The website sportsblog.com is a great blog that is targeted towards any professional sports junkie, regardless of gender or age. A wide range of people follow and enjoy watching American sports every day and the authors of this blog are writing for people that want to be able to keep up with recent news or their favorite sports/teams. The blog claims that it is the “premier blogging platform for superstars, super fans, and everyone in between”. Additionally, the authors created this blog to form a sense of community for fans while providing breaking news regarding professional sports, using elements on the blog such as the display of popularity of each post and the advertisement of the phrase, “Sports Fans Unite”.
The authors of the blog indicate their credibility by advertising that the website partners with the top leagues and players associations across the world. According to their “About” tab sportsblog.com offers a constant stream of fresh, authentic, authoritative sports news and commentary. They claim to represent some of the most popular writers in online sports, plus tens of thousands of influential fan and athlete bloggers as well. This credibility allows the audience to feel confident that they are reading information from a trustworthy blog.
Most of the members of the audience enjoy a certain sport enough to visit a website filled with these different types of posts. There are plenty of topics of debate or disagreement, such as which sports deserve the most recognition. This is typical for any sports conversation, as almost everyone has a somewhat different opinion. Along with factual posts, there are opinionated posts on this blog that are sure to spark discussion/disagreement. While exploring the different blog posts, I came across a title that read, ”Larry Fedora should be fired for ignoring Elijah Hood against South Carolina.” I immediately knew that this post wasn’t a typical information filled article because my own personal opinion came to mind, simply after reading the title. Reading the post, however, allowed me to view another perspective on the topic, although I already had my own opinion. Another post on the blog is titled, “Why Cristiano Ronaldo is the best footballer in the game.” Not only are some of these posts written with a little bias, but the authors are intentionally trying to stir up debate/discussion on a topic that many people obviously have different views on. If you click on a post, you will notice that some are written very casually, almost in a way to relate to the common sports fan. They are both informational and opinionated, with occasional humor related to the topic involved as well. There is a wide variety of posts on this website and each one has their own tone. A great example of the casual/humorous tone incorporated is the blog on the anticipated NFL matchup between Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston, the two top picks in the 2015 NFL Draft. Jameis was apparently falsely accused in a rape scandal slightly before his NFL career started and the author of this blog surely didn’t forget to take a shot at him after watching Marcus dominate the game against the former Florida State Seminole. Inside the post read, “But on opening day the Titans, and rookie QB Marcus Mariota, essentially told Jameis Winston that No Means No.” It was followed by, “What? Too Soon?”. The combination of casual and humor tone in which the information is presented to the audience creates a sense of community amongst fans/readers.
I noticed that not only are there tabs for different sports, but also for the type of news people want to read about. The news feed is separated into popular, new, and following categories for the audience in an attempt to make the information visually simple. There are arrows next to each post, where the reader can give a up-vote to their favorite articles. At the top of the page will be the most popular news and what most of the audience will want to see. These visual elements of the blog are important because they are what lure you in. Visually attracting slogans surround the blog as well, such as "get your sports news, anytime, anywhere” and “Sports Fans Unite”. The author made the choice to include many advertisements to gain credibility and look like an official blog. These examples aren't the only things that attract readers, as the titles like “Floyd Mayweather Jr Done? I think not” and “The Top Five Winningest Cities in North America” make you want to read more.
Overall, I believe that the authors of sportsblog.com succeed in what they attempt to do, which is trying to bring quality information and opinionated news to a large network of sports fans. The use of the rhetoric elements of text and visuals are definitely present on this blog as the information is presented in a casual manner and advertisements are used. Analyzing these features allowed me to garner a deeper understanding of the blog itself, and how the authors connects with it’s audience.
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