A Legitimately Great Day in the Genre of Sportswriting

Not all, but certainly many, NotGraph posts begin within the tangled gnarl that is this author’s Google Reader account. It’s from the links and posts I find here that I’m able to shamelessly re-package and/or lightly mock the hard work of others.

Whether owing to my own personal shortcomings in constructing the Ideal Feed — either that, or merely to the nature of Really Simple Syndication* — there’s typically a lot of noise relative to signal: duplicate posts, hysterical name-calling, and about a half-dozen reports of pitbull maulings from Chicago’s 670 The Score

*Really Simple Syndication is neither really simple, nor syndication: discuss.

“Typically,” I say. For whatever reason, however, this morning has revealed what I feel comfortable calling a “panoply” of accomplished writing — upon which panoply I’ve commented in the list below.

Please note, my bespectacled reader, that this is more than a mere compilation of links. This is a vessel to the future of the genre.

Title: A 2010 Phillies Review While My Family Plays “Settlers of Catan”
Author: Justin Klugh
Site: That Ball’s Outta Here
Comment: Is it sportswriting? A script written by Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel? NO ONE FIRGGING KNOWS!!!

Title: All Your Dumb Trade Ideas Are Belong To Us
Author: Dennis
Site: Pitchers Hit Eighth
Comment: I’m not tired of this pop culture reference, is what.

Title: Best Rockies Commercial of All-Time — The Results
Author: Logan Burdine
Site: Rox Pile
Comment: Hope you don’t need your A, because you’re about to L it O!

Title: Today In Quotes I Find Kind Of Interesting
Author: The Constantly Hilarious Jeff Sullivan
Site: Lookout Landing
Comment: I’ve met and touched Jeff Sullivan. He’s eveything you think he is. And more.

Title: Baseball Bloggers Alliance support Alomar, Blyleven for Hall of Fame
Author: Ryne Gery
Site: Redbird Rants
Comment: Read this under the impression that the Baseball Bloggers Alliance is a pretend thing.

Title: I Need to Put This in and Around my Mouth
Author: Tyler Maas
Site: Bugs & Cranks
Comment: Hey, here’s something inappropriate: “I haven’t seen this much meat shoved between two white buns since I mistakenly Googled ‘Aurora Snow’ before a trip to Illinois last February.”

Title: I met Adam Kennedy at Rembrandts Bar last night in Fullerton. Really cool guy.
Author: chairmanofthebar
Site: Halos Heaven
Comment: This is the exact right use of a baseball blog: to tell everyone how you met Adam Kennedy at a bar just hours after meeting Adam Kennedy at a bar.

Title: Gaslamp Ball Dream Diary
Author: jbox
Site: Gaslamp Ball
Comment: In which the author meets Trevor Hoffman while shopping at J.C. Penny — either in or not in 1998.