This week a friend and business partner, Jerod Morris, wrote a sports blog post with the goal of dispelling rumors that major league baseball player Raul Ibanez was using performance enhancing drugs. The post was thoroughly researched and well written. It was also very fair and did not accuse the player of using steroids. The post simply highlighted the fact that the state of Major League Baseball created an environment where anyone who turned in numbers like the 37 year old Ibanez did was fair game for speculation. That is where social media kicks in.

Shortly after the post was made, a blogger named Hugging Harold Reynolds tweeted about the post in his widely followed Twitter account. This caused the inbox of John Gonzalez, a staff columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, to blow up before he finished his morning coffee. In turn, he wrote a column accusing the Midwest Sports Fans blog post of irresponsibility and consequently drew attention to the topic of Ibanez and Performance Enhancing Drugs. The blogosphere lit up as did Twitter. Ibanez himself participated in a rebuttal in the same Philly newspaper calling Jerod an “idiot”. The next thing you know, ESPN gives Jerod a call asking for him to participate in a panel debate on blogging versus traditional media.

In this segment, Ken Rosenthal and John Gonzalez pretty much gang up on Jerod in defense of traditional media. John Gonzalez, who has been in communication with Jerod, was respectful during the Interview and I applaud the way he backed his position while being respectful of Jerod’s. Ken Rosenthal couldn’t get over the fact that this wasn’t 10 years ago and that fans and bloggers had a voice. He was actually very disrespectful to bloggers. Has anyone seen Ken Rosenthal’s blog? Since he was a flat out jerk to Jerod on air, I’ll jump in and be a jerk to him in our world. . .the blogosphere. Ken Rosenthal might be the big to do MLB guy for Fox Sports, but has anyone seen his blog? ‘ll give you my score card:

Content: B
SEO: F
Social Media: F
Conclusion: Rosenthal shouldn’t be on the Internet!
In a post defending Jerod, Sports Blogger Robert Littal calls out mainstream media for being affraid of new world media. He quotes, “Simply put Sports Bloggers are like rappers back in the 80′s. The mainstream doesn’t want to recognize us, but the underground knows we are better than the mainstream.”.

I wrote this post to give Jerod credit for writing a quality post, having a great rapport with his peers in the sports blogosphere, and for participating in the ESPN interview today. I also think that ESPN did a great job of giving him a fair platform for explaining his position.

In conclusion, social media is shaking up traditional media. Any story is one tweet away from mushroom affect. I just wish traditional media would partner with the blogosphere instead of taking a polarizing approach. It would be better for the media, better for the blogosphere, and better for sports fans.

Jerod, congratulations on some well deserved exposure and coverage for Midwest Sports Fans. You’ve worked hard at creating a quality blog!