Sunday, June 24, 2007

Sports Message Boards: Good, Bad and the Ugly

Over the past several years, I have enjoyed the opportunity to visit and post on various sports message boards. Avoiding the rude and insensitive posters can be a challenge from time to time, but it is a nice way to discuss college sports and other topics associated with sports fans.

For Hawkeye Sports, two boards come to mind for me, though there are others I have visited over the years... or offer fans an outlet!

Hawkeye Report is the bigger one. Tom Kakert and the folks over at Hawkeye Report do a very good job keeping us up to date with Hawkeye Sports as part of the Rivals Network. Yahoo has bought the Rivals Network recently, so it will be interesting to see how things shake out.

Hawks Turf is another site I have enjoyed over the years. A free site that has weathered the storms over the years of the big paid sites. crhawkeye does a very good job from his home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The Rivals Network is my favorite. It is a shame that some sites don't offer a free spot or at minimum, an open spot, for premium members from rival teams. Examples of closed sites are Missouri and Colorado. With a former Cedar Rapids Washington athlete on the Colorado football team, it is disappointing not to be able to get some news from the message board on Maurice Cantrell, the starting fullback for CU.

I enjoy hitting various sites around the Big Ten and Big 12. Iowa State's site is only for premium members within the Rivals Network. At least, ISU offers something better than the other two.

A favorite closer to me personally is the Bluejay Cafe. A great site to catch up with Creighton University athletics. The Bluejays offer solid programs in men's and women's basketball, soccer and baseball. Making the NCAA Tournament this past season in all 3 men's sports and losing out in the Women's MVC Basketball Tournament in a heartbreaking OT loss.

peace

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