You know, Bitter Leaf has done a pretty good job covering this particular angle (all of the links are worth following), but it’s becoming increasingly easy for bloggers (at least Leaf ones) to get all of the same information that reporters get through the official site.

Full press conferences are streamed online so you don’t need to go to The Star or The Sun to read articles to get quotations. The one area in which the traditional media could still contribute, obviously, is by leveraging their access to give a view of the team that you can’t get online but they rarely do that kind of work.

I think that as the economic downturn claims more cuts in the newspaper industry more teams will have to look at the Capitals and the Islanders and follow their lead in getting more coverage.

will post the link when it’s live.

hockey fans stay tuned. I look forward to joining this and other great hockey blogs!

Great topic, James. A couple of thoughts:

1. Someday, someone way too obsessed with blogging will actually go back and study the Wild Wild West of sports blogging on USENET and other message boards. I know more than a few dinosaurs cut their teeth there long before anyone outside of Mark Cuban and Al Gore knew what a blog was.

2. Justin wrote: “It’s going to be difficult for anyone not already in the game to become the next big thing because all the low-hanging fruit is pretty much gone.”

I just don’t buy that. That’s like saying first one in the pool is the best swimmer. It’s about quality, approach and above all else having a different voice than what can be found on other blogs and in other media.

The Washington Capitals have more blogs than Ireland has Murphys. And they all do game recaps. But each one sees things differently, approaches the content differently. And that, more than age or stature, makes them worth reading.

If you’re good and you embrace the other blogs in a given community, you’ll get an audience.

3. I can’t believe how long I’ve been reading Tom Benjamin and Steven Ovadia. And I mean that in a “we should all take a look at our AARP cards, boys” kind of way.

I just want to point out that the above was my first SBN comment, and I’m pretty much uber-pissed right now at how cool and asthetically pleasing the SBN commenting system is compared to Yahoo!.

From my humble perspective, I have no problem with the numerous “game recap” posts that are the norm across the blogosphere. Many of them are top-notch, and deserve to be read. Some aren’t as polished, but there’s a place for everyone.

In my case, I was a bit nervous when starting out a couple of years ago. I did the obligatory “game recaps” which were essentially re-hashes of what had already been printed (I won’t lump in “game previews”; there is typically much distinction from one to the next, since the game hasn’t happened yet) because it appeared everyone did “game recaps”. And honestly, following a game, where do we predominantly go first? The local MSM…who, no matter where you reside, more often than not do a great job in breaking down the game into a factual historical record.

Over time, I had to figure out a plan of attack that differentiated my approach from everything else out there (and for a long time, it seemed pretty easy considering the lack of consistently-updated Panthers blogs at the time).

I had to find a niche that attracted folks and kept them coming back. Someone above mentioned The Pensblog’s strategy for grabbing and holding visitors, and I guess that’s more or less the style I’ve adopted. (Don’t misunderstand: The Pensblog is the Holy Grail of humorous op/ed sites. I’m simply trying to put my own spin on a similar approach. They’re untouchable. I’ve got a looong way to go.)

I visit the Miami Herald and South Florida Sun-Sentinel for the facts and some insider stuff you won’t find anywhere else. I have to take that, along with my particular view of the game (whether on radio or TV) to create a post that owes a lot to others, but in the end is my own opinion on what the club did and where it’s going. Hopefully, it’s entertaining and a bit informative as well.

Really long story short: In my little lot of land on Planet Blog, I find the element that most attracts and retains readers is snarky opinion, with a touch of humor, and a lot of visuals. In the case of The Litter Box, no one goes there for breakdowns on power play numbers, or Jay Bouwmeester’s ice time. I’ll throw those in if I find them fascinating for whatever reason, but I won’t rely on numbers or stats to hold a pair of eyes. Many sites do that phenomenally well; I simply chose another path.

Statistics can be broken down only a finite number of ways. Opinions are limitless. I see strict op/eds as the future.