Press Row

In every news industry besides sports, blogs and websites are increasingly considered among the elite sources for information. In tech, some of the most influential outlets and journalists are bloggers or web-only, like Gizmodo, Engadget, and TechCrunch, to name a few of Technorati’s most popular blogs. The Huffington Post is one of the most read [...]

Like him or not—and I don’t think many do—Jay Mariotti’s departure from the Chicago Sun-Times leaves yet another sizeable void in the sports newspaper world.
While his editor seems to think Mariotti’s strange exit will produce some mysterious spike in readership, bringing back all those jilted Chicagoans that just boycotted the paper because of Mariotti, [...]

As a college and NFL fan who loves stats and knowing every last detail of what’s going on, there are few times of the year more fun than training camp.
It’s that time when every last player on the roster has a chance to make their mark and prove they belong. It’s also probably the only [...]

To the casual fan, the world of sports media looks stronger than ever.
Networks like ESPN/ABC and FOX offer unprecedented levels of coverage, both online and on television. (Just look at NBC’s projected coverage of the Olympics–a great read from The Globe and Mail in Canada.) The blogging realm gains more and more steam, with thousands [...]

Lost in today’s celebration of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s six newest members (including former 49ers great Fred Dean) was the 40th annual presentation of the Dick McCann Memorial Award.

Per the Pro Football HOF’s website: “The Dick McCann Memorial Award, which is named after the first director of the Pro Football Hall of [...]

I’ll be doing more with this in the next few days, but for now, I suppose I’m just out to prove a point.
What ESPN’s NFL Blog Network has done right now is, masterfully, duplicated the strategy that has made so many other blogs successful in recent time:
1) Take people with relative clout in the industry.
2) [...]

What Are Abbott Lines?
Let’s get this straight. Forty-Niner coach Mike Nolan is entitled to his reasons, is entitled to this charade of two quarterbacks competing for the starting job. He’s the boss, and the boss can create competition if that’s what makes him happy.

But it’s a phony competition because Alex Smith is a [...]

A major treat for everyone today: Press Row’s first interview! We had the honor of spending some time with Matt Maiocco, the 49ers beat reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and the author of the INSTANT 49ers blog.
Matt is a three-time winner of Pro Football Writers of America awards, and Rotoworld ranked INSTANT 49ers [...]

- The prolonged march of death for the newspaper industry continued today as the LA Times laid off 150 (!!!) of their staffers, all part of a greater plan of eventually cutting the cord on 250 employees (!!?!??!), or 17% of their staff.

The mass genocide coincided with the resignation of Ann Marie Lipinski, [...]

What Are Abbott Lines?
I remember Packer taking notes at one of those sessions, walking out late one night and saying essentially, “I’m not going to be guilty of this anymore.” And very quickly the language that so offended many of us was eliminated from his analysis. Not reduced, not lessened . . . gone. More [...]