The Best and Worst Sports Websites

Let's get right to it. Here are the sites I love, followed by a couple that I cannot stand. Luckily, there are more of the former than the latter because, well, once I find a site to be useless, I tend to move on and forget about it.

The only sports-related website I would use the word "indispensable" to describe is Matt Sarz Sports. It is such an insanely comprehensive view of what college football and basketball games will be aired where (including online, for football). It's constantly updated. Look at his Twitter feed! He's so frenetic and passionate about keeping everything up-to-date. Click on a recent week, and you'll see it will even reflect local broadcasts, and he keeps separate lists of games only being shown online as well as games not being broadcasted at all. As soon as he receives a tip or learns of a broadcast, it goes onto the main "board" of that week.

Notice, too, things like coverage maps and links to affiliate stations. So you know FOX Sports is going to carry Arizona State/Oregon, but you don't know if FOX Sports Southwest, specifically, will? Just click on "FSN List" next to the game and find out. He does not miss a trick. And as soon as he learns the first kickoff time and network of a game next year, there will be an entry for "2012 college football," no matter how early it is. I've praised this site in my column before and will again. It is awesome.

Speaking of "coverage maps," The506.com is a weekly stop for me, where the author neatly overlays a color-coded broadcast map of which stations will be airing what NFL game over a Google map of the United States. What are those white areas? That means "no game" in that city, at that time slot, on that network. Didn't you know that the NFL prohibits media markets from putting on a game at the same time as the local team?

The local team must be the only game in town. That means, if it is FOX's week to have a doubleheader and your team is playing on CBS, then you don't get a FOX doubleheader. You get your own team's game in one time slot and one game in the other time slot.

So yeah, I learned that thanks to The506.com. Before I was aware of the phenomenon, but I just thought local stations were unwilling to go against the local team with more football, and figured their best chance at ratings would be to broadcast something non-sports-related. Turns out they don't have a choice. Thanks, NFL! As always, you put the fan first.

Anyway, The506.com has been branching out lately to include broadcaster lists for college games, MLB on FOX maps, and other useful sports errata.

The more time goes by, the more my blog list is pared down. Right now, there are only two sports blogs I read regularly. One is Matt Hinton's college football blog on Yahoo!, Dr. Saturday.

It helps that I seem to agree with him every time he proffers an opinion. That's not what keeps me coming back, though. He can actually write! Like, he seems to take some pride in his art! He's not bombastic! He's actually pretty calm and understated! Doesn't he know this is the blogosphere, where we are supposed to be able to close our eyes and feel the slobber?

"Understated" is not what I would call my other favorite blog. Nor would I call it politically correct, dignified, or calm. I would call it absolutely hilarious. Kissing Suzy Kolber, which you might infer from the name, is an irreverent look at the NFL. Actually, "irreverent" is not even doing it justice. They will go anywhere, and make any joke. No sacred cows over there, and that's how I like my football blogs and my stand-up comedians.

And they write mini-plays, with recurring characters. Ben Roethlisberger as a Faulknerian man-child, Hines Ward (who is half-Korean) as a crude (very crude ... too ridiculously crude for anyone to actually get offended) Chinese stereotype, Chad Ochocinco as a precocious kid asking his coach ridiculous questions, "Tawmmy from Quinzee," a racist Patriots superfan with too much testosterone, and my favorite, a Cowboys foursome of Wade Phillips as a straight man, Jason Garrett as a brown-nosing evil genius, Pacman Jones as an incoherent sex-addict and alcoholic, and Jerry Jones as Jerry Jones.

Honorable mention (because it is so infrequently updated) goes to the KenPom.com blog. Ken Pomeroy is the guy who created the college basketball "kenpom" rating system of some note. I'm not a math or stats geek, so I love it when someone who is can clue me in to what the numbers mean in a fascinating way. He does that.

The worst? I've defended the ESPN monolith before, but when I need scores, news, stats, whatever, the kind of thing that I can get anywhere, I never ever ever ever ever ever go to ESPN for it. I hate their website. Unlike most, they have a video that will load right on their front page, whether you like it or not. Don't like it? Pause it or mute it. It's also graphically cluttered and too busy so, consequently, it does not load as fast as its peers.

Does anyone else remember when Deadspin was interesting and relevant? Deadspin blazed the trail for funny, high-traffic sports blogs. The writers of Kissing Suzy Kolber started off as regular Deadspin commentators.

Now? It sucks. There's just no other way to say it. All they care about now is sports gossip. Not even, "Will Ralph Friedgen get fired?" gossip, but, "Who was Miles Austin seen boinking?" kind of gossip. I'm just really scratching my head at the editorial direction they decided to take. And that actually goes for all of Gawker Media. I think Nick Denton, their founder and owner, over manages and doesn't really have a clue anymore. He came in and changed the blogosphere, but now it has passed him by.*

Dishonorable mention goes to Awful Announcing. There's so much promise in the concept of a blog devoted to, well, awful announcing. And the author provides solid info, releasing who will be commentating for which games in all the major sports.

But beyond that, it really falls flat. His take on every issue is so boring. He's the kind of guy who would write, "Personally, I think it's wrong that Mike Vick abused dogs. But on the other hand, he's served his time."

He also seems vaguely sexist and biased against female announcers. Nothing blatant, but so much of the site revolves around Pam Ward's alleged horribleness. But she's not horrible, and the things they snicker at her for saying wouldn't even cause them to glance at the TV if a guy said them. I happen to think Pam Ward is great. She's knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and it's obvious she didn't twirl her hair and tee-hee her way into the broadcast booth, if you follow me.

*Note: When linking Deadspin, I noticed it's the site that Fire Joe Morgan, one of my all-time favorite shuttered blogs, has chosen to resurrect themselves. This is would be like if Muhammad Ali announced his Parkinson's was cured and he won the Nobel Peace Prize on E! I hope the FJM guys are getting paid a lot. I'm having a hard time reconciling this incongruity.