3rd Annual Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament: Call For Nominations

For those of you unfamiliar with the best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament, or even for those few of you who have some vague recollection about this event, I started this little extravaganza in 2009 as a way to highlight the best blogs that cover and discuss Pittsburgh sports. As I've mentioned previously, there is a special Pittsburgh sports blog community that is unmatched by any other city in the country. This tournament was designed to highlight some of these blogs and bloggers and to encourage collaboration between very talented writers.



While I plan on starting the third annual tournament next week, I first wanted to set the ground rules and get some feedback about who should be included in this year's tournament.

1. The blog must be in existence for at least one year as the bloggers in this tournament have paid their dues. While it’s easy to start a blog, it’s not as easy to stick with it. This is not to discourage the new bloggers out there. There are some great blogs that have only been around for a few months that should make the cut next year. (ex. Steelers Lounge)

2. The blog must discuss Pittsburgh sports at least half of the time. Close counts. The perfect example of this is a new entrant into the tournament this year, That’s Church. Ginny regularly writes recaps after Steelers games, had a bet involving the Pirates reaching .500 and helped raise money for the Mario Lemieux Foundation’s Make Room For Kids campaign. Anything Mario Lemieux related counts as sports.

3. The blog must be active and updated regularly. I don’t have a specific definition of regularly; however, if a blogs follows a specific team during the season but has a three-month gap in posts during the off-season, it is not eligible.

4. The blog’s primary author cannot regularly write and get published in a newspaper. This is the Dejan Kovacevic Rule. I don’t want to diminish all of the work that Dejan and other writers/bloggers at the Post-Gazette, the Tribune-Review and other publications do but they also have much greater access to players, executives, etc. as well as resources for in-depth stories.

5. At least for now, when a blog wins once, it can’t win again. The Pensblog cruised to a relatively easy victory to become the first ever Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament Champion. Last year, Bucs Dugout edged out a victory to become the second champion. I like giving other blogs chances to win, so don’t freak out when you scan through the list of Pittsburgh sports blogs, and The Pensblog and Bucs Dugout are missing. If there's a 10th annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament, maybe we'll bring back all the former champions.

Here’s the part where I ask for help. There will be 32 blogs in the tournament. The following blogs are definitely entered:

Behind the Steel Curtain
Blog 'n' Gold
Bob Smizik's Blog (see note below)
DC Steeler Nation
Empty Netters
Faceoff Factor
Mondesi's House
Nice Pick, Cowher
One for the Other Thumb
PensBurgh
Pirates Prospects
Pitt Blather
Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies
Puck Huffers
Raise the Jolly Roger
Steelers Depot
Steelers Gab
Steelers Today
That's Church
The Confluence
The Steelers N' At
Three Rivers Burgh Blog
Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke?

As you can tell, this is only 23 blogs. I have an idea about the remaining spots, but I’d like to hear who you think should be included. Please leave your suggestions in the comments section below or e-mail me at seanramblings at yahoo [dot] com.

Notes:

- I know that many people don’t like Bob Smizik, but he meets all of the eligibility qualifications. Plus, his posts generate more feedback and comments than nearly any other Pittsburgh sports blog. Yes, most of these posts focus on criticizing Smizik, and he’ll probably get knocked out in the first round due to the anti-Smizik vote, but his blog is in.

- I included Black Shoe Diaries, a blog dedicated to Penn State sports, as part of the tournament last year because of the large number of Penn State fans in Western Pennsylvania. Upon further review (and lots of comments saying that State College does not equal Pittsburgh), BSD is out for now.

- Finally, this tournament was (and is) for entertainment only. This is all for fun, so please don't take this too seriously.


Thanks for reading and supporting the Pittsburgh sports blog community! In addition, thanks to Cotter for designing the incredible logo.