Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane on why
blogs rule:
And that's what I love, for lack of a better word, about the blogger's world. There is a tendency to really analyze things in detail. Ultimately, because there is so much conversation and investigation on a site like yours, people may not ultimately agree with it, but they stumble onto what you're trying to do. Someone emailed me something written on a Cardinals' blog, and they had nailed all the things we were talking about. The economic reasons, the personnel reasons and the reasons we made the exchange. The world of a Web log will lend itself to a lot of investigation. And you will often stumble across the answer more than someone who has to write in two hours to meet deadline just to make sure something is out in the paper the next day.
Yeah yeah, this is navel gazing, but blogging isn't a phenomenon limited to the political realm. I believe sports blogging will be the next "Big Thing", which is why I've started a company in that realm (details coming soon). Tech bloggers led the way, even if political bloggers stole the big headlines. Blogs targetting various professions, like marketing, public relations, and the law are making their presence known in their respective markets.
This is a new era of grassroots media. While traditional journalists had to know a little bit about a lot of things, bloggers can focus on their areas of expertise. They can drill like no one else can.
Baseball's top GM understands it better than most. But it won't be long before it will be conventional wisdom. Not just in politics, not just in sports, but in every industry.