Friday, December 02, 2005
We'd like to thank our agent, Arnie...
Huzzah! The Battle of Alberta has been voted as a finalist in the 2005 Canadian Blog Awards, in the Best Sports Blog category. Thanks to everyone who marked a pixel in our favour.Finals voting starts tomorrow, and runs until next Friday. The competition looks pretty stiff. There's Golbez, who--despite his obsession with unpronounceable furrin players--runs an excellent hockey blog. There's Hockey Dirt; I'm not terribly familiar with it yet, but go check out Carnival of the NHL #14. There's Game Certainty, mainly a Leafs blog (I generally get my disproportionate Leafs coverage from TSN and HNIC, but that may change). And there's RaptorBlog.
This one's fairly new to me too, but I've bookmarked it. Real good-looking site. Also, is it just me, or is there an inverse relationship between the entertainment value of a sports team blog and the quality of the team it covers? There's something extra compelling about reading the anguish of a fan at the awfulness of their team.
That feeling of loss, of time wasted, of a life not entirely fulfilled... that is the feeling Raptors fans are faced with for the majority of the 82 games in this season.
Kind of like Covered in Oil during that 7-game losing streak! Scott Carefoot's favourite whipping boy appears to (sensibly) be Raptors coach Sam Mitchell. Check out this piece he quotes from Dave Feschuk in the Star:
"The Raptors are one of the league's five worst rebounding teams, but Mitchell has said he can't coach rebounding. They're the worst defensive team in the league as measured by opponents' field-goal percentage, but Mitchell said recently defenders are born, not made. On nights the Raptors shoot poorly, Mitchell is wont to say something to the effect of, 'I can't go out there and make the shots.' So with shooting, defending and rebounding under the auspices of the Almighty, what's left for a coach to do?"
Heh--am I ever glad I'm a Spurs/Suns fan. That is gold.
While you're voting, be sure to vote for ColbyCosh.com for Best Conservative Blog, and Cosh or Mirtle for Best Media Blog. Also recommended: The Accordion Guy, old acquaintance and fellow alumnus of CrazyGoNuts University, for Best Blog. These three consecutive posts will give you the flavour of the thing, and, are hilarious.
# posted by Matt @ 11:00 am 
