Everybody knows why ArmchairGM is so good!

Declare your Independence from ordinary sports journalism!

This is a place where anyone can release their mental cake-holes of their opinions and readers will discuss the article in an open-minded and correctly spelled fashion. Even when people completely disagree with you, they are graciously and humorously rude. It is a band of handsome sports geeks that doesn't need to keep it's thumb on the pulse of sports...

ArmchairGM.com IS the Pulse of Sports...(my nominee for the new ArmchairGM.com Slogan Contest) the fan's clearest, most levelheaded and informed voice.

There are clearly manny intelligent, enlightened sports fans who demonstrate their creative writing skills using various stiles.

The community is articulate. The writers know their stuff (other than proper grammar useage and what it's used for) and ALWAYS verify information to express their finely crafted opinions. The topics are always fresh and exciting. Innovators abound and imitators go back to reading Bill Simmons.

There are some quite entertaining conversations that roll through this space. Go back and look through "old" articles and they still ring true. Miss a few days and you miss a whole bunch of crazy isht.

But the strongest feature of this community is that it strives for excellence, integrity and positivity in every way at all times. After all, as passionate sports fans we want things to continually improve.

It's TOO easy for us to point out the incompetences, the douche baggery, the closed-minded opinions, the tomfoolery and shenanigans, the witty sarcasm, the craftily hidden undertones of overt jealousy, the disdain for anything opinion in the news category, or the list the rank of the 5 hottest sports-babes at any given moment. So we don't do it (except for the sports babes, we'll point them out regularly).

Of course, I prefer to 'write to incite'... Pick on a random Yankee or Red Sox fan! They're so insecure, it's fun!

This is not an ordinary sports opinion vault, this is an extraordinary palace of sports wisdom for all to enjoy!!!

Date

Tue 07/04/06, 1:58 pm EST

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Patrickburke1980All-American

1246 days ago

Score 1

Manny, I have to point out your improper grammer usage while writing about improper grammer usage. It's spelled 'usage' not useage'.

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

1246 days ago

Score -1

That's the kind of eloquent retort you can come to expect here from the smug know-it-all journalistic fart sniffers here at ArmchairGM.com - Pat, I mean that in the highest regard!

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1246 days ago

Score 4

I have to point out it should be grammar usage, not grammer usage, Patrick... Sorry Manny (and Patrick for that matter), couldn't resist...

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Patrickburke1980All-American

1245 days ago

Score 2

haha, you got me there Alex. I'm just as guilty as Manny, if not moreso for doing the same thing I was criticizing.

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

1245 days ago

Score -1

Nah, nobody can be as guilty as me

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Sportsdot

1246 days ago

Score 3

I definitely think there is a place/need for the independent minded sports fan to share his/her opinion with other fans, and not fanboys. But that raises an interesting question:

With the plethora of "generalist" sports sites out there -- ArmChairGM (based on Wiki), Sportsdot (based on slashdot) , Sportsfrog, Sportsfilter (based on Metafilter), and the (rumored) soon to be released IDiggSports (based on Digg), it's interesting to see how none of these sites have generated anywhere near the traffic of their parents (ok, I know that ArmchairGM is not actually related to Wikipedia -- but you know what I mean).

Yet specific sports sites, such as Dirt Dogs or The Chicago Bears message board generates literally thousands of comments a day -- So much in fact that Dirt Dogs was actually sold to the Boston Globe for a fair bit of $$$.

So, is there a market for a independent generalist sports site? With ESPN, CNN/SI, TSN, Fox Sports and others generating huge amounts of original content, blogs and adding commenting on everything, is there a market for an independent generalist sports site? For certain, we (the sports generalist sites) provide a service in allowing the independent blogger a place to publicize. We're also a great local stories that the National media does not pick up on. Is that enough to keep a site rolling?

To answer my own question (and I look forward to reading all of yours as well) yes, but I don't think the above mentioned independent sites will ever be commercially viable. I'm obviously the owner of Sportsdot -- and we have the same problem that ( I think) everyone else does -- tons of lurkers and not enough comments -- if you disregard immediate friends and family. There's (I hope) a critical mass of people at which point the comments become good enough that the comments begin to generate their own traffic.

But the key is comments. I've recently come to the realization that all the above mentioned sites are not rivals, but actually brothers-in-arms, and as a result, I'm making a pledge to view/comment on these sites, in the hope that a rising tide will lift all boats. I want people to be looking for independent sites to speak about their sports views. I want to read what those people have to say. And I'm hoping to start a wave of interest in "crowdsourced" sports reporting -- where the common fan gives you an opinion with the hometown flavor, as opposed to the antiseptic drivel that comes over established media channels.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1246 days ago

Score 1

Congratulations Sportsdot! You've just took the lead in the "Longest Comment of the Year Award!" I think the thing that sets this sports site apart is the blog and wiki capability. It has "two strings to its bow," so even if one falters, it has the other to fall back on. The blogging is arguably the better of the two now, as the encyclopaedia is incomplete at the moment, but by working at the second string (the wiki side), it makes the site even better. Also, the wiki side gives me something to do in a morning when you lot are sleeping...

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

1245 days ago

Score -1

It's a whole article in there!!!!

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

1245 days ago

Score 0

http://www.a...mchairgm.com

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MetsJetsDevilsDraft Pick

1245 days ago

Score 4

I am so sick of these armchairgm conversations. Its like when you are in a relationship but the only thing the two of you talk about is the status of your relationship!

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Manny StilesMajor Leaguer

1245 days ago

Score 3

sometimes I feel like I just don't know who you are anymore, MetsJetsDevils... do you think I'm fat?

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