Blog Reviews

1 - "Half Time Orange" by Jesse Fink from http://www.theworldgame.com.au/

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/blogs/halftimeorange/

I'm a bit of a football fan and Fink's blog hits all the right notes.

Fink is based in Sydney and has an impressive CV, with previous roles including the former deputy editor of Inside Sports magazine, as well as gigs for FourFourTwo magazine and Foxsports.

Fink obviously has extensive knowledge on the game, and his blogs are a no holds bar approach to his opinions. If he thinks there is an issue which needs to be raised, he will no pull punches and attack whoever he feels is in the wrong, with Graham Arnold (deservedly) copping a bashing during the Olympics.

His blogs are usually humorous and sarcastic, while also providing important points of discussion.

He blogs regularly, usually twice a week, and most of his topics are interesting and are a fun read.

As can be seen from the high number of comments on his blogs, Fink has a wide audience and his semi-controversial topics draws a lot of debate, which he sometimes engages in as well.


2 - The football blog from http://www.thedailytelegraph.com.au/

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/soccer/

This blog has had several authors, but the main writer for the past year or so is known as From the Horsey's Mouth. Similar to the Fink blog, the Horsey's blog covers major issues of football, predominantly concentrating on issues related to Australian football.

He takes a bit more of a candid approach than Fink does, and therefore I don't' take his blog as seriously as Fink's. That's not to say I don't enjoy it, but I just view it from a different angle.

Unlike Fink, the Horsey doesn't get too many people replying to his blogs (usually around 15-20 per post) and he tends to reply to comments a lot.

He posts fairly regularly, usually once a week during the season.

I like Fink's blog better because the Horesy is a Graham Arnold supporter.


3 - Jason Dasey for ESPN

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/archive?columnist=74&root=global&cc=3436

My favourite football blogger is Jason Dasey, who is the Australian writer for ESPN Soccernet.
In the past he has been a successful broadcaster for several sports related channels. Dasey's main medium is TV, although he has also held opinion columns for several papers. While he has covered a lot of football for Soccernet and Sportscentre, he also covers a variety of other sports.

He's blogs appear regularly on Soccernet, and unlike The Half Time Orange and From the Horsey's Mouth, Dasey takes a serious approach to his writing. He has an air of professionalism about him, and the reader can easily feel that he comes from a proper journalist background, unlike the other two, who can come across as just fans blogging. He manages to get big name interviews regularly, and I usually agree with most of his discussions.

Again he posts regularly, usually once a week, although he rarely draws comments, possibly because Soccernet's target audience are fans of European football.

He also has his own website, http://www.jasondasey.com/