Today we're launching the beta version of a new Outsports blog. It will replace the daily Jock Talk updates that we have had almost since our inception. It will be updated at various times throughout the day. It also allows comments.

New Outsports Jock Talk Blog

It is in the beta stage, so we welcome feedback on it.

We will have guest bloggers over time; so if you're interested, please drop us a line at mail@outsports.com

I could turn it into a blog within a blog.

The photo formatting is a bit off, throwing off the alignment of the pages (when I went to previous posts and scrolled down a bit, there is a HUGE photo of Alex Smith that junks up the formatting).

Overall, blog is great (but of course as a tennis fan, I might be biased...)
Great coverage of the Harrington story, too, and I think a blog gives you the flexibility to update a story in a way the main site just wouldn't allow.

Hey B:
We are working with our bloggers on proper photo rules.
Thanks!

It would appear that a few comments to blog posts are actually spam.

Thanks Jim, was really just trying to be helpful... Have a bigger question now: what's up with you and Cyd and cats? Both of you with cats on your avatar photo? I know I'm Johny Come Lately, but did I really miss something???

Well, they're both gay, I hear... BTW, I'd like to thank the person(s) fixing the spacing in my blog posts because for the life of me I can't seem to do it myself.

JIP: I will send details on how to do it; fairly easy. Thanks for blogging, though I was expecting a hearty Andy Reid rant!

Hey, I tried to add a response on the blog but I kept getting an error message... I filled in the requested information, but my comment wasn't added.

I'm telling you, if I post everything I think of to the blog, you might as well drop the "Jock Talk" name.

We installed an antispam filter and it requires you to answer a simple math question (2+2 example): Spam protection: Sum of 10 + 3. It is right above the Leave a Reply link. Please try again and let us know.

Thanks!

Jim, I had same problems even after responding to the spam question.....

Yeah I tried to answer 5+6 which I'm pretty sure is 11 and 9+3 which I'm pretty sure is 12 but it wouldn't let me post.

OK, on to Plan B. I disabled the math question until we can determine why it isn't working.
Thanks!

Math is hard!

Also, if you get an error message, copy it and paste it here. Spammers really target blogs so we want some protection.

George, great line!

Did I just read Joe Guckin comparing sexual orientation to political party affiliation? He might, or might not, win a sports arguement with PGN editor Mark Segal. But I wouldn't give him odds on winning a debate about gay issues with anyone who is gay, and knows it, much less Segal.

Is there a post/thread somewhere about this upcoming forum hosted by Outsports' Jim B?

There's an article on the home page now.

Joseph,
How did you miss the typo?! "New Outpsorts blog"

You'll have to ask Cyd. He started the thread.

Surprised no one caught that until now -- it's been over a month.

There's that Stanford edubacation for ya.

I wasn't even aware of this feature on Outsports, although I'm not sure why the subjects in the blog couldn't just be incorporated into the threads of the regular discussion board. So unless I make a point of checking the blog regularly, I could easily miss out on some interesting stories that I would probably otherwise expect to read on the discussion board. But maybe someone can enlighten me, since I seem to be missing something...is the blog intended to serve a different purpose than the discussion board? The blog set-up seems to be basically the same, as people can comment on the writer's post in the same way they would if it had appeared on one of the discussion board threads. Case in point: I recently posted a comment on the long-dormant National Lacrosse League discussion thread. The ever-alert JIP redirected me to a blog on the same subject (thanks, Joe). But this raises the problem (albeit a minor one to many people, I suppose) of duplication of subject matter, one on the discussion board and one on the blog...

Yes, the blog replaces the old Jock Talk daily feature. A blog is much more flexible and allows people like Joe, Jim Allen, Patricia Nell Warren to post on subjects that interest them. We see the blog as another way for interesting stories to be highlighted since Jock Talk limited us in how much we could write and when.

Maybe because the thread would inevitably be highjacked by talk of uncut cocks and oversized pics of puppies and kittens? Just sayin'!

Maybe you're an ass but then again there's no maybe about that.

I look at the blog as something that perhaps will generate more sports discussion, whether replies are posted to the blog or the board. I don't see duplication as much of a problem. There are probably people who read the blog but don't read the board. Now be sure to check the blog daily from now on, Marc.

I went to Stanford for the football, not the edumacation, dammit!

ROTFLMAO

Aye aye, sir!

Felt really nostalgic reading Cyd's blog about Charlotte, North Carolina just now. My partner and I went to Charlotte, South Carolina as a sidetrip to visiting Savannah, Georgia soon after the publication of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil written by John Berendt in 1997.

The southern charm of the region overwhelmed the constant reminders of the tortured history of the two cities. My only disappointment if you can call it that was being singled out at a bar in Savannah by the model for a one of the more colorful characters in that book The Lady Chablis.

I am not partial to lap-dancers of any sort and though Ms. Chablis has a tighter body than I expected my obvious discomfort must have discouraged her from proceeding that far after running her long luxurious fingers across my usual stubby crewcut and nearly hairless face (I don't shave often even now and did even less then at 40-ish).

But I had some nice fantasies about a really hunky extra to whow she gave a thorough lap-dance, and more, on the stage.

My favorite memento from that trip is a 7-inch diameter tightly woven sweetgrass basket made and sold to me by a woman whose mother-in-law was Gullah, and had taught her the craft. I would love to go back there after the next presidential election, assuming a Democrat wins, just to see how the culture there feels.