BlogPoll Awards: Part 2

Info Here, Nominate Here (open to readers)

The Keith Jackson Circa 1995 Award

FOR: The blog with the most consistently expressive and excellent writing.

CRITERIA: Mechanical competency, yes, but the ability to turn a devastatingly funny phrase or write something compelling is probably more important. This isn't an award for copy editing; it's an award for kickin' prose.

- MGoBlog- On either Sunday or Monday during the season, before Brian is tempted to write with specific analytical objectives in mind, before writes with charts and numbers, before he writes with his head, he writes with his heart. A few creations of Brian’s come to mind who have not had their quality replicated anywhere else – the BlogPoll itself, the UFR template, Third Down Efficiency project, Recruiting Board – and yet it is constantly his writing, when he puts his hands on the keys and unleashes, that I am most humbled. After Michigan defeated Notre Dame:

“They are constant, something that has been more curse than blessing over the past few years, but now Michigan says: I am here. I have been here. I will be here. I have proven that much.”

And then there was “The New Math”, and “Eleven Swans,” and just about all of what Brian does.

- DawgSports- Blessed with an attorney’s diligence and a father’s warm heart, Kyle has a scholar’s grasp of history, and a reverence for it that makes him a great storyteller. His Lewis Grizzard tribute was part eulogy, part biography, and a lecture in southern culture. To me, Georgia has always just been a perfect place for .400 baseball players and a good brand of cola, but Kyle’s able to depict his home state and its idiosyncrasies as a mesmerizing foreign land.

- EDSBS- The Oscar winner who insists on doing standup instead. In some ways it’s frustrating to see Orson so consistently view things with a broader, nationwide scope, satisfying the demands of such a diverse readership, considering when it comes to his own team he puts forth things such as this, which are remarkable examples of his depth as a writer.

The Brady Quinn Award

FOR: The prettiest blog, the best layout and design.

CRITERIA: An aesthetic appeal, whether from a stylish banner, a pleasing layout, or an eye-catching incorporation of blog technology.

Bevo Sports- The consolidated “recent comments” gizmo on the side is perfect; the whole thing’s neat as hell, and allow me to be the nine thousandth person to say that using a football field as the background was a nice touch.

Rocky Top Talk- A full range of features and amenities; almost like the Maybach of blogs.

Men of the Scarlet and Gray- It’s almost impossible to say something looks elegant without sounding like a bitch, but there you go. I really like the simplicity of it.

Michigan Sports Center- Best banner going.

The New Blog on the Block Award

FOR: The best new college football blog.

CRITERIA: Must have launched sometime after last year's national championship game. Transitioning to a new blog or affiliating with a network mid-stream doesn't count.

Conquest Chronicles- Funny, and evidently not prone to those multi-day leaves of absence new bloggers seem prone to.

Black Shoe Diaries- Representative of the Penn State fan base in its devotion, but also coherent and logical, which isn’t.

Maize n Brew- Dave’s writing is often profound, often funny, always insightful; conveys all of the emotional investment a fan needs to make sports worthwhile.

The LOL, MSM Award

FOR: The blog best keeping tabs on the man and calling out all of the injustices in the college football world.

CRITERIA: Consistently ahead-of-the-curve on controversial issues in college football.

EDSBS, MGoBlog, Sunday Morning Quarterback, The Wizzard of Odds, Fire Mark May.

The Best Community Interaction Award

FOR: The blog with the best community interaction.

CRITERIA: A regular solicitation of input from readers and utilization of reader-produced content.

EDSBS, Bruins Nation, Burnt Orange Nation, MGoBlog

The Tyrone Prothro And His Amazing Catch Award

FOR: The finest individual post of the college football year.

CRITERIA: Best post for whatever reason.

Brian’s “Eleven Swans.” Probably fighting an unfair advantage in that it was written the day before the most anticipated football game of my life, hours after Bo died, but that’s kind of like saying Jordan had an unfair advantage because he got all the calls. Either way, the best.

The Chris Berman Antimatter Award

FOR: The best contribution to the lingo of our little interniche, be it a nickname, neologism, or catchy phrase used with frequency.

CRITERIA: Spread is important. The ideal candidate has been universally adopted by anyone with cause to use the term.

The Fulmer Cup, by EDSBS.

The Old Faithful Award

FOR: The best recurring feature of the year.

CRITERIA: The feature should be posted weekly and be generally good and stuff.

LD’s Gameday Recap on Gunslingers. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been up before 1:30 p.m. on a Saturday, unless of course Michigan was playing at noon (and in that case it’s still like 11:56 or something), which means that at this point, Gameday is all but a two-hour validation that my beloved sport is relevant enough to warrant a preview show. And yet over the past year and a half I haven’t missed one of LD’s recaps. Whether it’s critiquing the media biases through a distillation of each segment’s focus, the nature of the media itself through the tone of player features; examining the flaws in the manner the college football mosaic is depicted; or simply calling Lee Corso out for resembling a Neanderthal blowhard at times, LD is incredibly on point, in a fashion the Fire Joe Morgan boys could envy.

The That's Not Really Real Award

FOR: The best photoshop or other counterfeit gag of the year.

CRITERIA: Could be a photoshop, a Motivational Poster, an On Notice Board, or something similar, as long as it elicited more than a mere smile.

From EDSBS:

The You Talkin' To Me Award

FOR: The best back and forth between rival blogs the week before a rivalry game.

CRITERIA: Must be bi-directional, and both blogs must score points against each other. A unilateral beat-down will not suffice. Should be more in the spirit of fun than wildly abusive.

EDSBS and Warren St. John

The I'm Just Like You But I Have a Podcast Award

FOR: The best podcast or podcaster of the year.

CRITERIA: Uh, must be audio. And about college football, you know. Note that this is "podcast" in a really broad sense. Parody songs, incoherent ravings about Tyrone Willingham, and whatever else you've got are nominate-able. One restriction: it has to be self-generated.

Without question, Orson’s Michael Lewis interview (Part One, Part Two), which, when I think about it, was truly one of the most impressive pieces of the year, of any kind.

The I Wanna Talk About Me Free for All :My three favorite pieces were: Tony Boles, Steve Breaston, Why I write.

The Blogger Championship Series

ACC- Eagle in Atlanta

Big 10- MGoBlog

Big 12- Burnt Orange Nation

Big East- Blue Gray Sky

SEC- EDSBS

Pac 10- Bruins Nation

Non-BCS- Pitch Right

Generalist- Sunday Morning Quarterback

Best Blog

Really, this came down to a few that even stood a chance. There were five that came to mind: EDSBS, MGoBlog, SMQ, Burnt Orange Nation, and Dawg Sports. Blue Gray Sky and Bruins Nation were in the photo. Anyway, Brian’s my pick, which might be a bad idea, lest he get any motivation to go find a job that pays better.