SPORTS TALK: The effect of blogs on sports journalism

Tuesday night, I had the opportunity to watch the latest installment of "Costas Now" on HBO, and if you are interested in the changing face of the world of professional sports and how it is being reported, it's definitely worth a look.

Among Costas' guests included Will Leitch, the founder of Deadspin, perhaps the best-known sports blog among sports fans in the 18-34 demographic. If you are not familiar with Deadspin, I kind of liken it to kind of a TMZ of the sports world. The responses to the blogs aren't exactly G-rated, and seemingly by those with less-than-impressive IQs.

Of course, not everything on Deadspin and similar sports blogs has that crass, low-brow, put-people-down mentality. But that mentality is becoming more prevalent and has found a breeding ground on the Internet. Many newspaper/TV/radio journalists are upset to the amount of credence given to these bloggers and their followers, simply because many of these people are not actually covering a team, don't have much of an understanding the dynamics of the front office and locker room and are just generally catering to hype and innuendo over reason.

I find myself kind of in the middle of the situation. As a former sports reporter, I can say that being in a locker room or around a team official gives you an insight you can't get sitting in front of the TV. On the other hand as a blogger, I embrace the Internet age, and blogs are the best way for fans to get their opinions out there. They might not all be correct or fact-based, but does one person's opinion have any less merit than another?

In the final analysis, it's up to the reader to decide. That doesn't seem to me to be any different than a newspaper column or a rant on talk radio. Common sense and decency should prevail. I'd like to see a little more of it in these blogs.

Another thing I think is important, and what I try to do in many of my blogs (including the non-sports ones) is ask you, the reader, what you think. After all, my opinion isn't any better than yours, no matter what media in which it's presented.