Exploring Venues/Publications

I chose to analyze and compare two sports blogs, Yahoo Sports’ Shutdown Corner, and Sportsnation’s Black Shoe diaries. Both are about football, however Shudown Corner relates to the NFL in general, and Black Shoe Diaries relates to the Penn State NCAA football team, and touches slightly on other Penn State Sports as well. Both are internet blogs, updated more than daily. Looking at Shutdown Corner first, the layout consists of large headlines, followed by large pictures with the story underneath. Black Shoe Diaries takes a similar approach, but will occasionally not use any picture. The blogs seem to vary primarily in how they convey news to their readers, and the primary audience of their readers. Shutdown Corner, which covers the entire NFL, has to assume that their audience is likely not familiar with most players, since there are 32 teams in the league. Because of this they usually have to explain what position, team, and notable plays/stories they have been involved with before beginning the actual story itself. For example, one of the more recent stories on Shutdown Corner was about Jabar Gaffney. In the opening sentence, below the picture, it mentions a previous story about the player that occurred last season, which people might be familiar with. It also has to casually work in his position and team in the opening sentences as well. Black Shoe Diaries, on the other hand, can assume that its audience is familiar with Penn State football, and doesn’t have to go in depth about players when relating stories that involve them. It mentions players without giving any background, and readers are assumed to know who is being discussed immediately. Then there is the obvious difference in audience. Shutdown Corner is a blog that is supposed to appeal to a wide audience, so it also mixes in humor to keep readers interested in stories not about their team. Black Shoe Diaries on the other hand can simply dish out details and facts, without having to be humorous or to have to relate to pop culture in order to keep their audience entertained.