"You'd be amazed by the number of people who stop me, bring me papers to autograph. I give a speech and ask for questions afterwards, this is 20 years on, and somebody always asks about The National. People do remember it fondly."

"If there’s a common thread to all of these moves, it’s hybridization and metastasis. The tools that drive compelling sports journalism on the web aren’t limited to sports. Nor are they exclusively held by sportswriters working for independent media companies. As Rob Neyer wrote when he moved from ESPN to SB Nation, the new ethos in sports journalism, as elsewhere, seems to be breaking down the distinction between 'us' and 'them.' And this is a distinction that you can interpret much more broadly than one between writers and readers, pros and amateurs, sportswriting and non-sports writing. When the walls tumble, they tumble everywhere.

"When word of Simmons' project first came out, my first impulse was that it was going to be almost like an 'Awl for sports.' The details released today -- high-quality (if lesser-known) writers, thoughtful pieces, not tethered to the news cycle -- suggest that it is what The Awl could be -- if one of the world's largest media companies opened up its resources ..."

"The importance of mobile and video to MLBAM’s business grew substantially last year. In 2008, mobile comprised 8 percent of MLBAM’s traffic; in 2010, it represented 37 percent of all of MLBAM’s vistors. On the video front, in 2010, MLBAM, the digital business arm of Major League Baseball, said its viewers racked up 9.5 billion minutes of streamed ballgames across all devices, including wired."

"Carillo was the opposite of that culture, and more akin to those on the print side who often play the heavy for fans of the sport. "You always want people who played the game," Williamson countered. 'You always want people who have relationships with people in the game. At the same point, you don't want to fool anybody. You want to tell people, "Yeah, there are some relationships here but that does not pollute someone's objectivity, their ability to analyze or give you strategy or their take on a potential news story."' Tennis stars can be fickle when it comes to press access and there's naturally a delicate dance covering them."

"Why don't women stick around? Here's a guess: With just a few female sports reporters in any given market, the gender remains a novelty. A segment of each new class of young women is constantly fighting to gain the same ground a generation before thought it had already established. Which may be why my anonymous young scribe hasn't complained in any official capacity. She doesn't want to give the impression she can't hack it." Depressing.

"Presented in a blog format, espnW.com will offer fan- and athlete-centric content geared toward female athletes and sports fans aged 18+. The site, supported by a Twitter and Facebook presence, will incorporate posts by top female sports columnists and bloggers, pro athletes, expert contributors and news from a variety of ESPN and non-ESPN news outlets."

"If ESPN really wants to attract more women stop hiring bimbos just because they look good and get some smart, sports-savvy women on your network. Or, in the altnerative, hire some beefcake guys for us to look at, because John Kruk and Chris Berman aren't really doing it for me. Get women in the broadcast booth as well as in the studio. Hire more women to write for espn.com. Stop relegating women to the sidelines and personal interest stories. It would probably also help if your employees stopped sexually harassing women at the current rate. In short, treat women as equals, and more women will start watching your network."

"Complicating matters: Twitter, which exacerbates the demands of immediacy, blurs the line between reporting and postulating, and forces writers to chase too many bum steers. With every media company unabashedly playing the 'We Had It First!' game, reporters' salary and credibility hinges directly on how many stories they break. That entices reporters to become enslaved to certain sources (almost always agents or general managers), push transparent agendas (almost always from those same agents or GMs) and 'break' news before there's anything to officially break. It also swings the source/reporter dynamic heavily toward the source. Take care of me and I will take care of you." Also: "The third thing you need to know: In the Twitter era, we see writers repeatedly toss out nuggets of information without taking full ownership. It's my least favorite thing about Twitter (because it's wishy-washy) and one of my favorite things about Twitter ..."

"The athlete in decline who decides to leave the game on his own timetable does no harm to anybody. What fan doesn't enjoy seeing his favorite star one more time? Only sportswriters cherish storybook career-finishes. They want Ted Williams to hit a home run in his last at-bat, because that's a prettier story to write than chronicling a superstar who goes out stumbling -- like Willie Mays. If sportswriters had their way, every star would die of Lou Gehrig disease during his last dance on the field, the court, or the rink."

"Sports are inherently social; in fact, they may be the only televised content that’s more commonly watched in groups than alone. And in between those televised events, the biggest element of fandom is talking about sports with others -- friends, co-workers, strangers at bars, radio call-in show hosts. It’s easy to see how ideally this translates to the web: Check out, for example, the enormously popular game threads that are the bread and butter of many of the blogs of the quickly growing SB Nation network. There’s little newsy information being conveyed there; they’re purely social, a way to create the normative group-viewing experience in a virtual space. Likewise, there’s no other area of news in which audiences hang on each and every tidbit of news and analysis that a journalist can provide. This attitude is a perfect fit for the rapid-fire, bite-size, analytically based formats of blogging and Twitter."

"The pricing of the products is intriguing. First off, Sporting News Today is pitched as a 'dime a day' product, 30 issues for $2.99 through Zinio. So what was five cents an issue in 1886 is now a dime “an issue” a century-plus on. As of this week, you can now buy the bundled magazine (standalone: $14.97 for a year) and Sporting News Today apps/access for $39.95 a year."

"Both apps are designed as 'value adds' for current subs. In addition to the magazine, the iPad app (see the video below) includes 'Other Stuff We Like' -- an exclusive collection of video, including interviews for the app, clips from the ABC Wide World of Sports archive, E:60 and Outside the Lines and photos combined with trivia, sports betting analysis and news from the sports gambling industry."

"If I have any sincere doubt about the validity of anything I've heard, I'm not going to put it up there," King said. "I'm not going to say, 'Hey, I'm not sure if this is true or not but I just heard that Eli Manning is retiring.' I wouldn't do that. I feel like if I put something up there, people are going to believe it. And they should believe it."

"Regarding the future, I think the best way to say it is that we just want to be everywhere that the sports fan is. For us, it's less about traffic generation than it is about creating brands. We're not looking to exploit search engines, and we're instead investing in better capabilities and metrics in reporting for our advertisers."

"As a device for the efficient consumption of MLB content, the iPad is so satisfying that I miss my cable television subscription -- and paying fees that ultimately make their way back to the franchises and the league -- even less than I did before."

@SBJSBD We recently gathered 10 sports leaders to talk about teams and leagues using social media. Here's the conversation.

"With minimal additional investment and no extra hires, fan-based SB Nation is launching 20 new regional sports sites during the next few weeks." (New York: http://newyork.sbnation.com/)

On ESPN's expansion into local markets: "... here's maybe the most important reason not to underestimate ESPN's city sites: Consumers just can't get enough of the brand. ESPN's ironic sensibility has supplanted the ire of the jaded ink-stained wretch." Newest local, ESPN NY, launched April 2. Like other city sites, focus is on major teams, hign school sports. What's missing? Racing, of course, despite New York being one of the largest markets in the game (this is one niche the local papers can continue to dominate).

"What MLB showed off today could be the best version of Gameday and MLB.tv that BAM has developed so far -- even better than the desktop experience."

"Given these pressures and problems, what’s to be done with game stories in the Web age? Should they be revitalized? Reinvented? Or is it time that they’re retired? Here are four ideas to explore ..."

The sports network continues its rise.

"Traditional sports media publishers: be afraid, be very afraid. In the latest example of English football clubs enhancing their own position as digital media providers, Arsenal has this week launched an iPhone app, priced £2.99 and developed by 2ergo. It has exclusive pictures, video, scores and news designed to keep Gunners fans happy. But what should have mainstream digital publishers worried is the sheer size of Arsenal's new media operations."

"Of that, 36,000, or roughly 10% were watching on their iPhone or iPod Touch." Very interesting.

"The intent of the line about 'sports-related content' is to get at the fact that we want to uphold the same editorial standards for reporting something, regardless of the medium. That is to say, that if ESPN decides not to publish news about a sports topic, that it should approach that in the same way across media. We’re clarifying and providing guidelines for how to play in this space, not fleeing from it."

"New guidelines immediately sent shockwaves around the sports world and raised questions about the ownership of one’s personal thoughts and comments and how they can be published -- via Twitter, Facebook or apparently any other digital means."

The real issue: "It’s a question of media control: top UK football clubs are tightly controlled media machines -- some are public companies -- feeding selected news and information to trusted journalists. And increasingly they want to broadcast news themselves whether online, on TV or through magazines."

Mixed reviews, ethical concerns (and be sure to check out the SI story highlights in the top right). "Think about that for a second. A spitfire NFL coach had to lecture his players, among the most macho, muscular, and ferocious athletes on the planet, about something called 'Twitter.' Hear that thumping sound below you? That's Lombardi knocking his head against the grave."

Schedule of live sports events showing on the site.

October conference on the economics of digital sports media. Features keynote by MLB AM head.