Blog Box Backlash
October 9th, 2007 by murph
Over on AOL Fanhouse, Eric McErlain has read all about the Islanders Blog Box in action and he’s still not impressed.
All throughout the SI.com piece, you’ll see claims about how this “experiment” — one that comes complete with a couple of academics from a university in Pennsylvania who ought to be ashamed of themselves — is some sort of incredible innovation in sports media.
That’s actually the last thing that this deserves to be called. Instead, we ought to call it for what it is — a glorified fan club. That this farce is sponsored by Eklund, the least credible voice in sports blogging today, only makes the joke complete.
Don’t get me wrong, as I don’t blame the Islanders fans who managed to win a spot in the box for going along for the ride (though I’m curious why a blog like Islanders Army, one with an established track record, couldn’t be found a place at the table). After all, who wouldn’t want a chance to go to the game and talk to the players? But the folks that are involved need to know that they’re being used by Eklund and the Islanders, and in the process, doing more damage to the credibility of sports blogging than they can understand.
I have to agree with Eric on three points
- The Blog Box is not a press pass, nor is it some monumental moment in sports media.
- Eklund is a tool.
- How come we’re not there?
Other than that I have to disagree. I posted some comments over on AOL Fanhouse, copied here below. There is some good discussion about this on the Fanhouse site in the comments as several other bloggers (some with press passes and some without) have chimed in.
Why can’t there be room for both? I don’t want to go to an Islanders game and leave my jersey home. I’m a fan first and a writer (if you can even call it that) second. Heaven forbid the Islanders recognize that and have two sets of rules and access for each group. Eric, if you want a big boy’s press pass from the Islanders I’m sure they would give it to you, you just have to ask. I’m well aware of the Blog Box rules and I’m OK with them which is why I applied for the Blog Box and not a normal press pass. Some access is better than no access, right?
You bloggers with full access press passes are acting exactly like the traditional media did when you got your passes - acting like the Blog Box is some kind of personal insult to your own work.
There are too many blogs out there to lump them all together. Some like Eric are writers first, fans second but I think the majority of the bloggers out there are fans first, and writers second. The Islanders have recognized this and established a clear distinction and rules for the two groups to co-exist.
Is it just me or is the thing that annoys people the most about the Blog Box is the whole “wearing your team’s jersey in the locker room” issue? Give me a break.
B.D. Gallof Says
The issue is more that top of the heap bloggers are stuck on hierarchy and don’t want to lose their luster due to “fans” or “rabble” infringing and lowering their reputation because some are highly regarded (and mostly deservedly so). But what they forget is that bloggers are ANYONE, and it is the measure of the individual writer is whats really at merit, not the over-estimation or on the other extreme, complete disregard of the blogging community. The blogging community in the end, is the total conglomeration of all sorts from all walks of life…and most of all…every angle.
The fact those look down from their long noses from their precarious perch only belies the truth of the matter. Vulnerability and pride. Look at Eric’s attempt to add his name into the entire story. He even made sure to contact SI to get himself into the rewrite of the article. Eric is a great blogger, and most know he’s been around a longtime, and has team access. But thats not what the point was. It was that an organization did not give individual access, but empowered and declared bloggers as something in a true description. For most, even with limited access…it is a huge boon. But to them…these are anathema to their own status, a step backward.
And therein lies a truth…
That they are no better, no more, no less, than any other schlump who decides to blog some text. And in the end, it will be on the audience, focus and content that really mean a hill of beans.
So, this little clique of established bloggers have been the most vocal of critics of the Blog Box from it’s first inception. Like somehow Chris Botta leapt through their Dell’s and tweaked their nipples. In in truth he has.
In the end, despite the complaints of those like Eric. Most bloggers will gain from the attempt of the Isles. And sometimes the minority must take a hit as undefined system finally gets defined…and not in a way they very much like. That definition is VERY much what the Blog Box really means.
Besides blogging, many of is…especially Tom and myself, are lonnnng time members of the messageboard community for hockey and the Isles. Back even before some made their established blogs.
Oct 9th, 2007 at 8:52 pm