Blog Huddle

Hockey Wilderness Chats with Eddie Olczyk About Winter Classic

2009-12-10T16:00:30Z

Our Minnesota Wild site Hockey Wilderness recently had the opportunity to sit in on a conference call with NBC color commentator Eddie Olczyk about the upcoming Winter Classic on New Year's Day between the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins at Fenway Park.

Vancouver Canucks Rick Rypien Reads MMA Mania

2009-12-10T00:00:16Z

by Jimmy Jeong - AP

Vancouver Canucks' Rick Rypien loves his fisticuffs, both on the ice and off. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jimmy Jeong)

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So what's a hockey player to do with all that free time they have between games and practices? Apparently follow MMA pretty closely. The Canucks Rick Rypien apparently reads SB Nation site MMA Mania "all the time." From one underserved sport to another, much love gentlemen.

It's Steve Nash Internet Day!

2009-12-09T19:16:42Z

More photos » by AARON J. LATHAM - AP

Steve Nash is loving his Internet day. (AP Photo/Aaron J. Latham)

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SB Nation community Bright Side of the Sun is spearheading an effort to celebrate the Phoenix Suns prolific Canadian point guard. It's called Steve Nash Internet Day. And the basic take is for others all around the Internet to take a few moments and write about Nash. The results are here.

Happy Steve Nash Internet Day!

Arkansas Expats Interviews Terry Frei

2009-12-09T15:00:19Z

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Big Shootout between Arkansas and Texas (a game so big that Tricky Dick Nixon himself attended), the SB Nation community Arkansas Expats recently interviewed Terry Frei, author of an outstanding book about the game called "Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming." The interview ran in two parts and here is part one and here is part two.

Golden State of Mind Brings You Anthony Morrow

2009-12-08T20:46:33Z

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

You want to meet Anthony Morrow? Go to GSoM Night on January 8! (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

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If you're interested in meeting a Golden State Warrior, there is no place better to go than Golden State of Mind. In fact, GSoM will be bringing the people who attend the Golden State of Mind evening on January 8, 2010 they will get to meet Anthony Morrow. So what are you waiting for, go sign up. Now!

MMA Mania Interviews Jon Fitch

2009-12-08T17:00:19Z

The stories in mixed martial arts are like life. Sometimes you climb to the top only to fall just short. And it takes forever to get back. That's the story of Jon Fitch who had a title fight in UFC 87. Now he's approaching that opportunity again if he keeps winning, starting with UFC 107. Fitch stopped by MMA Mania to exclusively discuss the upcoming bout and all other things UFC. Fitch offered his thoughts on George St. Pierre:

Derek Bolender (MMAmania.com): Dan Hardy is apparently getting the next shot against George St. Pierre. Your thoughts on how that fight plays out?

Jon Fitch: Dan Hardy hasn’t really fought anybody with any wrestling ability at all so it will be interesting to see him try to deal with GSP’s takedowns. He’s a good fighter and a good kid, but I don’t really feel he’s prepared to fight anybody on GSP’s level right now.

DRays Bay Features Interview with Top Rays Exec

2009-12-08T08:10:08Z

It's baseball Winter meetings week and in honor of that and all the player movement that will likely happen, the SB Nation Rays community DRays Bay had the opportunity to sit down and interview James Click, who is the coordinator of baseball operation. I found the passage about baserunning interesting considering how prevalent the running game is in Tampa:

TR: Baserunning is a lot more than just steals and caught stealing. How much time do you and your staff spend studying the other aspects of baserunning as well as things like sacrifice/situational hitting?

JC: We're always looking to improve our approach, and doing the little things correctly is one way to do this. We have exceptional athletes on our team and we do everything we can to harness that athleticism and leverage it as much as possible. While these aspects of the game may seem less important than others when quantified on a large scale - after all, they're routinely referred to as "the little things" or "smallball" - the ability to deploy those advantages based on game situation can magnify their value when it comes to the standings.

Better Know a Blogger: SBNation.com's Andrew Sharp

2009-12-06T00:00:16Z

SBNation.com re-launched in September. The purpose of the site is to give readers a clear snapshot of the entire sports world in a real-time, quickly updated fashion. It is also a showcase for some of the best work in the network. Andrew Sharp is one of the fine editors you see on SBNation.com on a daily basis.

I figured it was time to get to know another editor from SBNation.com and without further ado, here is Andrew Sharp.

Tyler Bleszinski: Tell me about your role with SBNation.com.

Andrew Sharp: I'm one of the handful of editors for SBNation.com, and I deal mainly with football and basketball, on both the college and professional levels. In practical terms, though, this means I deal with just about anything, and we spend a lot of time on all the SB Nation blogs, doing our best to highlight the best stuff all around the network.

Since we're still technically a start up--at least from a "national" site perspective--we're trying to maximize the talents of just a handful of talented editors. It's an exciting opportunity, and it's given me the chance to write--and read--on a wide variety of topics and sports. The site's kept me busy on weekends, as well, but "working" is a relative term when we're talking about watching sports all day and writing about them.

Bleszinski: How'd you come to be involved with the company? What was your experience before coming to SBNation.com?

Sharp: I got involved with SB Nation COMPLETELY by chance. It's been almost too good to be true. I met with Jim Bankoff early in the summer, through a mutual acquaintance, and we sat down and hit it off. From there, I came on as an intern, and quickly developed a rapport with Chris Mottram as we were preparing to launch the new site. I wasn't specifically designated as a writer initially--I specifically remember being pissed off about being called an intern while we were planning the site, haha. But as we got closer to launching the site, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to write some, and gain the trust of people like Chris and Jim.

Were it not for this opportunity, I'd almost certainly be working as a paralegal right now, prepping for law school. Instead, I get to write about sports every day and call it "work." Doesn't get much more awesome than that.

As for previous experience... I had a blog? There were definitely people more qualified than me to write for us, and again, this wound up being a phenomenally lucky opportunity. I've always enjoyed writing and reading, but kept my work to myself and a small group of friends in school. I submitted occasional editorials for my college newspaper (I went to Boston College), but a college newspaper can only publish so many paens to Kevin Durant and Gilbert Arenas... So, for the most part, blogging and writing in a public forum began this summer, and it's still a very new process. I just hope I don't wake up one day and suck, because so far, it's gone better than expected.

Bleszinski: You seem to write longer, often more involved pieces than many of the other folks on SBNation.com. Have you tried to carve that out as a niche?

Sharp: Yeah, one of the worries I had when I began blogging is that I'd spend all day writing 300-word riffs that people would enjoy, but immediately forget. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I grew up reading stuff that I LOVED. Like, I'd plan my day around getting lunch and taking 20-25 minutes to read a kick-ass story that I knew was gonna be kick-ass. One day, I'd like to be someone that people will carve out 20 minutes for, and I think writing longer, more fleshed out stuff is part of that.

But it's not a niche, because consciously trying to be the guy that writes 2,500 word stories is incredibly obnoxious. And writing longer does NOT equal "smarter" stuff. I'm just as interested in posting funny videos of Matt Stafford, and moreso, whatever helps the site grow and reach a broader audience, I'll do it.

Bleszinski: How do you think SBNation.com fits in the overall sports media landscape and where would you like to see it go?

Sharp: We need time. Right now, we're still fine-tuning the editorial process and working to build an audience. There's some stuff that we do that's really, really great, and other stuff... Not so much. What's amazing though is how good we are now, while we're still figuring things out. And as SBN.com gets better, I think we can be as good as anyone. The key will be optimizing the network in seamless fashion, and that's something we get better at every single day. As that happens, I think more and more people will realize that we're as good or better than anyone on the internet as far as sports news goes. Really. We are. And we're getting better.

So I think that, as more people come around to that realization, we'll begin to have a greater agenda-setting influence, and really help shape the way people watch sports. That, to me, is the best case scenario. And again, it all starts with the network, and finding the best ways to showcase our content. Because really, the amount of talent is kind of staggering, and if we present it the right way, there's no way sports fans will NOT like it.

But since the answer to this question has me sounding disturbingly like Jim Bankoff, my boss, I'll quit there.

Bleszinski: What's your favorite sport and team? Why?

Sharp: Sport: Basketball. To quote Chuck Klosterman:
"Everyone who loves pro basketball assumes it's a little fixed. We all think the annual draft lottery is probably rigged, we all accept that the league aggressively wants big market teams to advance deep into the playoffs, and we all concede that certain marquee players are going to get preferential treatment for no valid reason. The outcomes of games aren't predeteremined or scripted but there are definitely dark forces who play with our reality. There are faceless puppet masters who pull strings and manipulate the purity of justice. It's not necessarily a full-on conspiracy, but it's certainly not fair. And that's why the NBA remains the only game that matters: Pro basketball is exactly like life."

And to elaborate, pro basketball's also a game that closely reflects not just life, but our culture. Baseball and hockey are full of dinosaurs in my opinion, and football players are sort of dehumanized, but basketball is full of guys that are distinctly human. And it's also the most expressive game around.

Another reason to love it: regardless of how hard we try to find "The Next Superstar," they keep popping up organically--Brandon Jennings, John Wall, and Kevin Durant, for example--which is also kind of a perfect analog to life. You can't manufacture a myth or market someone to the top. That only happens in college basketball. With players from Duke, of course.

Team: Wizards, Tar Heels, Cowboys, and Capitals. And Nationals, but only for Nyjer Morgan.

Bleszinski: Is there a writer that you grew up admiring and were inspired by? Do you try and emulate that writer or did you develop your own style?

Sharp: There were a lot of writers, but I try not to emulate one style. Bill Simmons is number one, though, and I know he's a pretty polarizing figure among the blog world. But f--- that. He helped established the form for this stuff, and regardless of his shortcomings or writer-ly tics, he's a guy that I look to as a role model. Otherwise, Chuck Klosterman's another guy; Lang Whitaker, from Slam and Sports Illustrated; Bethlehem Shoals, more recently; and then from non-sports, people like Tobias Wolff, Jon Stewart, Judd Apatow, Hunter Thompson, and a bunch of other people I'm forgetting.

Bleszinski: Tell me something about yourself that might surprise SBNation.com readers.

Sharp: I love sports, but I think fantasy sports are really dumb, and I can't get into them. I'm the only obsessive sports fan I know that feels this way, and I don't expect anyone to agree with me. But gambling's much more interesting to me. Is that surprising?

Anyway, I really appreciate you asking me to talk to you, and I hope I didn't make an ass of myself.

Bleszinski: Thanks so much for your time.

Hammer and Rails Reports from ACC/Big Ten Floor

2009-12-03T17:00:36Z

Hammer and Rails got the opportunity to report from inside the ACC - Big Ten Challenge. Here is his report from the floor after the game yesterday.

Mid Major Madness Sits Down with High Point University Assistant Kevin Easley

2009-12-03T06:58:45Z

Mid Major Madness recently had the opportunity to down and discuss High Point University basketball with assistant Kevin Easley. From the sound of it, Easley is teaching kids the right way:

MMM: What do you think is the most important value you can pass on to a player?

Kevin: I firmly believe that there is nothing better than being a student athlete, especially at the Division I level. You have the opportunity to build lifelong relationships, travel to different cities, and most importantly receive a free education. I have been blessed to have many opportunities that I contribute to the game of basketball. Basketball enabled me to earn two degrees, build relationships with life-long friends, and meet my wife. However, you have to make the most of your experience and not take it for granted.

SB Nation Features 24 of 45 Top Sports Blogs According to Wikio

2009-12-02T23:40:36Z

It's always interesting when companies release blog rankings. You know it typically is just so that sites link to them and drive them some traffic. But they're fun to look at any way. Wikio released their top sports blogs rankings and SB Nation had 24 of the 45 top sports blogs. Congrats to all who made it. My question though is, where in the world are the MMA blogs here?

Bruins Nation Sought for Comment in Daily Bruin

2009-12-02T14:00:29Z

The Bruin on the UCLA campus was defaced during rivalry week, generating quite the reaction on Bruins Nation. So when the Daily Bruin went out to do a story on this defacing, they naturally turned to Bruins Nation for their quote on the topic. Ah those crazy college kids and their public defacing of rival property...it pretty sad, really. Or maybe something from a Happy Days episode.

Carolina Panthers' Chris Harris Posts His Thoughts at Cat Scratch Reader

2009-12-01T18:00:13Z

The Carolina Panthers had a pretty frustrating game on Sunday. Don't believe me? Ask Chris Harris, the Panthers strong safety who stopped by Cat Scratch Reader to post his thoughts about the game. Frustrating is a pretty good word for it.

Mario Belinelli and Grant Hill Talk to RaptorsHQ

2009-12-01T05:52:29Z

Raptors HQ, our Toronto Raptors community, recently had the opportunity to interview a couple of players, including Mario Belinelli and Grant Hill. The Hill interview is particularly fun and you should listen if you have the opportunity.

Moutain West Connection Interviews BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock

2009-11-30T19:49:11Z

Michael Rueckert over at SB Nation community Moutain West Connection recently had the opportunity to interview (over email) the executive director of the BCS Bill Hancock. A lot of the questions addressed some concerns of the fans of the Mountain West.

Better Know a Blogger: The Rivarly Esq's Graham Filler

2009-11-29T14:00:13Z

There is no better week to talk with the SB Nation writer who writes about rivalries at The Rivalry Esq than college football rivalry week. Graham Filler writes year round about the Big Ten. It's thought-provoking, fantastic writing about one of the purest things in college sports and that's serious rivalries. So without further ado, let's get to know Graham Filler.

Tyler Bleszinski: You run a site that's somewhat unique to the SB Nation network. Tell me about the genesis of it.

Graham Filler: I was entirely unfamiliar with the blogosphere after Law Buckeye and I started TRE. So I was googling all over the place looking for decent blogs to link up with. I sent an email to Sunday Morning Quarterback, having no idea this was one of the best sports blogs on the Internet, asking him to check out our blog. Somehow that email filtered through to Peter Bean, who contacted me and proposed we write about the Big Ten. It's experimental, he said, but he figured we could pull it off because Law Buck and I have a lot of general knowledge of Midwestern football.

Bleszinski: Is it tough to run a site and keep people interested when there isn't that common bond over one particular team?

Filler: We view TRE as a supplemental website. We imagine people waking up, grabbing a cup of coffee, going to their home website for say Michigan news, and then moseying over to TRE for intriguing editorials on pertinent CFB subjects.

Bleszinski: Now this is running Sunday morning, so I believe all the games will be over, but tell me about your predictions for the weekend's action.

Filler: Illinois is holding the Big Ten banner this weekend against Cincinnati, always a sign of certain doom. But believe me, I'll be screaming at Ron Zook the whole time to upset the Top 5 ranked Bearcats. Oh and I want to see Boise State keep winning, because any undefeated team is just another reason for me to hate the BCS.

Bleszinski: What team in the Big Ten do you follow the most closely and why?

Filler: I follow Michigan and Michigan State extremely closely. I live around East Lansing, so inevitably I end up at most of those games. But when you grow up in Michigan, you have to pick one or the other when you're young. I picked the Michigan team and fanbase because they didn't riot or burn couches on a regular basis. But I'm starting to grow somewhat cynical towards the UM fan base thanks to last weeks events.

Bleszinski: Is there a team (or several) in the Big 10 you can't stand?

Filler: I tend to skew Ohio State, for obvious reasons, but I'm pretty unhappy with the 2009 Penn State team right now. Through no one's fault, they played a boring, easy schedule, and fell on their faces in the two monster matchups against OSU and Iowa. And all this with a veteran QB and one of the best LB corps in the last 10 years.

Bleszinski: What do you think of the quality of the Big Ten this year?

Filler: I'm not very interested in conference comparisons, even though I know strength of schedule affects the BCS. This was an improved Big Ten conference compared to last year - 9 of our quarterbacks had QB ratings of 126 or higher, compared to only 4 in 2008. It's really easy for bored and lazy MSM writers to just call the Big Ten slow and mediocre, but we won't be seeing any change in that until the Big Ten succeeds on a national level.

Bleszinski: What's the best part about being a blogger in the SB Nation network?

Filler: Two things stand out to me. I love getting to know other writers, readers, and editors. Bud from Tomahawk Nation, Hawkeye State from BHGP, Dave from Maize and Brew, the entire crew from The Only Colors...They've all been incredibly helpful. I also love the opportunity to spit opinion when I feel something is being missed, but in a non-cliched or LOLZurteamsuckz kind of way. SBN gives me the tools to do that.

Bleszinski: How you would you describe how you would like the Rivalry Esq community to be?

Filler: I want it to be a melting pot of people from all over the Midwest, looking for logical discussion of football schemes and player analysis. I want our readers to feel comfortable to read and comment on a subject (Big Ten football, General CFB) that they love. Would I like to be Athletics Nation, where threads run for 1000 comments and people talk about their kids? Sure. But I don't think that's how we've evolved.

Bleszinski: Tell me something unexpected about yourself that your readers might not know or expect?

Filler: I've actually grown into less of a Michigan fan since I began blogging. In fact, I follow the schemes (Smart Football-esqe) and the entire Big Ten much more closely now, instead of being Maize and Blue focused.

Bleszinski: Thanks so much for your time. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Filler: Same to you! I appreciate the opportunity to write on SBN.

Blazersedge Interviews Coach Nate McMillan

2009-11-26T14:00:14Z

Blazersedge is always on the forefront of coverage of their team. They do it better than anyone else. They recently had a chance to talk with Blazers coach Nate McMillan about the zone defense. It's truly enlightening basketball talk.

UCLA Legend J.J. Stokes Stops by Bruins Nation Podcast

2009-11-25T23:31:14Z

It's a huge week in Southern California. The big football game between UCLA and USC is looming large this Saturday. Bruins Nation celebrated this fact by having one of their biggest alums J.J. Stokes on the BN podcast. It's a huge score for the Bruins Nation community.

Please Welcome Anchor of Gold! SB Nation is pleased to announce the arrival of Jay Webb and his...

2009-11-25T14:46:19Z

Please Welcome Anchor of Gold!

SB Nation is pleased to announce the arrival of Jay Webb and his awesome new blog covering the Vanderbilt Commodores, Anchor of Gold! This completes SB Nation's coverage of the SEC and we are thrilled to have him on board!

Welcome aboard Jay!

South Side Sox Close Encounter with Jake Peavy

2009-11-25T03:00:13Z

by Charles Rex Arbogast - ASSOCIATED PRESS

3 months ago: Jake Peavy, left, is introduced as the latest member to the Chicago White Sox's pitching staff by Chicago general manager Kenny Williams during a news conference, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and the White Sox in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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I love stories like this. It's truly what SB Nation is all about. And that's bringing the fans closer to their favorite team. It's great to read about someone getting that close to one of their favorite players on their favorite team.

Best part? Peavy dropped the little bit that the Sox were trying to acquire Adrian Gonzalez.