Blogged down

Obviously, I’ve got no problem with blogs.

Here at the Cut, blogs are held in the highest regard.

However, it’s really frustrating when members of the mainstream media attempt to start blogs just for the sake of doing it.

The meetings that lead to these debacles are hilarious I’m sure, with talking heads pounding fists and yelling for an idea that’s “now” that the “kids will dig.”

Jason Sobel’s golf blog on espn.com is a perfect example of this abuse. Now Sobel’s a really good writer, so all of the blame can’t fall on him. But according to his posts, he updates his British Open blog about every 45 seconds, which is fairly ridiculous.

And when you start updating your forced blog that often, you get posts like this:

1:21 p.m.: I said we’d have more on the Celsius thermometer, and you can now stop holding your breath. In a piece on why Americans keep winning the Open, I alluded to the fact that one major obstacle U.S. players (not to mention fans and reporters) have to overcome is trying to convert the temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit just to figure out how damn cold it is around here. Well, reader Andrew in New Hampshire checked in with this, uh, sort-of-easy formula:…

So the “Celsius” theme dies out eventually and then we start in on the food:

As for the other food being served here, well, let’s just say I’d pay about 5 pounds for one of those Augusta National pimento cheese sandwiches right about now. The food is — how can I put this delicately? — awful. Just horrible, really. Sorry, don’t mean to offend any Brits, but tomatoes, baked beans and mushrooms just aren’t my idea of a good breakfast.

Jason, sorry, over here, yea, could we maybe have some information on what’s happening in the British Open? Maybe who’s leading, what the course is like?

Yes, the world’s best players are here this week. But there are also a whole bunch you’ve probably never heard of — some of which have interesting names, if nothing else. A few of my favorites: Desvonde Botes, Achi Sato, Ben Bunny, Tomohiro Kondo and David Shacklady.

Thanks.

So obviously there isn’t enough to write about from Carnoustie, so let’s just take it down a few notches, k Jase?

Yanks, M’s gaining ground

Like it was stated yesterday, don’t look now but a couple teams are making up serious ground in their respective division races.

Mariners 6, Orioles 5: Seattle managed to build a four-run lead, let the entire thing slip away in two innings, then regained the edge with a bases-loaded walk in the eighth. Closer J.J. Putz, who was featured in this week’s SI, came in and retired three batters in a row. The win moved the M’s (53-39) to only 1 1/2 games back of the Angels in the A.L. West.

Devil Rays 7, Angels 2: Anaheim’s slide is now at three in a row as they continue to lose ground in the West. Bartolo Colon (who spawned one of the best baseball headlines ever), has only 1 win in his last 9 starts. On the flip side, although the Rays have won two in a row, they have exactly as many losses as they did on this day a year ago (56).

Yankees 6, Blue Jays 1: Well, the division lead in the East is down to seven games. You tell me that is insurmountable by the Bombers, I’ll tell you you’re stupid. The Yanks got a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh by (guess who?) A-Rod to help them to their fifth straight. Oh yea, the Red Sox just lost a series to the Royals.

Cubs 12, Giants 1: I’ll guess the N.L. can have some love, even though the entire league is a joke. Once again, Bonds was a no-show at Wrigley. Despite the lack of boos, the Cubbies managed to win again, with Carlos “why in the hell would not re-sign me” Zambrano becoming the first N.L. pitcher to reach 12 wins. (In case you’re wondering, there are three 12-game winners in the A.L., and four pitchers with 11 wins.) A day after losing the game for Chicago, Jason Kendall was on the bench as Koyie Hill drove in five runs. The Cubs are still 3.5 back of Milwaukee.

More scores…