Follow BallHype on Twitter[By Tom Ziller]
Inspired by Vanity Fair's recent Blogopticon and my long romance with maps, we decide to stick some of the most well-known sports blogs into a graphical graph graphic.
I present: THE BLOGDOME ATLAS. (Click to enlarge.)
(As I said, click to enlarge. The large version is prettier. And clickable.)
Some preliminary notes.
- I didn't include your blog because it is too awesome for categorization. Don't get mad.
- This is based on science, not opinion. I would post the formulas for 'sexiness' and 'opinionatedness,' but upon seeing them your heart would explode into song, and you'd probably bleed out. I'm only protecting you by keeping the formulas secret.
Some liminary notes.
- Surprised Deadspin rates as not very sexy? Me too. But science is never wrong. So I tested my personal biases and checked. And hey! Will Leitch's Midwestern sensibilities have made Deadspin fairly staid over the past few years. A.J. Daulerio's big-city bawdry could send this thing to the left fast.
- As it were, 'sexiness' has little to do with the bloggers themselves or their hot CSS and JavaScript skills (with two exceptions). Mostly, it's based on the content. Like, The Big Lead posts a lot of bikini/red-carpet photos, so TBL rates as sexy even though I wouldn't date TBL personally. FanHouse, on the other hand, posts fewer sexy photos or Penthouse Forum letters. As such, it rates as 'not so sexy,' despite the presence of numerous sexy writers.
- The formulas laughed when I fed Curt Schilling's 38 Pitches into the database, and spit out a response which said, "You can't figure this one out yourself, you f---ing lazy moron?" The formulas can be cruel.
Finally, some postliminary notes.
- On the exceptions mentioned in Bullet #2 of the liminary notes: Ladies... and Babes Love Baseball were awarded special considerations by the formulas, which allowed writer sexiness to be included in the calculations. This is good, because the formulas aren't into Joe Mauer.
- In no way is 'sexy' better than 'staid' nor 'informative' better than 'opinionated.' It's all good. I just like stereotyping blogs, that's all. Of course, if Joe Posnanski thinks he's getting slighted and wants to start posting FHM scans in order to be legitimized as more sexy than Dan Steinberg, more power to him. Consider the Bald Blogger Sexy Arms Race on. (Neil Best need not apply.)
- We hope to bring more atlases atlii to you, to complete our full documentation of the state of the blogdome. Got an idea? Thrust it in the comments or email it to me (tom AT ballhype DOT com).
Spotlight Series
posted 7/9/2008
-
Sarge any coincidence that Schill is un-sexy and has half of his face cut off?-
EthanJaynes It is funny that he is the least sexy and informative. There could not be anyone less sexy and informative. He is the only person in a corner. :-)
-
-
TheHype Geez all's you got to do is re-size the header logo of a blog and even YOU can be Sexy, Opinionated, Staid AND Informative at the same time! aka BallHype!
ps: Tom is sexy. Look it up, it's in the record books.
-
Ryne Nelson Can we Cc this to Costas? -
FreeDarko So wait, would the perfect blog sit at the intersection of the two axes, in the center of the chart? Or would that be the most non-descript blog in history?-
tziller That would depend on where it sits on the invisible z axis, which rates a secret variable known only as AWESOME. -
The World of Isaac hmm?
Just like my morning wood, I'm hanging a little left.
Coincidence?
-
Hugging Harold Reynolds Are you trying to garner a better "Sexy" rating?
-
-
-
Sarge All I know is that when I need information, I go to Busted Coverage! -
And One It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome, It's because I'm too awesome ... she whispered frantically to the LeBrons ... -
Tirico Suave When we started our blog back in 1989 (date unverified) we had only one goal in mind: to become one of the six sexiest yet informative sports blogs available on the internet and now you've helped us realize that dream. Thank you BallHype, for not only helping us achieve what we thought was only possible in our wildest of imaginations, but for also confiming what we knew in our hearts all along: photoshopped pictures of Hank Steinbrenner and sports movie mashup videos are indeed sexy. -
suss Only a true fan would use my retro sports blog logo, which consisted of nothing but the word "SEXY" in orange and black, tilted on its side. Excelsior to you, Mr. Ziller. -
slavakilla Your results are amusing, and I have many quibbles. Yet one stands paramount.
FJM unimformative? They've taught me more about interpreting baseball stats than anyone else has over the past four years.
Please recheck you algorithm and remove inherent biases.
D
-
WithMalice Sheesh... again dissed due to not being North American enough!
Oh well, shoganai!
Excellent work Tom, and very funny graphic!
CC Shines Wildly in Debut
Babes Love Baseball —
CC Sabathia received at least four standing ovations from the 42,000+ sellout crowd at Miller Park Tuesday night (10,000 tickets sold in 24 hours) during his debut against the Colorado Rockies, which he won 7-3. "I get riled up, I have to let it out," he said.And let it out he did. El Capitán Chorizo allowed just two earned runs on five hits for the Milwaukee Brewers, pumping his fist and screaming into his glove as he served up a nasty 96 mph fastball to fan Brad Hawpe for the final out of the sixth after pitching out of quite the bases-loaded, no out ...
Ballhype Sports Blog Atlas: Shanoff Less Opinionated, More Newsy Than Schilling
Dan Shanoff —
This is kind of genius. (When I saw this in Vanity Fair about non-sports bloggers, which itself was a rip-off from a regular New York magazine conceit, which itself was a rip-off from Spy, I wanted to do something exactly like this. Ziller beat me to it. Awesome stuff.) -- D.S.
Quick look: Ziller’s Blogdom Atlas
The Postmen // A Sports Blog // Chicago, IL. —
... Hey, would you like to look at something cool? Yes, of course you would. You are at work doing mindless drivel; the Internet is your release from it all. So I present Tom Ziller’s blogdom atlas over at Ballhype: ...
Wednesday Footnotes
Sactown Royalty —
Lest this page turn completely purple...
How do the Kings figure in Elton Brand's flight of the Clippers? ClipsNation draws on some comments Brand made after the April 2007 game in which the tanking Kings destroyed the Clippers' playoff hopes by winning.
In case you're wondering what a lack of basketball does to someone like me.
TV critic Rick Cushman of The Bee asserts that the awesomeness of Kings fans and Second Saturday are related. (Also: Cushman critiqued my work in a journo class at Sac State, and his ...
HHR is Quite Content Being Staid and Somewhat Informative
Hugging Harold Reynolds —
... sports blogs. A special thanks to Ballhype's Tom Ziller for including us in his Blogdome Atlas. It's refreshing and humbling to know that we can be looked at in the same light as some of our favorite sites. The Blogdome Atlas is "Inspired by Vanity Fair's recent Blogopticon and my long romance with maps, we decide to stick some of the most well-known sports blogs into a graphical graph graphic." Take a look at the criteria here. ...
AFTERNOON DELIGHT
The World of Isaac —
Did we ever do the research and get a name on this chick? Anybody? And apparently, BallHype doesn't think I'm sexy enough. Apparently they don't know about mammaries monday.... Are the Mets making their run? {The Sports Lounge} What's Peyon Manning does before the snap? {NE Patriots Draft} I don't know which soccer star girlfriend this is, but she may or may not be topless {WithLeather} Maybe CC wasn't happy in Cleveland. Then again, who would be? {BLB} Toilet Humor: Video of Nut Shots {SimonOnSports}
Blog Jam: Sugar Ray’s Very Excited To Be In Maui
SPORTSbyBROOKS —
... . • Having trouble finding your way around the blogosphere? BALLHYPE’s Tom Ziller is happy to help out by presenting The Blogdome Atlas . • EVERY DAY SHOULD BE SATURDAY hits the high seas, as Pete Carroll ...
Tirico Suave: Sexier Than Deadspin, More Informative Than FanHouse And The Big Lead
Tirico Suave —
The Fair Weather Channel Tirico Suave: Sexier Than Deadspin, More Informative Than FanHouse And The Big Lead July 9th, 2008 No Comments [image] I don’t know about you but when I think about sexy, two words come to mind: sports blogs. The folks over at BallHype know what I’m talking about as they were gracious enough to include us in their BlogDome Atlas (click the picture above for the bigger, clickable version). We somehow made it into their sexy and informative sector, which follows our mantra quite well: two posts a day and some whores in your site’s banner go a long way. Tags: BallHype Brainy ...
Wednesday Bullets
ESPN.com - True Hoop - Blog —
... There are two ways to look at this. One is that TrueHoop is the opposite of sexy. Another is that without ever posting a single photo of anyone in a bikini, it's nonetheless almost as sexy as Deadspin, which has had ...
Science: "Basketbawful is sexy and opinionated."
Basketbawful —
This just in from the World of Mighty Science: We are both sexy and opinionated. Of course, the "sexy" part isn't news to me, simply validation of what that beautiful man in the mirror tells me morning after morning. Besides, who am I to argue with Science? Here's the new Blogdome Atlas posted by Tom Ziller at BallHype: It's interesting to note that we're roughly the opposite of Deadspin -- for whom I also write -- since Deadspin is rated as more informative and staid. So, hey, I get to be the best of everything. Damn, ...
Ballhype’s Atlas : A Crushing Blow To Future CSTB Ad Revenues
Can't Stop The Bleeding —
Not sexy, eh? I’ve run a jpg of Weiland’s cock on at least two occasions, can Busted Coverage make a similar claim?
The only thing I’ve learned for certain from Mr. Ziller’s work is that CSTB really needs a proper logo.
The 2008-2009 NBA Blogger Table of Elements
Hardwood Paroxysm —
... When Ziller unleashed his Blog Atlas on the world, my first thought was, "Wow, that's awesome." My second thought was "He didn't include me. Screw that guy with a scorpion tail." Anyway, ...
Introducing the periodic table of NBA blogs ...
Ball Don't Lie —
... This is just sick. Inspired by Ziller's Blog Atlas, mad scientists Trey and Matt Moore set up their Bunsen burners and created a periodic table for the NBA blogosphere. Check out ...
