It’s Monday and that means it’s awards-time. What an absolute bitch it was to choose this week – after Goonerholic got the nod last week, pipping Goodplaya and Arseblog in what will quite often be a closely fought contest, I was in a real pickle as to who to give it to this week.
Now, all those under consideration, you may or may not know, are all those blogs there on the side under ‘Blogroll’. Throughout the week, all these blogs are being read thoroughly whenever they post. Come Monday, I open them all up and remind myself of what they all wrote during the past week.
And it’s at this stage that the whittling-down begins, hence how I know ‘who came close’ and who did not. This week, three particular blogs really stood out for me that deserve special mention.
Firstly, Jamie Sanderson has been doing some exceptional work over at YoungGuns!, the reincarnation of the artist formerly known as Arsenal Youth and Reserves’ Blog. This week the kid has gone gang-busters in churning out articles, player profiles, videos and analysis on Arsenal’s much-vaunted youth system; the demand for news concerning ably demonstrated by several site spin-offs (read: cheap imitations) and regular seatings in NewsNow’s top stories.
Secondly, Arseblog yet again features with regular articles of top quality on a slow news week, with an excellent Arsecast that has singlehandedly revolutionised Arsenal blogging as we know it. All Arsenal web-loggers owe something to ‘Blogger, and the quality that is produced on this site is both well known and deserving of the highest praise. The rant on the Arsecast regarding the ‘Premier League abroad’ is something that must be heard if you have not already, not to mention Emmanuel Eboue’s little slot.
And it always makes me a tad nervous not to award it his way, but the one that pipped it for me with regular quality this week as well as deep and original insights into Arsenal’s game on what was a quiet news week was Spanish Fry’s ArsenalFCBlog. This week he made himself busy with mid-term reports, match previews, criticism on the ‘Premiership Abroad’ and a dive into what was behind Arsenal’s success on the field.
Couple all that with excellent, readable presentation, and ArsenalFCBlog pips it for the weekly award. All the blogs out there will get their chance, but this week I’m giving it Spanish Fry’s way. It really is indicative of the quality on offer for Arsenal news-consumers out there, that such a tough time can be had trying to spit hairs in deciding such things.
Thoughts, hate mail and death threats in the comments section, if you please…
