April 02, 2010

Notes on the Upper Deck Social Media Awards

I'm a little late to this, and I'm sure others have touched on the many interesting points the Upper Deck Awards bring up, so I'll keep it brief.

• There seem to be two camps in the small world of blogging about baseball cards: Topps fans and Upper Deck fans. I'm not sure where I fit in, because I feel I've been critical of both sides. So then the question I have is this: would Upper Deck include a blog/website of a Topps fan in their nominated site choices? I mean, it's their ball; they can decide the rules.

• Chris Harris raises the question: Can a blog be considered among "the best" if it has less than 20 posts? I'm going to withhold judgment on this one, simply because "the best" is a rather arbitrary ranking that shouldn't be measured by how long a person's been doing what they do, but the quality of their work. Which brings me to my next point:

• How many bloggers out there are doing quality original work? Live-blogging a pack is no longer an original undertaking. Holding up your cards to your webcam? Nope. Giving your take on a sell sheet? Try again. Writing about your "big hit"? Snooze. Want to be a news source? Read Sports Collector's Daily, because Rich Mueller does it better than anybody.

For most people, writing a blog is about what they want to write about, not about wracking their brains for daring new things. But giving an award for work that can no longer be considered original?

I'm not writing this to be snarky or to suggest that The Baseball Card Blog warrants an award. It doesn't, at least not to commemorate the work I've done in the last two years (ie, very little). But there's only so much you can do with a blog devoted to baseball (or any other sport) trading cards.

If you want to read truly original work, head over to Josh Wilker's site, Cardboard Gods. There is no better baseball card blog on this here or any other World Wide Web, and the fact his site wasn't included in Upper Deck's list of nominees is a travesty of justice.

8 comments:

Rob- AKA "VOTC" said...

You should check out Josh's new book of the same name releasing next week. You can read a review here http://www.voiceofthecollector.com/2010/03/cardboard-gods-book-review.html

Also Sports Collector's Daily is a great, great resource but not solely devoted to trading cards.

Jeremy said...

So, besides Cardboard Gods, what qualifies as original work on a sports card blog?

PunkRockPaint said...

I love Josh's work. I am eagerly awaiting my copy of his book.

I haven't checked out the Upper Deck awards, but any awards that fail to nominate my post-a-month blog is pretty worthless. (tongue firmly in cheek)

Kevin said...

I like to think my baseball card blog is original...I am creating a checklist for every year there were more than one card manufacture, by taking the Topps sets and then adding any card from the other sets that aren't in the Topps sets...I just started this project and because it is helping me downsize my collection, I will keep it going.

My blog is...http://ultimateset.blogspot.com

I like any blog that features a good writer. Writing is key to these blogs, which is why Josh Wilker's blog is a must read for me. I wish I could write like that. Any blog with somebody who is passionate in baseball and collecting is usually good, I don't really care what card they are writing about specifically.

Pinkhat Bluehat said...

Not trying to get into the running or anything (haha)... just had a thought that one or two pack posts might be a fun project for my baseball blog. I'm trying to learn baseball by watching every game of the 2010 Red Sox season. Baseball cards are a huge part of the sport, so...

pinkhatbluehat.blogspot.com

--David said...

I disagree with your sentiment that TBCB does not deserve an award. TBCB is the grand-daddy of card blogs, no to mention the content is phenomenal. I think it's bull that you were not even mentioned.

Joe S. said...

What Jill said...

larry said...

jill is hunng up on glasses ?
from larry Stewart from Tacoma Washington