Blog war?

Sports Blogs Nation is a large network of — you guessed it — sports blogs. They recently underwent a major overhaul that made their sites more visually appealing and added a lot of functionality. Apparently one of the major things they were looking for is cross-talk in their community.

I'm not sure if this is how they expected it to play out, but a pair of their sites have gotten one heck of a debate going. One is Bruins Nation, which many of you should be familiar with as the most active independent UCLA blog. It proudly declares itself the "blog of the Bruins, by the Bruins, for the Bruins." The other is Sunday Morning Quarterback, an irreverent site that has established itself as one of the top national college football blogs (I've never tried to rank them, but they're easily a top three and a perennial contender for  No. 1). Both are excellent blogs that I have a lot of respect for.

It all started last Thursday, when Bruins Nation posted about expectations for the 2008 football season, and SMQ posted about the Bruins coaching changes in its series called "Mandate for Change." Over the next few days, these college football blog heavyweights started reading each other's work, taking offense and responding. It's all friendly sports talk, of course. There are a lot of posts now, so it's hard to keep track. I've tried to create a Cliffs Notes version below for those of you who enjoy a good debate (don't we all?). The original posts contain a lot of great links and more information. If you love a good sports debate and have the time, I recommend checking them out.

June 12 — Bruins Nation kicks off the day in good spirits, but slightly reserved with its  Dose of Reality: Projecting Expectations post:

• The post quotes from another writer who said, "[T]he most important thing about the event is simply to say that [Rick Neuheisel] is the man. The Best CEO in America. He has changed the entire feel of the athletic department."
• However, Bruins Nation grounds things a bit. "We all feel the same sense of energy around our football program here on BN. However, at the same, we have to be cognizant of the realities surrounding our program, which has been underachieving on a consistent basis since the forgetful night of December 5, 1998."
• Ultimately, it predicts, "So depending on how the toss-up games go, the Bruins could finish either 6-6 or 3-9/4-8 (depending on which 'conservative' projection we take as we go through the list above)."

June 12 — SMQ writes an unrelated post about UCLA's coaching changes in a series called Mandate for Change. Among the key points:

• In the last 7 1/2 years, UCLA "has lost more games by double digits to unranked teams since 2002 (11) than SC has lost, period. When the record is that lopsided, there are only two possible reactions: OMG U$C is teh cheaterz and Fire Karl Dorrell."
• "The New Guy(s): Rick Neuheisel has a long way to go to escape the long shadow of charlatanism: he left Colorado with more than 50 recruiting violations and two years’ probation in 1998, was investigated for illegal recruiting visits, reprimanded by the board of the American Football Coaches’ Association and compared to Al Capone in Slate (the NCAA got him, but only for a technicality — gambling on basketball. like Capone got nailed for tax evasion — instead of the meat of his transgressions)."
• "They’re years away from narrowing that chasm on the field, but Neuheisel gives them a chance — the illusion of a chance, anyway, which might be the same thing. Even if he’s more Tommy Bowden than Pete Carroll, the resemblance gives the stale cross-town bit teeth for the next few years."

June 13 — Bruins Nation sees what SMQ wrote, says it's  Hating on Neuheisel.

• "This kind of jab isn't unexpected, at least from the Bill Plaschke's of the world (I can just see the Capone reference in one of his patented single sentence paragraphs)."
• "Surely, before branding Neuheisel a 'charlatan,' he'd cite to more than a couple five year old articles that tell only part of the story. Surely, SMQ's above-average Google skills gave light to the many, many  articles which show the other side of the equation. Funny thing, though.  The points in those articles weren't mentioned.  Maybe SMQ didn't have the time."

June 15 — SMQ plays its  version of "don't bring a knife to a gunfight," and asks Whatever Happened to Great Expectations?

• "When the message was 'Fire Karl Dorrell,' no opportunity was missed, no sentence was written that might weaken the campaign. Not even after a 26-point win. Not even if it was November and L.A. could still potentially make the Rose Bowl. Nothing could stand in BN’s path."
• "BN always held Dorrell to a high standard. It was clear about this in 2006, when ringleader Nestor laid out the expectations for that season: No Room for Regression in 2006: 9 Wins & MUST BEAT SC. The loss of Ben Drew Olson, Maurice Drew and four of the five leading receivers would not be counted as an excuse for a backward step after scraping through a string of last-second wins en route to a 9-2 regular season in 2005."
• "The Bruins upset SC, but clearly did regress overall, to 7-6 and a meh 5-4 in the conference. Off that disappointment, Nestor was equally clear about the expectations of a more veteran team in 2007: win 11 games, beat Southern Cal, and win the Pac-10."
• SMQ then points out the lowered expectations Bruins Nation put out this year (see June 12 post), amid all the hype around Neuheisel.
• After a game-by-game breakdown, SMQ points out, "Whether UCLA wins three or six games, it would only match Dorrell’s worst season at best. Whether it wins three or five Pac Ten games, it would only match Dorrell’s worst season at best."
• "Most fans have high hopes for immediate improvement under a new coach, but they don’t understand how to protect that investment. Nestor [a Bruins Nation editor] does. People don’t give a motorcycle gang of angry sumo wrestlers this wide a berth."
• "What this is, really, is an admission that the 'expectations' for Dorrell were ridiculous — intentionally constructed to be beyond not only any independent projections but beyond the realistic grasp of anyone in his position."
• "It’s not that these projections are destined to be wrong — without going into the returning roster in extreme detail, I happen to think, as BN has always maintained, that L.A. should always expect a winning season, including this season — but in context, they are staggeringly hypocritical."

June 16 — Conquest Chronicles, the USC blog in Sports Blogs Nation, chimes in by promoting a fan post with a couple nice things to say about Neuheisel, and a couple not-so-nice:

• Saying it's "doubtful" Rick Neuheisel can develop players and turn programs into consistent winners, "As SMQ rightfully pointed out, RN coached teams took a nose-dive (major one in Colorado, minor in Washington) in his 3rd and 4th year. One possible explanation would be lack of senior leadership or talent (previous coaching staff’s last class); however by fourth year, nearly 70% of players would be RN’s recruits. Also, I don’t really buy the talent excuse in case of Colorado. UW’s case is debatable."

June 17 — Bruins Nation properly engages SMQ with a post called Bring Out the Tin Foil Hats:

• "What comes in between the [SMQ's] introduction and conclusion is an amusing mish-mash of snark, obfuscation and flawed analysis."
• Breaks down reasons for lowered expectations, including a lack of a healthy experienced quarterback, a nasty schedule, and a "frightfully thin offensive line."
• "Throughout his commentary, SMQ also misses perhaps the most critical point. Specifically, he wrongly compares our collective expectations for a first year coach (Neuheisel) to one who'd been on the job 4 and 5 years (Dorrell). To be sure, we had higher expectations for a coach who had several years to establish his system and recruit in his players. Come back next year or in 3 and see if things change (they will). It's that simple. And it doesn't take a conspiracy theory or tin foil hat to get there."

June 18 — Dawg Sports, Sports Blog Nation's Georgia site, chimes in with a post about the Right Way to Argue Over Expectations:

• The post essentially sides with SMQ, but points out that everybody's friends.
• Observing the impact of the last Bruins Nation post, Dawg Sports writes, "As usually is the case when a weblog posting fails to strike a high mark, the comments that followed took a similar tack, directing SMQ to "a ‘we never landed on the moon’ convention," referring to the singular Sunday Morning Quarterback as the plural "trigger happy mudslingers," and lumping the intercollegiate athletics blogosphere’s most universally respected football analyst in with the "people who are never right." Menelaus’ [a Bruins Nation contributor] retort even alluded to the description of Bruins Nation as "a single-issue blog" . . . a description offered by someone other than Sunday Morning Quarterback."
• He adds that the post "characterizes Rick Neuheisel as 'a first-year coach,' despite his eight prior years of head coaching experience at the college level, and challenges Sunday Morning Quarterback: 'To be sure, we had higher expectations for a coach who had several years to establish his system and recruit in his players. Come back next year or in 3 and see if things change (they will). It's that simple.'"

Juicy stuff, huh? This offseason debate has everything: smack talk, loaded language, research, careful analysis, third-party involvement and much more. I'll keep linking to related posts as they happen.

Comments

[Davey]

You missed one.

Don't forget Bruins Nations response to Dawg Sports:

http://www.bruinsnation.com/2008/6/18/554254/circling-the-wagons

[patalbright]

It's very sad that a reporter for the Los Angeles Times so often quotes sports blogs, particularly Bruins Nations and SMQ. Today's post is not the first time you've referred to them and linked them.

If I wanted to read those sites, I would. Neither is bookmarked on my computer because I don't like either one. However, I do have the What's Bruin blog bookmarked. Unless you stop quoting two blogs I don't want to visit, I may have to remove the What's Bruin bookmark from my computer.

[Joe Bruin]

"blog of the Bruins, by the Bruins, for the Bruins" ... as opposed to what this blog has become, a blog of the Bruins, by a USC guy, for... who? The lack of comments on this blog shows how irrelevant this blog has become since the sneaky disrespectful anti-Bruin Adam Rose took it over.

[pk-in-the-mesa]

Briuns nation is ok but you better not get them mad or they will block you.

[VA Blueblood]

at 8:02, I posted this:

"on his previous post, he had a supposed link to an espn poll about the Bruins... but instead it lead to the trojans. He fixed the error, but deleted my comment calling him out on it. And today there is no admission whatsoever that for 24 hours Rose had left in an SC link on a "UCLA" blog.

Where have you gone Rich Perelman? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you..."

Now, about three hours later, it's been deleted. How is this repetitive/offensive/etc.? Prove that you are not censoring criticism here, Rose.

[Adam Rose]

Davey - Check! It's in today's Hot Links.

Patalbright - This time of year, there isn't nearly as much hard-news to report, so I'm just trying to let people know about some of the fun commentary. Things will pick up again soon.

JoeBruin - Blog traffic is doing great for this time of year. I'm not sure how I've been sneaky or disrespectful -- to the contrary, I've gone to great lengths to be open and earnest.

VA - Major difference between censoring and moderating. You'd already posted this on another part of the blog, so it was repetitive. It was also factually incorrect. Just for kicks, it was irrelevant to this post. I'm indulging you on this one, but only because I've got some time to kill. ;-)

[VA Blueblood]

okay. You're fighting an uphill battle here, so I'll do the same. Seriously though, if there's one error you want to avoid, I'd say it's accidentally putting an SC link on a "UCLA" blog, no?

[J]

Given the absurd amount of content concerning USC that appears on Bruins Nation, I fail to understand how one 'SC link on What's Bruin is an 'uphill battle.'

[pk-in-the-mesa]

Seriouly it seems that BN only talks about USC most of the time nestor, melickious, and the rest need to get over it and get a life.

[pk-in-the-mesa]

Oh, and by the way fellows you are fans and the fans don't win championships players do, but I guess you have herd this from friends and family before.