SI.com All-Stars

For what it's worth, I much prefer si.com to espn.com. I prefer the layout, but mostly I feel an allegiance to a great magazine that I adore reading every week. I remember quite clearly the moment in a former romantic relationship when my then girlfriend opened up SI for the first time to see what all the fuss was about with me and sports. It didn't take her long to acknowledge - I imagine quite begrudgingly - that there was a tremendous amount of data being thrown at her in its pages. Sports, it turned out, was something a little more heavy, a little more legitimate, perhaps, than she had previously imagined.

I know Bill Simmons is great, and sometimes ESPN has good stuff, but I prefer the reporting, rhythms, and style of the SI folk, especially my two All-Stars: Peter King and Joe Posnanski. King's MMQB is the best regular read I have on the web: a phenomenal writer, writing about something he loves, and never afraid to poke fun at himself or at his topic. Posnanski is relatively new to SI, but his columns are routinely the most interesting, down-to-earth, and fun reads - perhaps he's a little-more-down-to-earth version of Frank Deford.

Currently, Posnanski has a column on Buck O'Neil, whom Posnanski has been thinking about in light of Obama's victory (though King Kaufman, at Salon, lambasts those who would compare O'Neil, Jackie Robinson, et c. to Obama in this light). King's blog/columns post around 9 a.m. (on the East Coast) Monday and Tuesday mornings - they're a must read.