Running Ravens sites isn't a snap

Andrew Ratner On Blogs

September 2, 2008

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Tony Lombardi's answering machine ends with the message, "Remember, do what you love and love what you do."

Which pretty much sums up why the now-47-year-old Perry Hall man quit his job leasing equipment to corporations three years ago to go full time into blogging about his favorite team, the Baltimore Ravens.

"It doesn't pay what I used to make, but I'm optimistic," said Lombardi, whose business card reads simply "Tony Lombardi, fan." Page views of his Ravens24X7.com are up to 3 million this month, up from 40,000 when he launched it five years ago after encouragement from friends who enjoyed the opinionated e-mails he would send them about football and other topics.

More than a half-dozen active independent bloggers are busily typing away about the Ravens, who open their 2008 season at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Jarrett Carter, assistant director of public relations at Morgan State University by day and Ravens blogger by night, thinks Baltimore's team, often characterized by drama and a mean reputation, provides unique fodder for the craft.

"When Brian Billick was [coach], that was easy pickings; there was always some minicontroversy," said Carter, 27, who writes for the year-old EbonyBird.com. "Another thing is the Ravens are not on the NFL's radar as one of the consistently good teams, yet nobody would want to play them at their best. It's a 'we get no respect' thing."

The bloggers are fueled mostly by a passion for the team and the game. The NFL also gives them little respect and no credentials. They compete with the team's official Web site - which is handsome and bland.

They're also pitted against the much more heavily fortified Ravens blogs run by the mainstream media. The Baltimore Sun'sRavens coverage, for example, is among the most popular material the newspaper produces online, drawing more than 3 million page views a month by itself.

Overall, sports blogging isn't as fertile a territory as one might suspect, though. Among the top 100 blogs ranked by Technorati.com, not a single one is about sports. Technology news, politics and Hollywood scandal are the brightest stars in the blogosphere.

One theory might be that long before blogs - even before the Internet - tabloid newspapers, sports talk radio and ESPN were writing the playbook that blogs have adopted. At least in sports, "old media" virtually invented the features that have made "new media" so popular and entertaining: writing with attitude and snark and my-team-is-better-than-your-team confrontation.

"Maybe in the next year we'll be seeing sports blogs pop up on the list," said A.J. Daulerio. He's the editor of Deadspin.com, which was recently valued at $16.6 million by DN Scoop, which values Web sites based on links, public relations, traffic rank and other factors.

His was by far the sports site with the highest estimated value, although it did not include sports sites tied to larger Web domains such as sports blogs on AOL or newspapers, television, radio, etc. His site is also more irreverent than your typical Ravens blog, offering titillating pictures of cheerleaders and raunchier language.

Matt Loede, who runs another Ravens blog called Ravensgab.com, chafes at the liberties some blogs take to attract readers.

"I'm 33 and I've been watching sports since I was 7 or 8. I don't want my nephew going to my site and seeing a half-naked girl and reading curse words. That's where sports blogs have gotten a bad rap," he said.

In yet another example of the Internet dissolving geographic boundaries, Loede lives outside Cleveland, a place where mention of Baltimore still, 13 years after the Browns became the Ravens, elicits the response "you stole our team."

Loede has a morning job doing sports and traffic on the radio, but devotes afternoons and evenings to his collection of 43 blogs named gab for each of the NFL teams, plus other sports. About 40 writers contribute, many unpaid. A schoolteacher and another writer in Baltimore focus on the Ravens for him.

"Nobody's quitting their day jobs to do this. We've told writers from Day 1, it's more a labor of love but hopefully, their work will be rewarded," Loede said. His group of blogs is up to 150,000 page views a month and growing, up from maybe 3,000 when it launched two years ago. He marvels at times at the status his blogs can confer. Reebok offered him an interview with placekicker David Akers to publicize a new football shoe and publishers deliver books to his door seeking published reviews.

But like many independent sports bloggers, he also struggles against the control over "intellectual property" by the professional sports leagues.

"If I call the Ravens and say my name is Matt and we'd like to come out and cover a game, they'd say, 'No way.' There is not even a conversation," he said. "They think this is some guy who's 40 years old, living in his mom's basement with pictures of supermodels on the wall."

sizing up some ravens blogs

Ravens24x7.blogspot.com: Named best Ravens blog by Baltimore Magazine, the site is a fun read, conversational in tone and wide-ranging, from commenting on quarterback controversies to annoying repetitive pop songs on the radio.

Ravensgab.com: Provides the headlines on what's happening with the Ravens. Informative, not much attitude.

EbonyBird.com: Well-packaged, fast-paced. Held contest seeking "Best Ravens Bar." Monthly prize: a 24-pack of beer of the winner's choice (or the cash equivalent).

BaltimoreBeatdown.com: Not as ornery as its name suggests, but a good place for intelligent commentary. Promoted its recent mention on Sports Illustrated's Web site.

Ravenslocker.com: Heavy on statistics to make its point, but fairly grim design.

Bmorebirdsnest.com: Covers Orioles as well. More photos and videos than other sites.

Blogimoreravens.com: Long on attitude and humor, shorter on insights.

Andrew Ratner