'It's no longer just a hobby for people'

Since I work for a mainstream media organization, I figure it makes sense for me to extend my coverage of Blogs with Balls for one more news cycle than some might think the story requires.  It's quite the trend these days, after all.

(Yes, that was sarcasm. I do have to keep getting my paycheck, you know.)

In all honesty, I think the discussion across the sports blogosphere about this past weekend is far from over. There is a lot for us all still to talk about, and while I don't know how much of the conversation will take place on this blog, I'm sure there will be plenty of other venues.

I'd like to take a moment to thank the many of you who've come here for the first time this week as a result of Blogs With Balls. If you haven't read the previous posts I've written about the conference, you'll find them at the bottom of the page.

I hope you'll stick around, and if there's stuff relating to college sports or soccer that you'd like to see on here, please let me know via email or in the comments.

So here's the third interview I did on Saturday, and there's a good reason why I saved it for the end. There's probably no bigger name in the sports blogosphere than Deadspin editor A.J. Daulerio, and it just so happens that he's a native of the Philadelphia area.

Well, maybe it's not so coincidental. Daulerio made a name for himself writing for Philadelphia magazine, which means that he's spent time as both a mainstream journalist and a full-time blogger.

In a week like this, it's not a bad perspective to have.

Question: What does it say that this event is taking place?

Answer: I think you're finding that blogs are becoming a lot more popular and a lot more legitimate, and people are taking them seriously. It's no longer just a hobby for people, it's a kind of lifestyle, and possibly a career, too.

Q. Should mainstream media organizations be reporting on what's said in the blogosphere?

A. I think you have to pick and choose. Especially after the latest incident with the Midwest Sports Fan guy [and Raul Ibanez], I think he was kind of treated a little unfairly. I understand where some things can get reckless and can take on a life of their own, but I think that was a little self-created too, by you guys.

I think everybody has to have a really good read on what's quality and what is something that could be potentially damaging.

Q. Given your position in charge of Deadspin, I've noticed that a lot of people have come up to you and asked if you could link to their stuff. What's that like?

* - It happened twice during this interview.

A. I guess it's expected in some ways. Obviously, we have a lot of traffic that people would like to get sometimes. And that's part of the deal, really. It just speaks to the success of the site in a lot of ways, I guess, so you can't really be upset about it.

Q. Do you ever have mainstream media people send you their stuff asking if you could link to it?

A. Absolutely, and I think it's happening more and more. Especially with the bigger publications. Sports Illustrated is doing it, GQ does it, Esquire does it. They all see the value in terms of taking our audience and getting our eyeballs on their pages.

Q. Do you have any sense from where you are of where the relationship between the mainstream media and the blogs is headed? On both sides, lots of people would admit that there was, at the start, the dynamic of one side versus the other. Now the walls have come down to some degree, and the two sides are sort of living with each other, if not working with each other. Where do you think it's headed?

A. I think more and more, you're going to see an intersection between how mainstream and blogs can work together. I think it's already starting to happen - obviously, you guys have a blogging component to their site.

Everybody's going to be able to do this and see how this is beneficial to really getting better stories out there and getting some more truth and geting some more opinions out there. It might be at a saturation level, but I think there is some room to grow.

Links to Previous Coverage
- Interview with Chris Lucas of Hugging Harold Reynolds
- Interview with Don Povia of Hugging Harold Reynolds
- My analysis of Blogs With Balls