Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Ranking the Cal Blogs

So we are back... not really. Due to real life crushing our dreams of full time blogging we are going to take a break until August when college football really starts up again. In the meantime, we wanted to give our readers (actually, by this time it might just be reader, singular) a review of the other Cal blogs out there.

Cal blogs (listed in the order you should read them everyday)

1) Tightwad Hill (http://tightwad-hill.blogspot.com)

Positives: Hands down the best Cal blog on the web. Most in depth analysis and provides better coverage than traditional media.

Negatives: Has been absent for nearly all of April with no sign that he is coming back soon. When Tighwad is writing, he has no peer.

2) The Band is Out on the Field (http://www.thebandisoutonthefield.com)

Positives: Good analysis and oftentimes has other insights that you don't normally find elsewhere. There are some funny postings and the community of readers makes for good discussions. Also, they are part of the SportsBlog Nation (not sure if this is a positive or negative).

Negatives: It appears that they have 3-5 ex Daily cal writers participating in this blogs. This in itself is neither good nor bad. But with that many people writing on the blog, can't they post more frequently. There should be a least 1 post a day.

3) The California Golden Blogs (http://goldenblogs.blogsome.com/)

Positives: Very enthusiatic posting which is always funny and interesting. This blog offers the best images as they take most of their own photos and appear to have a really good digital camera. (Also, they actually link back to us, so props to them.) I don't know these guys, but they seem to be having the most fun with their blog and it shows.

Negatives: Their analysis is solid but not as in depth as the top two. This might just be me, but they seem to have a lot of posting related to jerseys (buying jerseys, getting jerseys as presents, what lynch's new jersey will look like). Only Tony Soprano seems to love Jersey as much as these guys.

4) Cal Golden Bear Football News (http://calgoldenbearfootball.blogspot.com/)

Positives: You want news on Cal Football, this is the place to get it. I like reading the primary sources that this blog generally covers so I tend to check in with this site to see if I missed anything. If you don't do that, then this should move up to the top of the list, because it gives you all the news on Cal Football.

Negatives: No analysis but it never claims to provide analysis.

5) Cal Football Fan (http://www.calfootballfan.com/)

Positives: Great observations on the state of Cal football. Oftentimes produces tidbits of information that is not address by the other Cal bloggers.

Negatives: I wish they posted more frequently. But who am I to talk about posting more often.

6) Bear Territory (http://cal.thecrawfordfamily.net/blog/)

Positives: Excellent analysis. For part of last season, he was a reporter for Rivals and was able to get insider access to coaches and players. Even before that, he has provided great observations on the team and how the team has played.

Negatives: Once he moved over to write for Rivals, the posting on his blog were less frequent and lacked the depth he once had. This was due to the fact that most of his best writing was going on Rivals. Now that he is no longer with Rivals, the postings on his blog have not picked up in quantity or quality. When Bear Territory returns to it original form, it would likely be in the top 3 on this list.

7) Contra Costa Times Blog (http://contracostatimes.com/colleges)

Positives: When Jay Heater was writing this blog, it was among the best. Good insight behind the scenes.

Negatives: Jay has left and the new guy is still getting his bearings. But by what I have seen so far (4 posts) he needs to pick it up to meet the level that Cal fans expect.

Others worth mentioning

College Hotline (http://mercextra.com/blogs/collegesports/)

Positives: Excellent blog. Provides good coverage. Jon Wilner has some good insights into the Cal program.

Negatives: For some reason, Cal media relations have cut him off from access to Tedford and others. He writes about all college programs in the Bay Area which means unnessary posts about Stanford.

Anyone want to comment where we rank? (We prefer if you consider us from our better days during last season rather than the barren wasteland you have seen that last 2 months)

Also, if we are missing any, please add the link in the comment section. Thanks.

199 comments: