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The Definitive Guide To The Cardinal BlogosphereBefore the season started, Nick over at Pitchers Hit Eighth put together a wonderful post entitled "2010 Cardinal Fan's Guide To Twitter". The post outlined what Twitter was and who was on there, broken down in to handy categories. Which got me thinking, what if there was one of these sort of guides for all the great Cardinal blogs that are out there? When I started blogging in 2007, there didn't seem to be just a ton of Cardinal blogs around. There were a few, especially a couple of big boys, but not the widespread coverage that there is today. There are few things that I consider myself an expert on, but due to my involvement with the United Cardinal Bloggers, I feel like I've got at least a fairly good handle about the state of the Cardinal blogosphere today. So that meant I felt confident that I could take this on. Once I started sketching this out, however, I realized just how many different Cardinal blogs there really were. Sorting them into categories and describing them was a challenge, but I hope that you'll be able to use the following information to guide your daily reading. A few notes before I jump into things. Scroll Down to Continue Reading
First off, if a blog hasn't been updated since the beginning of February, it's listed as inactive. There were a few blogs, as I was looking through my blog roll, that hadn't updated since 2008. My guess is if you've let it slide that long, chances are you aren't picking it up. (A side benefit of this was to be able to clean up that blog roll!) Secondly, blogs could easily be sorted into numerous categories. What I tried to do is put the blog in the most appropriate category and then list it in the "Also" section of the other categories it qualified for. Thirdly, you'll note a * by a number of these blogs. These are blogs that are considered active members of the UCB. What defines active is really my personal opinion, though it's influenced by my interaction with the blogger and how often and recently they've participated in a UCB project. After you go through all of these, you may be thinking, "This looks like fun. How can I get in on this?" Simple enough to do. You can set up an account at Blogger or Wordpress or LiveJournal or maybe even a MLBlog and start pounding away with your thoughts, opinions, and general stuff that you need to get off your chest. The UCB is always looking for new members, so be sure to let me know when you start it up! Finally, I wasn't going to necessarily include my blog in this writeup, figuring that if you are here and reading this, you probably have a general feel for what C70 At The Bat is like. In case you are coming to here by a link from another site, however, mine would fall into the Prolific (here, Baseball Reflections, Baseball Digest and syndicated, as it were, at Seamheads) and Network categories. Without further adieu, though, let's get into it. THE BIG BOYS If you've spent any time in the Cardinal blogosphere in the last half-decade, you've most likely been to these two sites on a fairly regular basis. Viva El Birdos is the flagship blog for St. Louis fans. Started by Larry Borowsky, it developed into the must-read for Cardinal fans under his tenure. VEB is the blog most likely to be referred to in national media or in interviews with inside baseball people. Borowsky turned over the keys to DanUp (formally of Get Up, Baby!) and Dan, with a team of writers on a regular schedule, puts up quality, thought-provoking content on a daily basis. The comment section is worth reading on its own, as in-depth (and occasionally crazy offshoots) discussions take place regularly. Future Redbirds is the VEB for the minor leagues, basically. FR was started by Erik Manning, who made his bones there before moving on to various other projects. If there is something you want to know about a minor leaguer, you go to Future Redbirds. Besides the Daily Farm Report, there are thorough reviews of prospects from a sabermetric and a scouting perspective. There are a number of talented guys putting together the reports, and you'll often find more than one post a day there. THE PROFESSIONALS Bird LandThe Cardinal Nation Blog When I say professionals, I'm not just talking about their writing style. These are the guys that make their living following the Cardinals in one way or another. Derrick Goold's Bird Land has a devoted following. As most everyone reading this knows, Goold is a beat writer for the Post-Dispatch, but could be termed the Master of Modern Multi-Media for his widespread coverage both at the blog (which occasionally will feature video clips), his Facebook group, and his radio gigs. Especially when the Cards are down in Florida, Derrick's regular updates are a welcome sight for those still stuck in the winter. Derrick has worked with the UCB in the past, most famously by asking us to list out our Top 7 Prospects back in 2008, an idea we quickly stole and put in our regular project rotation. Another of our professionals that has done a lot with the UCB is Matthew Leach. Matthew, who covers the Cardinals for MLB.com, regularly posts the lineups and tidbits up at his blog, along with his personal playlist for the day. He also uses Obviously, You're Not a Golfer to interact with his readers, often posting what he calls the "Lucky Seven" edition where he asks seven questions for readers to answer in the comments. Matthew has been on the UCB Radio Hour more than any other guest and contributed a question this spring's UCB roundtable as well. While Brian Walton may not have the name recognition of the other two, he's been covering Cardinal baseball for a number of years as well. The Cardinal Nation Blog has been named FoxSports.com's Blog of the Day four times already this season, with in-depth and insightful discussions about the Cardinals, with occasional forays into the minors as well. Brian also is a regular panelist during Fox Sports Midwest's live game blogs, contributing his knowledge and interacting with the commenters, and writes a weekly column on the minors for the Globe-Democrat. John Marecek comes from the radio side of things, being a reporter for KTRS 550. While you can find his thoughts on all sports, including the Cardinals, on the KTRS blog SportsNight, you can also follow his other blog, Busch Basement with John Marecek. Right now, he's using that to keep track of the Twitter fantasy league that he is running (and that I was lucky enough to get into). Scott Wuerz writes for bnd.com, which covers southwestern Illinois, including the St. Louis area. View From The Cheap Seats is a regular outlet for Scott's thoughts and opinions on the St. Louis nine. You'll find regular recaps, along with separate posts for the various news that affects the Cardinals or the division as a whole. THE UCB STALWARTS As the organizer and planner for the UCB, I always want as much help as possible. And even though we have great members, members that often get involved and are active in doing things, when I put out a project idea, I know these guys are going to be involved. Pitchers Hit Eighth was the winner of the Cardinal Blogger Awards' Rookie Blog of the Year in 2008. At that time, it was the sole labor of love of Nick, but since then he's added Josh (who was writing at Redbirds Row before moving over to PHE) and Andrew, who also is interning at KTRS. The PHE crew, besides putting up regular posts of amazing quality, have been the driving force behind the UCB Radio Hour in the last year. Nick and Josh cohost together as one of the teams and Andrew is part of another hosting team. They are also big supporters of Cardinal lefty Jaime Garcia, as their "Honkin' for Jaime" shirts would indicate. Not only are the UCB members, but they are also involved with my other project, the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Mike of Stan Musial's Stance is one of the more distant members of Cardinal Nation, living in the paradise that is San Diego, but the distance doesn't keep him from being very active in the Cardinal blogging community. Mike does double duty, doing SMS for the Cards and Padres Trail for the Padres, as he keeps an eye on them being they are his local team. Mike was a regular contributor to the UCB Radio Hour until he left to do other things, some of which were things that worked in his time zone. You can hear his Padres podcast weekly (or download it if you don't want to stay up until midnight) and he's also a BBA member. To keep up with the UCB, we've set up our own official United Cardinal Bloggers page. You can usually find an index post that will list out who is participating in the most current project, along with links to their posts. There are also occasional posts from members, either new or copied from their personal blog. Also: Fungoes THE SABERMETRICALLY INCLINED Sabermetrics really pervades a lot of blogs. I don't think you'd find one that really derides what has become the new trend in baseball. However, these blogs are ones that use sabermetrics as their main way of writing and analyzing. Pip at Fungoes is the most famous of the Cardinal sabermetricians. He's involved with the St. Louis SABR chapter and has been picked up as the Cardinal representative for Rob Neyer's SweetSpot blog network based on ESPN.com. Pip will test just about any hypothesis and conventional wisdom that he can and has no problem confirming those thoughts if the data bears them out. And personally, the Christmas season just isn't complete until you get to read his Cardinal-flavored Twelve Days of Christmas, which changes every year. Fungoes is also a member of the St. Louis chapter of the BBA. The aforementioned Erik Manning has teamed up with Steve Sommer for Play A Hard Nine. Erik is one of the most ubiquitous Cardinal bloggers out there, having written for Future Redbirds, VEB, FanGraphs, Beyond The Boxscore, and his personal White Sox blog, The Pale Hose Pariah (which is a member of the BBA). There's a reason he has written all of these places--he's quite good. Steve started up a blog called St. Louis Sports Scene, which won the CBA Rookie Blog of the Year in 2009. However, he shuttered that one when he moved on to PAH9 with Erik. Steve has been doing some great series previews based on a statistical simulation he developed. Also: Viva El Birdos THE FAIRER SEX PERSPECTIVE The blogging field is dominated by the males of the species. That being said, there's definitely room for a woman's viewpoint, and these three bring a little estrogen to the testosterone-laden Cardinal blogosphere. La Beisbolista also goes by the name of Sarah, and there is no doubt who her favorites are. I always eagerly wait for her reactions when Yadier Molina has done something especially noteworthy. Being a registered nurse, Sarah doesn't always get a chance to blog regularly, but always brings a fun and fresh perspective to whatever is going on with Cardinal Nation. Kathy writes over at Redbird Chatter. As she lives out in Oklahoma, she doesn't get a chance to get to St. Louis very regularly. She does, however, get out to the local minor league squad sometimes, so her blog veers into that territory as well. She's big on publishing pictures of her baseball trips, which is always great to see. One of the newest blogs in the blogosphere is Cardinal Diamond Diaries, written by a team of women. Erika, Angela and Chris just started their blog this month, but have already given some different insights into following the Cardinals. While not necessarily a sabermetric blog by any means, the girls are not afraid to toss around a few numbers as well. They've also recently added a fourth to their group, with Jacqueline now writing for them regularly. Also: CardinalMix THE I'LL WRITE ANYWHERE GROUP Just because a guy has his own blog doesn't mean he has to settle down, right? Sometimes there's a lot of writing to be done and one site just can't quite hold it all. Intangiball may be one of the newer blogs on the block, but Justin's writing has already gotten noticed. It wasn't long after he started his blog that he was asked to write a weekly column over at InsideSTL.com. Justin has an eloquence and a writing style not commonly found on the internet. Not too many quick hits or hit-and-run entries over there. Justin's also partnered with me on a few UCB Radio Hours and joined up in the roundtable within days of starting his blog. Whiteyball was started by Dustin Mattison, who is also a regular contributor over at Scout.com's Cardinal site, named The Cardinal Nation. Dustin, who has also been involved with the UCB Radio Hour, has a number of other writers that contribute to Whiteyball. One of the main contributors is Michael, who contributed to this year's Maple Street Annual as well as his work at the site. Michael has been the one that has usually penned Whiteyball's contributions to whichever UCB project is going on. While Aaron hasn't updated The Rundown in a bit, you can still find him writing on a regular basis. Every Wednesday, he'll post the front page story at Viva El Birdos, with his traditional eloquence and legendary lack of brevity. In the past, Aaron has used his Rundown blog to participate in the UCB projects, though I believe it's been awhile since we've roped him in. Also: Cardinal Diaspora, Pitchers Hit Eighth, Play A Hard Nine THE HUMORISTS JoeSportsFanSTL While all bloggers take their work seriously, including these guys, that doesn't mean that they can't have some fun along the way as well. Everyone has a humorous side that comes out on occasion, but these blogs use it as a basis for their writing style. Travis thought there was a niche that needed filling. So he started up Fredbird Follys, which might be best described as a cross between Cardinal discussion and The Onion. Satirical works that include Rick Ankiel being disappointed about going to the minors when he becomes a Royal and Brendan Ryan pulling a practical joke with the wrist surgery can bring a smile to most anyone's face. Travis has been missing in action for a little while, hopefully because he's concocting another gem. In a different vein, the guys at Cardinal Diaspora are humorous in their own right. Intermixing funny analogies into their discussion of current topics, Aaron Hooks and HMW can be counted on to bring an edgy look at the Cardinals and other things that involve St. Louis sports. Or not. The CD guys will write about just about anything. While it may not always be family-friendly, it's definitely a different perspective than most any other blog out there. A St. Louis internet institution, Joe Sports Fan is run by Matt Sebek. JSF has gotten national acclaim for its humorous take on all sports. Now, they've even come up with a dedicated site focused on St. Louis. With great video work as well, Matt and the rest of the JSF crew point out absurdities and have a lot of fun with the toy box that is sports. Justin first made this list writing at Cardinals Front Office, but has expanded out not only to i70baseball but also to Rising Redbirds, a prospect-focused blog that plays in the same part of the pool as Future Redbirds. Rising Redbirds is new, but already has a lot of quality content on it to go along with Justin's contributions to i70baseball. THE FOREIGNERS OK, they are still American citizens, but these guys are doing their part to make Cardinal Nation become Cardinal World. There are actually a couple of guys writing at The Cardinal Virtue. Trey has kept himself in the US, even if he's in Texas instead of St. Louis. John, however, is teaching Bible studies over in Ireland. Being on the emerald isle doesn't make it easy for him to keep up with the Redbirds, but after a bit of a hiatus, both he and Trey seem to be back in the blogging swing of things. They've both contributed to UCB projects in the past on a fairly regular basis. Ben at All Cardinals, All The Time is doing some studying abroad, watching Cardinal games in Italy at crazy hours of the day. While he's not done a lot of writing at ACAT, you can find him contributing now on a weekly basis at Baseball Digest. Ben's also a big Twitter guy, keeping up with the St. Louis squad by interacting with those here at home that are a little closer to the action. If you want the complete international experience, though, you should check out The Cardinals' Nest. Not only is it written by a couple of guys in Italy, it's written completely in Italian (though there are plans for an English translation). Thank goodness Google can translate, though I'm sure it loses a little bit in the process. Another completely foreign blog is Redbirds Nest In Korea, not shockingly written all in Korean. The Google translation is a little loopy, but if you know the language I'm sure there's some great Cardinal stuff there as well. THE SOLE PROPRIETORS Cards 'N Stuff Cole at Redbird Report is pretty new to the blogging game, starting up his blog in December and just recently getting ensnared by the UCB. Cole's a journalism student and you can tell by the quality of his posting. He also has a podcast that ties to his blog, but more on podcasts here in a bit. Matt over at Cards Cove hasn't updated his blog in a while, but has been a UCB contributor in the past. When he was writing, he could be counted on for a fairly detailed post summing up the news of the day, with his personal slant on the topic. Cardinals Front Office is written by Justin, who'd been away from the blog for a while before returning in the last month or so. He's got the UCB logo up on his site as well, though it's been a while since we've been able to get him involved in the mix. When Kevin at Cards 'N Stuff is writing or Twittering, stand back. He's a man not afraid to express some strong opinions and perfectly willing to say "Told ya so" when they come to fruition. There's no doubt where he comes down on just about any issue. Joe writes The McBrayer-Baseball Blog with his thoughts about the Cardinals. If nothing else, you have to appreciate a blog with an entry detailing taking his son to a Redbirds game, don't you? The posts may not be long, but there's good stuff there. Redbird Insider hasn't been around too long, getting started in the first month of the 2010 season. Blake was writing at Cardinal Beat Blog before school and other things got in the way. Blake's been a guest on a couple of UCB Radio Hours and I'm sure we'll have him participating in the UCB before long. There's another Daniel S. that writes about the St. Louis team and you can find his work over at Redbirds Fun. Daniel occasionally has some gaps in his posting, but he's been doing this since February 2006, which is like an eon in blogger years. Jack from Thoughts About Cardinals is still in college, but he has found the time to contribute his thoughts about the Cardinals. Thus the catchy name, I guess! Some good discussion and analysis over there on a regular basis. Bowhunter81's Weblog is more of a personal blog that occasionally takes on what's happening in Cardinal Nation. It's a change of pace to see a blog that doesn't focus so intently on the Cards but shows a little more reflection into the author's daily life. Ignore what Jeff says about his blog name--he's not Five O'Clock Blogger. Jeff brings a big bat to the plate on a regular basis. This season he's been doing a solid series preview that you should check out on a regular basis. Throatwarbler's Blog focuses more on the Cardinal past than the present. You'll find writeups of past players, important dates, and a blog exclusive in The Atlas Awards. One of the strong points of Cardinal Nation is to know the history of the club and this blog is a great aid in that. RetroSimba, as you might guess from the unique blog name, is a blog that puts what the current squad is doing into perspective with the great names of Cardinal history. Along with the aforementioned throatwarbler, these are indispensable tools to remembering the past, something the Cardinal franchise is rich in. While the name may be common, there's not much else that's not unique about the writing over at The Redbirds Report. Michael has started a solid addition to the Cardinal blogosphere, posting a detailed discussion on a daily basis. Noah at Reading Redbirds is one of those rare breeds, a blogger who starts, goes dark for a couple of years, then returns. Reading Redbirds actually participated in the first ever UCB project, but then real life got in the way. Now Noah's back with a new look, a new locale, but the same good discussion of Cardinal baseball. Also: Fredbird Follys, Fungoes, Intangiball, La Beisbolista, The Rundown, Stan Musial's Stance CardinalsGM* It isn't easy to put together content day after day. Sometimes, the best way to do it on a consistent basis is to have more than one chef in the kitchen. Cardinals Country is a recent addition to the blogosphere. There are three of them over there covering both the St. Louis and Springfield versions of the Cardinals. Brad has been the point man in dealings with the UCB and we are hopeful to have him or one of the other writers in a hosting role on the podcast soon. Baseball Digest is a unique animal in the Cardinal sphere of influence. Bill Ivie is in charge of arranging for the Cardinal portion of the blog, which encompasses all of baseball. A number of the names you've read so far on this post make weekly appearances over there, discussing the news of the day or whatever else their focus might be. Busch Birds is a team blog in name, with Andrew and Brett both on the masthead. However, Andrew's done most of the writing recently, including a new post this weekend after a month off. Hopefully it won't be another month before the next entry!
Tom at CardinalsGM was one of the founders of the UCB, being especially helpful in the setup of the UCB Radio Hour. Tom brought in Ryan to help with the day-to-day running of the site, but since rumor has it Tom is retiring from his real-life job soon, look for a lot more to be going on over there in the near future. The Outfield Ivy (originally 101 Years And Counting) is a team blog with a bit of a twist. See, it's the heretofore though impossible combination of a couple of Cubs fans blogging with a Cardinal fan. (Two to one, man, that's still not fair for those Cubbies!) So if you don't mind a few posts about the baby bears, Steve can pass along the Cardinal knowledge. It's a very large team effort over at i70baseball. Bill Ivie has spun off of his Baseball Digest work to create an affiliate site that focuses on both the Cardinals and the Royals. You'll find a number of the bloggers listed on here, such as Justin from Rising Redbirds and a couple of the ladies from Cardinal Diamond Diaries, among others, talking about the Redbirds regularly. Also: Cardinal Diamond Diaries, Cardinal Diaspora, CardinalsGM, Future Redbirds, Pitchers Hit Eighth, Play A Hard Nine, Viva El Birdos THE NETWORKED-UPCardinalsMix While there are advantages to being on your own, it's also nice to be part of a blog network. A blog network is a group of blogs that are brought together under one banner. You have more opportunities to promote your writing, there are links between the blogs, things like that. For example, my blog is in the Blogs By Fans network, along with other luminaries such as El Lefty Malo and Tremendous Upside Potential. These bloggers are in a similar environment. Redbird Rants is part of the Fansided blog network. Ryne took it over in January after a couple of other bloggers had contributed in the past but had to let it go. Ryne is a regular poster and has been involved with some of the recent UCB projects. It looks like he's taken a rotating name and made it his own. Bird Brained is one of our MLBlogs. Major League Baseball has a platform for fans to write and be listed on MLB.com, which is obviously a great tool for visibility. Chris will often write what he calls "The Nooner" as he pounds out an entry during his lunch break. We've snagged him a couple of times for UCB projects in the past. Chuck writes Redbirds Rap, part of MyTeamRivals blog network. The black background with white text is a stylistic change from most other Cardinal blogs. When you want to see what exactly went on in last night's game, head over there, as Chuck often includes the box score in his game wrapup. There are a number of Cardinal writers at MLBlogs and Cardinal Girl is another example of that. You have to appreciate the uniqueness of a site that offers game wrapups in haiku, don't you? While there may not be much more than the three lines in a day's post, they do tend to capture the essence of the last contest. Chirp Chatter is a MLBlog that focuses on the daily doings of the Memphis Redbirds. Written by some of the staff of the Triple-A affiliate, you'll find pictures and behind the scenes stories of what goes on in the life of a minor league franchise. Eugene writes about baseball, especially the Cardinals, over at Inside Pulse, part of a network by the same name. Eugene is a member not only of the UCB but also the BBA and has used the IP platform to participate in a number of UCB projects in recent memory. Also: Redbird Chatter WHERE HAVE YOU GONE? Cardinal Nation Globe Redbird Report (1) The blogging game has a lot of turnover. Longevity can sometimes be measured in months. If someone sticks it out two or more years, they are a seasoned veteran. For whatever the reason, these guys have not been doing a lot of posting recently. We can only hope that they return to the active roster sometime soon. When Deaner was active, he was easily one of the UCB Stalwarts mentioned above. Cardinal Nation Globe was a part of just about every UCB project, big or small. A change in location, moving to Ohio, and more life responsibilities has kept him from putting pixels to monitor recently. Not to be confused with Cole's blog of the same name above, Redbird Report was another MLBlog run by Nate. His last post was in February, meaning that he's not been away all that long and there's hope for a triumphant return. The last post on Haedar's Redbird Ramblings says it all. Grad school is tough enough without having to do regular updates on your favorite baseball team. Haedar was another regular participant in the UCB when he was active and we hope to be able to welcome him back at a future date. You see that nice, professional UCB banner that's on my site as well as most every other United Cardinal Bloggers member? That came from Bryan at Rockin' The Red. One of the earliest members of the UCB, he designed that logo and it's been in use ever since. Bryan's been quiet since December, but his site is still worth visiting for the hand-drawn banner at the top of it. Chet updated 4thebirds.... briefly on Opening Day, but other than that he's been quiet. It's a shame that other life tasks got in the way, as Chet was one of the founders of the UCB Radio Hour, rotating host duties with Tom of CardinalsGM in the early days. Chet had some very interesting multimedia ideas, including a Cardinal YouTube-like channel, but I've not heard about those recently either. If a blog sits for a year untouched, you have to figure that it's a longshot to return. Colin hasn't hit that mark quite yet with House of Cards, but it is in sight. Perhaps the bug will hit again and we can get him back into the swing of things. Holding All The Cards has hit that year mark and then some, and with a total archive of only 13 posts, it's not likely to come back. Still, in a world where David Eckstein has a World Series MVP trophy, I'm not sure you can rule much of anything out. Bugs and Cranks is a little different animal. Like Baseball Digest, it recruited various writers to write about the various teams. Andrea (who had written at Baseball Digest as well as a couple of other places) moved on to TV blogging (you can find her at Zap2It regularly) and no one came along to fill her shoes. As the website is still active and a going concern, I'm sure they'd love to have any Cardinal writer they could get, so if you are wanting to start something up, you might consider contacting them. Redbird Nation doesn't quite belong on here, not by the criteria I've set out above. RN closed down in 2005 and there's no chance of it reactivating, as far as I know. However, I was chastised, and rightly so, for leaving out Brian Gunn's groundbreaking work. Before there was Viva El Birdos, there was Redbird Nation. You can still read it on line, going back through the glory years of the early part of last decade. NOT BLOGS, BUT SOMEWHAT CLOSE The Cardinal Nation.com Cards Talk Blogs are a long-form way of expressing opinions. There are other ways, from message boards to article writing to podcasting and then some. If you are looking to maybe ease your way into things or just want other places to get Cardinal info, a few of these may be up your alley. You all know that I have a soft spot in my heart for CardsClubhouse. I've been a member there since almost day 1, which is now almost eight years in the past. Plenty of opportunities for discussion there, plus the only place you can play the prediction game known as YNOT, even if I've let that lag a little bit the last couple of years.
When I first started playing around on the internet, I signed up at BaseballBoards.com. (That's the first time I used the now-ubiquitous Cardinal70 handle.) After numerous changes and permutations, the largest part of the core posters wound up at Sports Hot Corner. BleacherBum593 does a wonderful job of getting in touch with players and others for interviews, and I continue to owe him a debt for his connecting the UCB up with Kyle McClellan back in spring training. I don't usually spend too much time on message boards other than CCH any more, in part because Twitter is so easy and fills some of the same needs. That said, I've always found the people at St. Louis Sports Forum to be a great group when I've lurked over there. They seem like a close knit bunch that have seen a lot through the years. Birds On The Bat, back in the day, had the reputation as a more cynical place to comment. If I recall correctly, it was members there back in the early part of the last decade that raised money for an airplane trailing a "Fire La Russa" banner to be flown over the spring training compound. I've never spent much time there, so I can't say whether the reputation is deserved or not. When BaseballBoards turned into FanHome, after a while FanHome was bought out by Scout.com. (Later on, FanHome dissolved the partnership and went back out on their own.) Brian Walton publishes The Cardinal Nation there, with Dustin Mattison and Josh from Cardinals Best News Links helping out, and there are forums that are tied to that site as well. Then we have Cards Talk. Talk about a reputation. You'll often see in a snide aside on another blog or forum, when some outlandish idea is presented, that "this isn't Cards Talk". However, being that it's the main forum on the website of the main paper, you are going to get a lot of traffic going through there, some good, some bad. I'm not sure how often the writers drop in, though I know Bernie Miklasz has his own forum there and interacts often. Bleacher Report is a place for the citizen journalist, as it were. You can write regular articles over there or, as I've done, let your blog posts feed over there for a larger audience. Aaron Hooks is the main columnist there for the Cardinals at the moment, so there's always some interesting and fresh content to read. If you are looking for a one-stop place for Cardinal news and thought, you really need to bookmark Cardinal Best News Links. The purpose is right there in the title. Josh will find Cardinal stories from around the net, give you a paragraph or so of them, then add the link for you to read more on your own. If it's talking about the Cardinals, odds are you are going to find it there. As I've gone through this post, I've noted when a blogger does a little podcasting on the side and, of course, I've mentioned the UCB Radio Hour more times than I would like to count. However, there are a couple of sites that are mainly podcast focused, as they do their opinion airing over the airwaves instead of on a blog. Freddie at Redbirds Of A Feather has been at this for a while, usually producing a 20-30 minute podcast with notes and recaps twice a week during the season. You can find it on iTunes if you want to download and listen at your convenience. The guys at 2 Birds, 1 Bat haven't been at this podcasting thing too long, but you wouldn't know it by listening to them. Each week they put together a lively and entertaining look at what's been going on with the Cardinals on and off the field. They even have a voice mail call-in number that allows them to put questions or comments from listeners on the air. They are also on iTunes, if you are looking. Matt Sebek is a busy man in the St. Louis sports community. Besides his regular work with Joe Sports Fan (see Humorists, above), he works on putting together the monthly St. Louis Sports Magazine, which you can read online. You can actually flip the pages of the magazine, seeing the ads as well as the great articles about the local sports scene. Then you have Matt's real passion, Joe Sports Fan. JSF has gotten national acclaim for its humorous take on all sports. As mentioned above, they've even come up with a dedicated site focused on St. Louis. The St. Louis side was purchased by Grand Slam Sports and is now featured at KFNS.com. I don't want to list out all the great news sources that there are out there for the Cardinals because I've already put over 5500 words to paper (as it were) and most everyone knows about the Post-Dispatch, the Globe-Democrat, KTRS and others. However, I do want to make special mention of the Fox Sports Midwest site. One, because they've always been extremely wonderful to the UCB, putting links to our show in their live blog last year and interacting with us as they tried to perfect that, but two, you have more than just news over there. You've got video, contributions by Brian Walton, and blogs by talent like Pat Parris and Jim Hayes. A lot of stuff for one place. THE WRAPUP Wow. As I said, when I started this I had no idea just what I was getting myself into. Over forty active blogs, not counting my own? The reach of Cardinal Nation is just amazing. In my work with the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, I've gotten to see the blogging activity of a lot of different fanbases. While teams like the Mets, Yankees and Red Sox have a lot of different sites and writers, I'd put up the quality and the discussions of all of these bloggers with any team any time. I hope that you've found this informative. I really hope that you've tried out some of the blogs above that maybe you weren't aware of and now have new daily reading to do or more RSS feeds in your reader. There are a lot of great bloggers on this list that put a lot into what they do. If I've been able to promote them just a bit, well, I think this has been completely worth it. I plan to pin this post up somewhere and update it on a semi-regular basis. Hopefully I'll be moving some blogs from the inactive list into one of the other categories and putting new ones into the mix! EDIT 4/27: Added CardinalMix to Networked category EDIT 4/28: Added The Cardinals Nest to Foreign category, 101 Years And Counting to the Team category and Redbird Nation to the Inactive category. EDIT 5/3: Added Redbirds Nest In Korea to Foreign category and Throatwarbler's Blog to Sole Proprietors category. EDIT 5/10: Minor cleanups and changed 101 Years And Counting to The Outfield Ivy. EDIT 6/2: Denoted Cardinal Diamond Diaries as UCB members EDIT 7/5: Added RetroSimba to Sole Proprietors category. EDIT 8/26: Added Reading Redbirds to Sole Proprietors category and updated Cardinal Diamond Diaries. EDIT 8/31: Edited information on Joe Sports Fan STL and added Rising Redbirds and i70baseball. 15 Comments15 Comments | Leave a commentLeave a comment |
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Blogs In The Network
Baseball Bloggers Alliance
The BBA has, as a secondary aim, the goal of producing year-end awards in a similar fashion to the Baseball Writers of America. These awards can be found at the official site in October with links back to the voters, ensuring transparency and, most likely, the onset of some good baseball arguments.
Arizona
Venom Strikes
Birds Watcher
Camden Crazies
Eutaw Street Hooligans
Oriole Post
Boston
BoSox Injection
Boston Red Thoughts
The Bottom Line
Inside The Monster
The Joy of Sox
Sox Tea Party
Sox vs. Stripes
Camden Crazies
Eutaw Street Hooligans
Oriole Post
Boston
BoSox Injection
Boston Red Thoughts
The Bottom Line
Inside The Monster
The Joy of Sox
Sox Tea Party
Sox vs. Stripes
Detroit Tigers Scorecard Blog
Eye of the Tigers
Motor City Bengals
Switch Hitting Pitchers
Florida
Marlin Maniac
Marlins Die-Hards
Houston
Astros County
Farmstros
Kansas City
Eye of the Tigers
Motor City Bengals
Switch Hitting Pitchers
Florida
Marlin Maniac
Marlins Die-Hards
Houston
Astros County
Farmstros
Kansas City
One Royal Way
Royally Speaking
Royals Kingdom
Royals On Radio Etc.
Los Angeles (AL)
AngelsWin.com
Go Halos
Halo Hangout
True Grich
Los Angeles (NL)
Dodgerfan.net
Feeling Dodger Blue
Milwaukee
Bernie's Crew
The Brewers Bar
Quevedo At The Buffet
Minnesota
Over The Baggy
Seth Speaks
Royally Speaking
Royals Kingdom
Royals On Radio Etc.
Los Angeles (AL)
AngelsWin.com
Go Halos
Halo Hangout
True Grich
Los Angeles (NL)
Dodgerfan.net
Feeling Dodger Blue
Milwaukee
Bernie's Crew
The Brewers Bar
Quevedo At The Buffet
Minnesota
Over The Baggy
Seth Speaks
Jeff's Mariners Fan Blog
North and South of Royal Brougham
SoDo Mojo
Tampa Bay
Rays The Stakes
Rise of the Rays
Tampa Bay Rays Fan
Tampa Bay Rays News
Texas
North and South of Royal Brougham
SoDo Mojo
Tampa Bay
Rays The Stakes
Rise of the Rays
Tampa Bay Rays Fan
Tampa Bay Rays News
Texas
John McDonald's Cabinet
Sports and the City
The Tao of Steib
Washington:
Hendo's Hutch
History's Perspective
Nationals News Network
The Nats Blog
The Stinger Steve Ray
We've Got Heart
Sports and the City
The Tao of Steib
Washington:
Hendo's Hutch
History's Perspective
Nationals News Network
The Nats Blog
The Stinger Steve Ray
We've Got Heart
Fantasy
Baseball History
Miscellaneous
Other Baseball
Professional
This is freakin' awesome!!!
Thanks! I appreciate the link at your blog. Just wish we could get you back to active duty!
I am new to the game, but trying to gain a foothold. Perhaps one day I will earn enough of a reputation to be made fun of here!
Ryan, drop me an e-mail and we can get you added to the UCB, if you want. Either way, I'll be adding you to my blog roll!
The Cardinal Nation Blog actually dropped the first twitter guide: http://thecardinalnationblog.com/2010/02/22/a-st-louis-cardinals-twitter-directory/
I do remember that and it was a very good one. But something in PHE's inspired me to come up with this thing.
Very cool! I tried to start a Cards blog in '07 but it was short-lived. Just not enough time to commit, so I enjoy reading everyone elses! Just another reason why Cardinals Nation reigns supreme!
I appreciate it! And if you ever start one back up....
Excellent work sir. Cardinal Nation is well-represented.
Thanks for the nod, C70!
Very good report, there's also a small blog, just created, about St. Louis Cardinals in italian....
http://redbirdsitaly.playitusa.com/
We have in mind to do it in English, but for now we wrote in our language (me and my friend both live in Italy))
I'll add it in there!
Thanks! We will soon work on an English version. Our project started two months ago and for now looks good, we hope to be able to switch language in a few time.
Great stuff!!
I've been running a Cardinals fan blog in Korean for a year. You can see here:
http://birdsnest.tistory.com/
There's no English material there, though.
Maybe some guys are familiar with my screen name; I comment on VEB and Future Redbirds from time to time. Want to be more active, but currently I'm having a lot time with my new born baby...(can't complain at all...!!)
Dude, you rock!!! What a tremendous resourse! I'm putting a link to this on my site and also many of the links as well. Would you rather I put a link or copy and paste the article. Only asking in case you ever take it down and the link won't work. Let me know when you get a sec and I'd love for us to do more collaboration a couple times during the season.