California Bears best of the blogosphere

October 1, 12:18 AMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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Prior to 2002, it may have been difficult to find many sports blogs about any team.  The stigma associated to a blogger is quickly changing.  Blogs are quickly changing the face of the media industry.  Some of the most popular news sources in today's media have started as simple blog ideas, such as Deadspin, Hugging Harold Reynolds, or Kissing Suzy Kolber.  Some blogs are still a place for the author to rant incoherently about whatever bothers them for the day, while others are quickly becoming authorities over the topic that they cover.

When tasked with the job of finding the best Cal Bears blogs on the net, I honestly didn't know if I'd find more than a couple.  Turns out, my worries were unfounded.  There are plenty of Cal Bears blogs, but not all of them deserve to be considered in the group of the best of them.  The following blogs are that group.

Let me explain my criteria:

1. Can't be associated with a news agency: That's just not fair.  The resources of an established news agency isn't the makings of a blog, even if they work in much the same way as bloggers do.
2. The blog doesn't have a staff similar to that of a news agency.  Sorry, Daily Californian.
3. The blog must be kept up to date.  There's nothing wrong with the blogs that update once a week or several times a month, but the blogs that are staying up to date with the current news are the ones that fall into the category of 'best of.'
4. Content, content, content. The content is original, can't be found anywhere else, and is well thought out.  This content must also contain news and analysis.  The best blogs are the ones that give you something to think about when you're done reading them.

So here are the Cal Bears Examiner's best Cal Bears blogs and in no particular order.  I'll give you the Cal Bears Examiner guarantee that you'll find at least one of them to be addicted to.

Bears Necessity - This blog nearly gets in just by the name alone.  I know it may sound biased, but everytime I see the name, I want to sing the Disney song from the Jungle Book.  No matter how much I try to prevent it, I can't help but smile nearly every time.  When you take a look at this site, you soon discover that the catchy name isn't the only reason that you'll want to come back.  Want to talk to other Bears fans during the game?  Bears Necessity does live game blogs.  The page is jam-packed with information about the Cal Bears, with a focus on Bears football.  If you want to know something current about the Cal football program, there's no doubt you'll find it on this site.

California Golden Blogs - This is one of the most technically impressive blogs around.  Even with all of the information and features loaded up on this site, they've done a great job of keeping it from being a cluttered mess.  Take it from someone who has tinkered with various websites, that's no easy accomplishment.  This site isn't just for geeks like myself to adore.  They have great fan forums, thanks in part to a large following and the ease of being able to post comments.  If you're not into Cal football, they have sections for baseball, basketball, general, Memorial Stadium upgrade, other sports, recruiting, and site news.  This site is loaded!  My favorite part of the site, probably due to the geek in me, is the 'Polls and Rankings' section on the front page.

Excuse Me For My Voice - The name might tip you off, but if it doesn't I'll just say that this is not your standard blog.  When it comes to the writing, it's definitely done with flair.  Not only do they hit you with great informative articles, they do it in a way that is never dull.  They also do podcasts to go along with their great commentary and photos from the game.  This is a great site to live vicariously through these fanatics.  Once you've read an article or listened to a podcast, you'll be hooked.

Bears With Fangs - This site might have the best logo.  I don't know about you, but there's something about images of Bears getting the better of Ducks and Vol's that warms my heart.  This site takes care of getting their readers informed, and they don't pull punches with the commentary either.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then they are very good at being verbose and concise at the same time.  They don't hold back here, and they're not afraid to cover a non-Cal story like the 'NCAA Football Cover Curse.'  With a name with 'Fangs' in it, would you expect anything less?

The Bear Will Not Quit -  This site gets high marks for the amount of video they've gleaned from the web and organized onto their site.  I don't know how they do it, but they're able to place quite a bit of that video on their page and it doesn't affect load times.  Want to see Jahvid Best running track in high school?  They've got it.  How about 'The Play?'  They've got that too.  The videos aren't even the best reason to go to the site.  You can expect to get great analysis and news when you are here.  If you want to see who the Bears play next or find out where they stand in the Pac-10, you can find that here as well.

Oski Talk - If you like your Cal football, this is the site for you.  Oski doesn't limit himself to just the Cal Bears either.  There's a reason that the blog says they'll focus on, 'whatever else we want to talk about.'  What do they talk about?  Big stories, Cal football, and other Cal sports.  Plenty of information and great insights on various topics.  If you want to stay current with Cal football, then do yourself a favor and stop by.

California Golden Bear Football News - As far as blogs go, this isn't really a blog.  Sure, you'll find news and commentary on the site, but it won't be news and commentary published by authors of the site.  What they do here is hunt down the best Cal Bears Football news and post it with links to the original stories.  So, I guess that makes this a Cal football news aggregation site.  Try saying that fast five times.  The amount of work that they do to keep this site current is why it's in the 'best of' series.  This site is by far, a great resource for Cal football news stories.

So is there an award for being a Cal Bears Examiner 'best of?'  I'm glad that you asked.  In case this is just too much information to remember all of the links, starting tomorrow you can come back, look over to the right of the page and under 'Oski's Favorites,' you'll find each of these site's links listed.  Now, you don't have to 'Google' your Cal news and commentary.  Just come on back and find it here.