A Visual Experience

The Webby Awards--"the online Oscars"--have been posted. Within the last few years Web design has become increasingly sophisticated. If you look back at magazines fifty years ago, the designs and art elements were very refined--they were enjoyable to view and not so very different from modern magazines. The Web, circa 2001, wasn't sophisticated at all. (In way of comparison, check out the Webby nominees from 2001.) But now Web tools have started to finally catch up with Web designers' creativity. There is some really cool stuff out there. The way we visualize and acquire information (including sports) will continue to evolve. Some of my favorite Web artistes: sofake, Analogue, and group94.

As for the Web awards...the current winner of the sports Webby Award went to...

The Reggie Bush Project

People's Voice Winner:

Manchester United official website

Sports Finalists:

MLS Mashups

Nike Basketball

The Onion

Also, staying in the visual realm, the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) has announced its Best of Photojournalism winners. There are some great images (for the sports winners click here), and for In The Fray's quick take on last year's awards, click here.

Sports journalism: A-Rod and the unwritten rule

Should newspapers report on the extramarital affairs of athletes? If the answer is yes, the subject could probably have its own daily pull-out section, but for more than one hundred years reporters have held to the unwritten rule that the athletes should be able to have a semblance of a private life outside the arena. The New York Post decided to break the arrangement last month when it decided to go after Yankee Alex Rodriguez who was photographed in Toronto with a woman who was not his wife. "It felt like the line had been moved," said Buster Olney, who was once the Yankees beat reporter for the New York Times. For an excellent article about A-Rod and sports journalism ethics, check out the New York Observer's "Hey, A-Rod! Smile!"

More UFC: David Mamet, Redbelt

Playwright David Mamet, a Pulitzer Prize winner, is exploring his interest in ultimate fighting.