Follow Friday: Arseblog

As you will see soon, I am getting pretty excited for the young Premier League football season. Pretty soon I'm going to have a post up about why I love football so much (and why I refuse to call it soccer). But for now, all I have is the latest Follow Friday post.

I've been reading a lot of Arsenal blogs lately in preparation for the season. Some have really good analysis, some are very well written, and some are really funny. My favorites, though, are those that combine the three. The first, best example of this is the one and only Arseblog.

Arseblog is a daily production of the highest quality, and there's a regularly published podcast (the Arsecast, available free on iTunes) to boot. Arseblog is on Twitter and Facebook as well. So if you have any interest in Arsenal, check that all out.

Sample post: Arseblog's 2010-11 season preview (link)

Follow Friday: Amazin' Avenue

This week's Follow Friday blog is a good one (well, obviously I think they're all good, or else I wouldn't be recommending them). This week, I'm going with Amazin' Avenue, which is one of my favorite Mets-centric blogs, if not my favorite.

It's a really smart blog that leans toward sabermetric analysis (like most of the well-run teams in Major League Baseball) rather than uninformed gut reactions (like the Mets); however, it's not nerdtastic to the extent that the average reader won't understand what's going on. When I initially started reading I wasn't a stat nerd, but I still found the analysis they give to be incredibly informative and easily absorbed. There was the additional benefit of prompting me to start looking into sabermetrics, which has greatly enhanced my understanding of what the hell is going on in baseball.

The main reason I like it, though, is the fact that it has what I think is the most important thing a blog can provide, which is a community. The regular commenters are intelligent and contribute a lot to the blog, and they have a great rapport with the writers. All-around, Amazin' Avenue is a really good blog.

Suggested posts:
Jose Reyes Cumulative WAR Versus Other Shortstops: This shows how statistics can prove dumb sportswriters wrong for trashing players you like.
What Historical WAR Can Tell Us About David Wright: This shows how statistics can frighten you into thinking your favorite player may have some issues, but he also may not.
New York Mets Look-A-Likes: This shows how there are a lot of people around the Mets organization who look like famous people. Also, AA is funny.

Follow Friday: Hoosier Hockey

So I'm stealing this bit from Twitter, straight up. I'm going to (try to) find a blog every Friday to suggest. I can't guarantee that they'll all be to your liking, but I can guarantee that they're all to my liking, and if I like a blog and you like mine, chances are that you'll like the blogs I like. Got it? Okay good, now explain it to me.

First up is Hoosier Hockey, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a hockey blog that looks at the game from the prospective of a lifelong Hoosier, concentrating on the game in our state (well, my state). It's been going for a while now, and it's quite good.

I'm suggesting this blog partially because of its quality and partially because I'm good friends with Peter, who writes Hoosier Hockey. He got me into blogging a while back, and is a big part of the reason why this blog exists. He also knows more about hockey than practically anyone I know (at worst, he's tied for first place). So go check out his blog.

Suggested post(s): The "WTF, Indianapolis" Series
An Introduction
Part I
Part II
Part III