10 Reasons Superbowl Commentators are Like Bloggers

Bloggers? What, pray tell, do bloggers have in common with retired football players sitting in suits talking about football? Well the way I see it, a lot.

1. They have passion
   The most important thing about being a blogger or a commentator is passion. I don’t think you need to have even played football to be a passionate and thoughtful commentator. Of course it does help to have old war stories to tell.
2. They’re biased, and they know it
   Even if they don’t admit it right away, we all know the commentators still root for their old teams and have favorite players. Eventually they are called on it, but that’s okay, we knew it already.
3. They understand their niche completely
   Doesn’t matter if it’s football or knitting, bloggers and commentators really, really know all the minutiae of their subject. Down to every detail of the length of grass on the field or the number of twists in a type of yarn. It’s what gives them depth of understanding.
4. They have a lingo all their own
   Have you listened to either group talk shop? Sometimes I wonder if either group is speaking English. Between specific terms, slang, and inside jokes, wow bloggers and commentators are great at making up words.
5. They have opinions about everything
   If it has to do with football, commentators have an opinion. If it has to do with that blogger’s niche, they do to. Doesn’t matter how esoteric, obscure, or even potentially meaningless you aren’t really doing your job if you haven’t decided how you feel about the new thing. Well at least for now.
6. Everything in life, relates to what they are talking about
   Football is life. Life is football. The world and the blogosphere are one. Come on I’m writing a post relating blogging to football commentators, aren ‘t I just proving my point!
7. Eccentricity is rewarded not hidden
   Remember Jimmy the Greek? Well all like to make fun of John Madden. Really though, we love their oddness as much as we love our own geekerati. If you don’t think Chris Pirillo, Robert Scoble, or even I’m not slightly touched in the head, you’re not paying attention enough.
8. They still like getting their hands dirty
   Almost every week during the NFL season, and this week is no exception, the commentators will often have a little pseudo-touch football game. You can tell they still love the game. Yeah I still dig typing in shell commands on the server and typing a little HTML by hand.
9. They defend the purity of “the game”
   Yeah the newcomers are ruining the game, blogging just isn’t the same anymore. Yes, we all know, but we know we like the new shiny toys as much as we like being nostalgic.
10. Talking about fixing the problems in the game, generate lots of ideas, little progress
    When issues come up, maybe ethics in posting, or pay-per-post, or trying to get a new NFL rule fixed, we love to come up with ideas. Does anything get resolved quickly? Nah, not really, but that’s okay because the discussion does eventually influence the outcome. Well at least we like to think so.

Oh and maybe I should add an 11th: Never pass up an opportunity for a little attention. Like writing a post about football and blogging on Superbowl Sunday.

Naw, I’m not really be opportunistic. I had this planned all along. Yeah, like since an hour ago when I thought of the idea in the shower…