By Amanda Mann : Published for AG December Print | Email Opinions Matter The world of sports reporting is quickly changing. Quickly disappearing are the tweed jacket wearing old guard of grizzled newspaper reporters, only to be replaced by a younger wave of reporters armed only with their wit, a healthy dose of cynicism and a laptop. Once a fringe element of sports media, the blogger and their sports blogs have now gained not only mainstream credibility, but they often find themselves being mentioned in the same breath as your ESPNs and Sports Illustrateds. Consider this a crash course in the most popular national and local sports blogs… SportsbyBrooks www.sportsbybrooks.com With each visit to this site, the question always pops up – “Why couldn’t we have thought of this idea?” Brooks, a Los Angeles media professional and photographer, started SportsbyBrooks in 2001 as a medium for offbeat sports news and commentary, and a place to house his images of incredibly sexy women. And these aren’t Photoshopped pictures of celebrities or models. No, Brooks actually takes the “SportsbyBrooks Girls” to picturesque locales and wonderfully captures their beauty and “features.” These pictures easily make you forget that SportsbyBrooks actually covers sports, and does a damn good job of it. Come for the: pictures of some very busty vixens. Stay for the: Brog, Brooks’ personal blog, which is published weekdays around 7 p.m. With Leather www.withleather.uproxx.com This blog takes its name from an anonymous story that appeared on Deadspin about ESPN’s Chris Berman gaining the affection of a leather-clad woman with the line, “You’re with me, Leather.” This immediately became a running punchline on the site and even in mainstream sports media. With Leather is unabashed in its glorification of two things: a) the boneheaded-ness of many professional athletes and b) the endless discussion of the attractiveness of various players’ wives, teams’ cheerleaders or other female athletes. Another thing that is made clear in With Leather’s mission statement is that the site does not hold sacred any reader’s pride in their team. So basically, it’s the trash talking everyone does when they are watching a game interspersed with running commentary on the joys of scantily clad women. Clearly not the most politically correct of sites, but that’s doubtlessly what makes it popular. Come for the: St. Andrew’s Net, the daily link dump that should catch you up on any obscure sports-related stories that might have slipped through the cracks. Stay for the: latest hockey fight videos you could ever want to see. Deadspin www.deadspin.com The mother, or at least deadbeat father, of all sports blogs. This Gawker Media venture promises re aders irreverent spo- rts coverage, “without access, favor or discretion.” In other words, this site has become a major player in sports media without ever being allowed into the elite sports media club. New York City writer Will Leitch founded Deadspin, a site that recently bested AOL Fanhouse as the most highly trafficked sports blog. Regular features of Deadspin include a daily Morning Video Wake-Up Call, Waxing Off, in which female sports fans get their say, and the annual Sports Human of the Year award. Barbaro, the euthanized Kentucky Derby thoroughbred, has won this award, as has reviled New York Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas, who narrowly beat out Michael Vick for the title. If you find pictures of Vince Young chugging tequila while shirtless hilarious, this is the blog for you. Come for the: Media Approval Ratings, a regular feature in which sports media figures are graded in the same manner as the NFL coach approval ratings. Stay for the: DUAN!, which stands for Deadspin Up All Night. This is the last posting of the day and usually where the most in-depth, controversial and ultimately wheels-off commenting takes place. Kissing Suzy Kolber www.kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com Another sports blog named for yet another cringe worthy sports gaffe. Kissing Suzy Kolber has the cranky and confrontational feel of a Philly bar the night of an Eagles loss to the Cowboys. This blog is a something of a visual treasure trove with everything from amusing sports Photoshop jobs, transcripts of imagined conversations between pro players and their takes on the LOL’cats phenomena, LOL’NFL. Particularly entertaining is the live blogging the Kissing Suzy Kolber crew does for certain games. Imagine you and your buddies actually writing down all the witty, sometimes ridiculous and occasionally filthy, comments that flow during a game. And unlike Joe Namath, you don’t even have to be drinking to enjoy it, although it almost certainly would help. Come for the: fake Emmitt Smith blog entries, featuring Emmitt’s, err, unique way with words. Stay for the: transcripts of imagined conversations between Wade Phillips and Jerry Jones. Can’t Stop the Bleeding www.cantstopthebleeding.com This blog holds the distinction of not only being fantastically funny, but also being run by Gerard Cosloy, the owner of Matador Records, a record label responsible for discovering and putting out records by some of the biggest college rock acts of the ’90s. Cosloy’s roots in punk rock might be what makes his sports blogging so distinctly snarky. Can’t Stop the Bleeding also features contributions from professional journalists who feel the need to occasionally fully utilize the spectrum of four-letter words available to them with no fear of censoring. The blog also distinguishes itself from Deadspin by covering a wider range of sports. While most of the aforementioned blogs stick to the traditional baseball, football, hockey and basketball with only occasional nods toward other sports, Cosloy’s blog regularly features both U.S. and international soccer articles. Come for the: inside dish, even during the off-season, on all your favorite or most-despised MLB franchises (specifically the Mets). Stay for the: regular updates on the upcoming Tommy Lasorda biopic. Pro-Football Talk www.profootballtalk.com Pro-Football Talk is Mike Florio’s NFL insider blog that has as many daily updates as it has enemies in the sports broadcasting world. And like Deadspin, many of the stories on PFT come not from The Associated Press wire stories but rumors and hearsay contributed anonymously by well-placed sources. One of the most popular features of Pro-Football Talk is the Turd Watch, which keeps a running tally of NFL players who are arrested or run into legal trouble due to bad behavior. Those players are then in the running to make the All-Turd Team or even the Hall of Turds. Clearly, the Cowboys, and specifically Jerry Jones, have not been reading this blog lately. Come for the: Fantasy Mill, the hub of all news that could affect your fantasy team. Stay for the: possibly true, but also possibly completely false, Rumor Mill. But what if what you really care about is the Cowboys and  Mavs? Or maybe the Rangers and Stars. Well, fear not; here are some locally focused sports blogs. Mark Cuban’s Blog Maverick www.blogmaverick.com Obviously, there’s probably no better place to get a feel for the Mavs organization than reading the blog of the man behind the empire. The content is usually a 50/50 mix of Mavs talk and Cuban ruminating on whatever current hot topic has him thinking (hint: the economy is clearly important to billionaires as much as it is to non-billionaires right now). Cuban is a man who hardly ever elicits apathy from anyone, especially here in Dallas. You either love him or hate him, and reading his blog will only serve to reinforce whichever way you feel. The good news is that even if you hate the guy, his blog is well-written enough for you to bullet point out a list of why you hate him. Come for the: opportunity to get a glimpse into the mind of a team owner. Stay for the: free financial consulting Cuban has been dishing out in light of the current economy. Dallas Morning News www.dallasnews.com/sports/blogs If there were such a thing as a blog rivalry, the Dallas Morning News blog would be the Crips to Cuban’s Bloods. The Dallas Morning News blog covers all local professional teams but made waves last basketball season when, after an article that was critical of the Mavericks appeared in the print version of the paper, the DMN’s Mavs blogger had his locker room access privileges stripped. Cuban stated that he didn’t think there would be room in the locker room for all the bloggers who wanted to cover games while the Morning News cried foul. The dust has since settled and the Dallas Morning News’ blog has proven to be an ideal source for up-to-the-minute news, particularly on anything Cowboys-related. And we all know there’s plenty of news coming out of Valley Ranch on an hourly basis this season. Come for the: most up-to-the-minute Cowboys updates during this drama-filled season. Stay for the: possibility of another Mavs-Morning News showdown. The Newberg Report www.newbergreport.com What started as attorney and Rangers fan Jamey Newberg’s brief update to friends on the most recent news about the team and its minor league system has evolved into the top news source for any Rangers fan. To their credit, the Rangers organization has embraced the Newberg Report and features it on the Jumbotron and in game programs. There is even a bound edition of the Newberg Report that is released each year at the end of the Rangers season, which unfortunately, has been earlier than Rangers fans would hope for in the past few years. But if the organization has any cards up their sleeve about turning the team around, you will undoubtedly hear it from the Newberg Report first. Come for the: inside dish on who is showing promise in the farm system. Stay for the: off-season’s worth of coverage on what is being done to make the Rangers good again. Girls Gone Sports www.girlsgonesports.net This blog, run by two female sports nuts named Lauren and Mandy, gathered some national attention for its unabashed girlishness, no-holds-barred writing style and the bloggers’ tendency to show off and blog about their, um, “assets.” This blog is borderline Not Safe for Work because Lauren and Mandy sometimes work a little blue, but it does feature their takes on players and teams from all sports around the nation. There’s even a weekly feature on which pro player the girls have deemed the most attractive, the title of which is unprintable in this magazine. These are no shrinking violets and their writing reflects that as well as it reflects their true love of sports. Come for the: brash female perspective on all things sports. Stay for the: dishy gossip about players’ “extra-curricular activities.” DallasBasketball.com www.dallasbasketball.com DallasBasketball.com is a bit of a deceptive title for this blog as it covers a wide spectrum of topics not limited solely to Dallas basketball or basketball at all. Everything from politics to the Cowboys to general pop culture is touched upon here, but rest assured that the Dallas Mavericks get their fair share of coverage as well. If you’ve ever found yourself struggling to keep up with all the Mavs rumors and articles floating around the local media, DallasBasketball.com should be considered your one-stop shop. It’s also refreshing that this blog, while not afraid to take the Mavs to task, is actually pretty positive and optimistic about the Mavs chances this season. Come for the: latest updates on what Avery Johnson has been doing with his free time. Stay for the: dissection of new commentator Magic Johnson’s uninformed basketball opinions. Bob’s Blog, Live from Lewisville www.sturminator.blogspot.com The Ticket’s Bob Sturm brings us this very in-depth slice of local sports blogging. Instead of irreverent quips and inside jokes, Sturm’s blog is extremely detailed and thorough. He writes honestly and critically, but never gives the reader the impression that he is doing it all as an exercise in witty, mean-spirited one-upmanship. It’s easy to be impressed with Bob’s solid statistical prowess that back up his statements. There’s a lot less armchair quarterbacking and a lot more reasoned, almost scientific discussions of how a team or player is functioning individually or as a whole. His status as a host on The Ticket adds a level of access to the teams that serves to benefit his site. Come for the: numbers, percentages, yards and stats that would make Stephen Hawking blush. Stay for the: projections of draft possibilities for the 2010-2011 Cowboys season. You Go Live in Utah www.yougoliveinutah.blogspot.com The name of this blog comes from Derek Harper’s quote in defense of his decision to reject a trade to the Jazz, which would have come with a significant pay raise, by saying “I don’t want to go live in Utah, YOU go live in Utah!” What started as a purely Mavs-related blog, You Go Live in Utah has now evolved into a one-stop shop for hot opinions on anything from the Cowboys to City Hall. Yahoo! Sports recently called You Go Live in Utah “consistently funny and engaging” in its rundown of the best Mavs blogs. Between Josh Howard’s antics, Pacman Jones’s inability to stay out of trouble and the Cowboys constant injury drama, this blog should have more than enough material to work with this fall. Come for the: somewhat well-meaning rants against the Mavs usage of Mavs Man as a mascot. Stay for the: ongoing debate about the merits of baseball. AVIDGOLFER www.myavidgolfer.com What, AG has a blog? Yes we do. Rick, Robert and Craig … OK, mostly Rick and Robert … post the top national golf stories of the day, as well as some local tidbits. And you will occasionally find some blurbs and trash-talking amongst the staff in regards to their golf game, life, etc. Readers will soon be able to comment on the blogs, which should make for some hilarious reading. Come for the: Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie lovefest, courtesy of Rick. Stay for the: Cart Girl of the Month bikini shots. read all similar articles