5 Sport blogs with that 'Competitive Edge'.

Before starting my blog, I wanted to look at some existing work in this field. I have found five blogs which particularly interest me and have highlighted their good points as well as their flaws. I will use this analysis as a guide when working through the ‘The Competitive edge’ to ensure a high standard of blogging.

I have looked at three blogs based in the UK and two based in America. Some are specific to a certain sport or topic, some are more varied.

http://escribbler.blogspot.co.uk/

This blog is written by a former professional footballer, which makes the content a lot more appealing. You want to read about someone who has been there and done it a lot more than you would an outsider looking in. There is a range of different features on the blog such as ‘quote of the day’ and ‘training programs for professionals’. There is also a number of different links to other blogs. There is a large amount of content on this blog with some interesting views and opinions present. However, the layout is poor. The first thing that jumps out at you is the adverts, you have to do a lot of scrolling before you get to any of the well written sport content. The template and the colours are also very dull.

http://fantasyepl.blogspot.com/p/epl-coverage.html

Fantasy Premier Blog has a very similar concept to mine. It’s a blog that offers opinion and humour on sport. However, it is specific to only football and especially the Premier League. I particularly enjoy this blog because the content is very entertaining. There is a lot of focus on fantasy premier league which is a game that a lot of my target audience would play. I believe it provides humour and a good, light- hearted discussion point. The blog is pleasing to the eye and the dark writing on the white background makes it easy to read.

http://britishsport.blogspot.com/

This blog offers opinion and analysis on the less publicised stories in British Sport. It does cover a lot of sport but misses the comical and entertainment element. I also find the headlines don’t draw me in like some of the other blogs I have read. The whole design of the blog could be better as well, It doesn’t scream ‘sports blog’ when you first look at it. The posts are very infrequent but when one does come, it is very detailed, well researched and extremely interesting. Creator, Gary Cook, is a very good journalist.

http://www.adamssportsblog.com/

Adams sport Blog is a well worked Sports blog. It differs to mine in that a lot of Adams posts are on American sports and very few of mine will be on that topic. However, he has managed to cover so much. There is something for every sports fan. The blog is laid out fantastically well. He was listed all the Sports and key sporting topics in a column and by clicking on those sports, you can bring up the posts. It is very easy to get around the website and there is a good mix of strong content, light humour and pictures to make this a perfect sports blog.



http://sports-law.blogspot.com/

This is a very professionally made blog. The designer has made very good decisions regarding the template and use of colours. Everything looks like it belongs together. Despite it being a ‘sports law’ blog, there is still an element of humour in this blog. One of the posts looks at the laws of beer pong. There is also a good mixture of images and videos present in this blog. Like Adams Sport Blog, this blog has a strong focus on American sport.