Meet My Links - East Coast Bias

One year ago today, I finished what would be the final Friday Music News Bootleg column. Towards the end of its three-year run, The Goodness was checking in at 10-12 pages in MS Word each week. Can't say I miss that aspect of being an African-American Internet Celebrity (copyright, Scoop Jackson), but it helped give me perspective on how hard some of my former co-writers worked.

This week's link covers the hardest working man on Inside Pulse. And, I'm not talking about…nah, I hit that target last week.

East Coast Bias

Synopsis: ECB is that all-too-rare independent internet sports column that's actually entertaining. Tom Daniels is ECB's intrepid author who also happens to do most of the heavy web-tech lifting behind the scenes at IP. East Coast Bias is what it is…a well-written and geographically narrow rant on all things New York, with more than an occasional look outside the five boroughs during those times when one of the teams in the city that never sleeps is taking an offseason nap. (Sweet dreams, Tiki!)

Positives: Indie internet sports columns are hard to pull off because writers either try to play it straight with a vanilla approach (which is done better, everyday, in any newspaper) or they try to be outspokenly obnoxious (which is done better, everyday, on espn.com's Page 2). Daniels is unique in that his unabashed biases keep him from straddling the fence, while his fandom isn't irrational, oversaturated or stale. When it all comes together, as it did for Tom in the aftermath of the NLCS, you'll be hard-pressed to find a better read.

Negatives: When Daniels isn't writing, he's most likely on the hamster wheel, doing everything he can to keep the infamous IP server up and running walking. Consequently, ECB can go a week or two without any new material. You're also not going to get much material on soccer, golf, hockey or any other sport where the white players still own the plantation. Fortunately, Daniels' self-hating reverse-racism rarely oozes through in his writing.

One Sentence Summary: Hilary Clinton, Mike Lupica and now, Tom Daniels…just one more reason to love New York!

Next Week: Deadspin