In Which We Shamelessly Pat Ourselves on the Back

By Chris Mottram
The Sporting Blog was launched less than two months ago, on Nov. 26. In the six weeks between then and now, we have gone from exactly 108 page views on that first day to thousands per day (yeah, yeah, certain other sites average a thousand PVs per word, or something). But more important than numbers is the recognition we’ve received this week from around the web.
Some examples of the much-appreciated love:
> Sporting News Blogging Its Way Into the New World | CNBC
“They’re making moves that could save them. Dan Shanoff, my former colleague at ESPN.com, and of DanShanoff.com blog fame will have his blog on the site starting Monday. Deadspin’s Will Leitch will blog for The Sporting News at the Super Bowl and they’ve added Spencer Hall of ‘Every Day Should Be Saturday’ and Pro Football Talk’s unbelievable scooper Mike Florio.”
> Don’t Look Now, But Sporting News Is Relevant Again | FanHouse
“[The Blog is] a smart business strategy from Sporting News, which all of a sudden feels like a must-read sports site. Sporting News is never going to win a bidding war for the Rick Reillys of the world with the Sports Illustrateds and ESPNs of the world, but it can attract high-quality sports writers. And it has.”
> Seriously, What’s Gotten Into the Sporting News? | SportsByBrooks
“TSN.com’s Chris Mottram has put together something called THE SPORTING BLOG, which has a format much like AOL’s FANHOUSE. Mottram & Co. pulled off a recent coup by landing Dan Shanoff as a regular contributor. And Will Leitch of DEADSPIN will be filing for TSN.com from the Super Bowl (hopefully cell camera in hand at some Tempe watering holes). ... Thanks to those moves, we’ve got TSN.com back on our bookmarks as part of our daily rounds.”
> Welcome to the Fray, Mr. Shanoff | Awful Announcing
“I think it’s safe to say that Shanoff is joining a Murderer’s Row of content providing machines (present company excluded) and according to MDS at Fanhouse, making SN ‘relevant again.’”
> LBS Moves to Sporting News Radio | Larry Brown Sports
“I’m pleased to be joining the team at Sporting News where no doubt the brand is on the rise. Just this week it was announced that Dan Shanoff would be writing alongside many prominent bloggers for The Sporting Blog. In light of their recent additions, SPORTSbyBROOKS, Darren Rovell of CNBC, and Michael David Smith at FanHouse have all recognized the re-emergence of Sporting News as a player on the sports media scene.”
We haven’t received much hate yet, however, which is a sure sign that we’re yet to officially arrive. Give it time.↵