With so many football blogs to choose from, it can be difficult to decide which ones are trustworthy and which ones aren’t. The key is finding the best football news site that matches your specific interests and needs, whether that’s in-depth coverage of the NFL, detailed analysis of the upcoming Super Bowl, or breaking news on trades or signings that have just occurred in your favorite team’s offseason. Here are some tips on how to choose the best football news for you!
Think About Your Audience
When you’re looking for football news, it’s easy to get wrapped up in stats and storylines. Those are fun, but more importantly, they’re distracting—which is one of many reasons why fantasy football players make terrible fantasy owners. Before you choose a site or a publication, think about what sort of fan you are (or want to be). Are you an armchair general manager? A crazed fan whose only rooting interest is your team? A die-hard analytics guy or gal? Whatever your style and habits are, there are sites out there that cater specifically to them. You just have to find them.
Put Yourself in the Publisher’s Shoes
If you’re pitching a story idea, you need to make it as easy as possible for your editor or producer (or writer or whatever) to accept. If you’re pitching your ideas via email, keep it short and simple. A good rule of thumb is one idea per email and each pitch should be sent with a specific topic in mind. For example, if you want to pitch a column about fantasy football strategy, tell them that’s what you’d like to write about specifically. Also, let them know if there are any other topics they might suggest; a good editor will usually know if they have enough material coming through on a certain subject and will tell you instead of suggesting something else altogether.
Know What Makes a Great Story
Believe it or not, there’s an art and science to finding a great story. If you’re trying to break news, you need something that hasn’t been reported yet, but if you’re just reporting what others are saying, then you might want someone with credibility. Even then, your focus should be on providing insight or analysis that helps people better understand current events rather than simply repeating what happened. Good stories make people interested in a topic and help keep them informed. That way they know more about important issues without having to take time away from their day-to-day lives or responsibilities. The key is knowing where good stories come from and how best to report them. A good place to start?
Look at Advertisements
When searching for football news, you’ll notice that many publications are not free and you may not be able to sample their content. Fortunately, there is an easy way to see what you’re getting before you pay—look at their advertisements. If a website has advertising from local car dealerships, for example, it’s likely that its content will lean toward local stories rather than national sports stories. Also, note that some websites may cover certain topics on a pay-per-view basis as well as offer special access (including pre-game interviews with players) if you subscribe. Look at both options carefully before choosing a subscription site. In many cases, even though one site costs money and another is free, they can still provide similar content.
Understand Metrics
There are countless different ways to gauge a player’s talent and performance, but two of them stand out above all others: total points scored (and projected) and how he compares to his peers. If you’re struggling to keep up with a sport as complex as football, it can be overwhelming sifting through different stats and formulas. Thankfully, there are plenty of third-party tools you can use that will help you make sense of them all. ESPN has some amazing tools that detail things like predicting future performance and breaking down game tape—tools that are extremely helpful for getting an overall picture of a player’s ability. Similarly, Pro Football Focus is another great tool for gauging individual performance in areas like blocking and pass coverage—think advanced team analytics applied to individuals, instead of groups.
Watch Out for Clickbait
Internet headlines are written for one ข่าวบอล : to get you to click on them. At least, that’s what a lot of news sites will tell you. They spend millions on their best people in an effort to keep eyeballs glued to their site because they need traffic and ad revenue. That can sometimes mean they’ll push slightly-skewed headlines and resort to clickbait tactics like an exaggeration, misleading titles, and sensationalism—just so long as it gets results. Make sure you know what you’re clicking when it comes down to football news. Headlines like Who Wins?