Kentucky fans may not find this tremendously interesting, but this is the deadline for nominations for the College Football Blogger Awards, and I have a few nominations.
As you well know, here at A Sea of Blue, we focus very strongly on the Kentucky Wildcats, and although we do blog Wildcat football, I don't consider this blog to be truly "football-centric." In fact, we are, quite frankly, basketball-centric, although I think we have done a reasonable job of blogging UK, and to a lesser extent, SEC football this season. For details on these awards, visit EDSBS and read all about it there.
There are lots and lots of worthy blogs out there, and I am sure I have left several excellent ones out of my consideration. What can I say, I do the best I can with what little of my once-considerable mental capacity I still retain. Please be sure and visit all the fine blogs liked here, they are all excellent in their own right and deserving.
So, without any further ado, I will jump right in:
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Award |
Criteria |
A Sea of Blue Nominee |
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Best new blog |
FOR: The best blog started within the past year. CRITERIA: Must have launched sometime after the prior year’s national championship game. Transitioning to a new blog or affiliating with a network mid-stream doesn’t count. |
Gate 21: This Tennessee Volunteer blog has only been around since November of 2007, but they have come out guns blazing. Great visual blog and excellent writing. |
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Best community |
FOR: The blog with the best community interaction. CRITERIA: A regular solicitation of input from readers and utilization of reader-produced content. |
Burnt Orange Nation: This SBNation blog is simply off the charts on community participation. Just take a look at their game day threads. This is truly an impressive football community. |
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Best writing |
FOR: The blog with the most consistently expressive and excellent writing. CRITERIA: Mechanical competency, yes, but the ability to turn a devastatingly funny phrase or write something compelling is probably more important. This isn’t an award for copy editing; it’s an award for kickin’ prose. |
Dawg Sports: Kyle King does an extraordinary job of writing interesting (but very long) posts tying in pop culture, history, other sports and yes, Kristin Davis, and somehow making it all relevant to Georgia football. |
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Best post |
FOR: The finest individual post of the college football year. CRITERIA: Best post for whatever reason. |
Capitol One Punishment: Orange and Blue Hue - A really honest and unbiased look at this year's Capital One bowl from a normally partisan blog. Well written and very insightful. |
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Funniest blog |
FOR: The funniest blog. CRITERIA: The funniest college football blog. |
Loser With Socks: I spewed more nose-coffee on my new widescreen monitor this year reading their posts than you can imagine, even when they recently bashed my beloved Wildcats. |
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Best analysis |
FOR: Cogent, interesting analysis. CRITERIA: Emphasis placed on statistical manipulation, well researched pieces that reveal something new, and/or solid argumentative pieces that function as the authoritative last word on a subject |
Sunday Morning Quarterback: This was a tough one, because Rocky Top Talk deserves very strong consideration in this category. Great football analysis, number crunching, and all around writing. |
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Best MSM blog |
FOR: The best blog rocked by an Official Journalist. For the purposes of this category, "Official Journalist" is anyone blogging in said capacity at either a newspaper website or one of the big internet sites like SI.com or ESPN.com; Official Journalists with indie side projects go elsewhere. |
Sidelines: John Clay's blog is one of the best MSM blogs in the land, and even though Kentucky is not a "football" school, MSMers have to cover it all. |
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Best looking blog |
FOR: The coolest-looking/prettiest blog, the best layout and design. CRITERIA: An aesthetic appeal, whether from a stylish banner, a pleasing layout, or an eye-catching incorporation of blog technology. |
Fulmer's Belly : Biggest thing in sports. |
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The Job Award |
FOR: The blog that has suffered through its chosen team’s dismal season with the most dignity. CRITERIA: Continued engagement in the face of crippling, misery-inducing defeat. A stiff-upper lip and sane reaction to everything crumbling to dust. |
The Rakes of Mallow: When Notre Dame has a 3-win season and a Notre Dame blog doesn't melt into a puddle of pixels at the bottom of your screen, you know they deserve this one. |
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Best regular feature |
FOR: The best recurring feature of the year. CRITERIA: The feature should be posted weekly and be generally good and stuff. |
Nothing for this category |
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Best photoshop |
FOR: The best doctored picture CRITERIA: Must be a picture that’s been altered in some way to make it funny, poignant, whatever. |
Nothing for this category |
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Blogger Championship Series |
…it’s just like that other BCS except completely different. We’ll be handing out Best Blog awards for each of the BCS conferences, plus one for mid-major coverage (including all independents other than Notre Dame), and one for more general, national coverage blogs. After long debate we decided to put Notre Dame blogs in with the Big East, as the "non-BCS" category is supposed to be an award for mid-majors, which Notre Dame is certainly not. Since ND shares bowl affiliations with the Big East and plays the rest of their sports there, it seemed the logical choice. |
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Best ACC blog |
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Tomahawk Nation: Excellent Florida State blog. |
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Best Big East/Notre Dame blog |
West by God Virginia: Hilarious Mountaineer blog. Close second: Card Chronicle. |
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Best Big Ten blog |
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Men of the Scarlet and Gray : MoSaG is just excellent. Other fine blogs I considered were Around the Oval and Maize 'n Brew. |
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Best Big 12 blog |
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Burnt Orange Nation : What can I say? Fantastic blog. |
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Best Pac-10 blog |
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Bruins Nation : This was a very tough call. Conquest Chronicles and Addicted to Quack are both worthy. |
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Best SEC blog |
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Rocky Top Talk : Hands down. |
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Best Non-BCS blog |
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The MAC Report Online : Great coverages of all things MAC |
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MNC |
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Rocky Top Talk : They deserve it in my book. Others I considered were Garnet and Black Attack, Dawg Sports, Get the Picture, and Hey Jenny Slater. |
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People’s Champ Award |
Just like the MNC, but voting is open to everyone, not just bloggers |
EDSBS : Continues to set the standard for college football blogs. |