left in the game, and New England leading 21-12, the Chargers faced a 4th and 10 from New England's 36-yard line. At that point on the field, they were looking at about a 54 yard field goal. A distance that Kaeding had made one out of two attempts over the course of the season. Sure there was a lot of time on the clock, but the Chargers had to know that they had a very limited amount of possessions left. They had to make the most of them, especially because they were down two scores. However, instead of going for the first down, or kicking the field goal, they chose to punt the ball down to the Patriots' 13-yard line. New England responded with a 15 play drive that killed the remaining 9:13 on the clock. The Chargers never had a chance to get one more score, let alone the two they needed to win the game.

Like I said, it's easy to be critical of a team's playcalling after the game is over. However, this New England team is capable of scoring a touchdown on every possession, and teams have to be aware of that. They can't be scared of giving up good field position, or putting their defense in a bad spot. Last I checked, those don't explicitly determine the winner of the game, though the amount of points scored does. Teams have to be willing to take some risks in order to keep pace on the scoreboard with the Patriots. Hopefully the Giants learned that from their first meeting with New England, and they'll follow that course of action during the Super Bowl. Otherwise, they'll just end up as win number 19 for the Pats.