Yardbarker founder: Site is 'giving power to the masses'

Yardbarker is one of the best things to happen recently for small, independent sports bloggers like myself -- and for sports fans in general.

If you're a sports fan and you're not familiar with Yardbarker, you should be. It's a sports community where fans post their favorite stories and bloggers post their work. Readers can rate and comment on the posts, and can customize what they read to suit their interests.

Recently, Yardbarker founder Jack Kloster agreed -- for reasons known only to him -- to answer some questions about the site from the crack staff of one here at The View.

Here is what Kloster had to say, in Q&A form.

1. THE VIEW: Yardbarker was, I believe, the first site of its kind geared just for sports bloggers. What was your model? Were you trying to make a site like 'Digg' for sports bloggers? Also, how did you settle on the name 'Yardbarker?'

JK: The Digg model was an influence but never the goal. We saw that blogging and in particular sports blogging was really starting to ramp up. Problem was that with thousands of blogs out there, it is really difficult for each blogger to create a large audience. On the flip side, most sports fans admitted to us in our early research that they loved blogs… they just hated searching all of them on a daily basis to find the best stuff out there. So, what we wanted to do was create a way for sports fans to access the growing base of passionate and unfiltered user generated sports content, but give them a user experience of a traditional sports property on the web (coverage of all sports and teams, with the data such as scores and schedules you would expect from a sports site).

As for the name, it took us a while to settle on this one. Turns out that Yardbarker is a super esoteric word for a homerun. We knew we had a winner when people on the site started talking about hanging out in the “Yard” or referring to themselves and others as “Yardbarkers.” It didn’t hurt that the URL was available. (hah)

2. THE VIEW: How has Yardbarker, and now 'Ballhype,' changed the landscape for sports bloggers?

JK: It’s all about providing sports fans an alternative to traditional channels such as ESPN and Yahoo Sports. With millions of fans and thousands of bloggers and athletes looking to talk sports with each other, why should only a minority group of reporters control the flow of information and push it in a one way direction? Sports is ideal for social media. People talk sports all the time. All we are doing is enabling this online and giving power to the masses that live and breathe this stuff.

3. THE VIEW: I see an increasing number of athletes like John Lackey and Greg Oden blogging on Yardbarker. How did that come about? Are you seeking out athletes, or are they just gravitating to the platform?

JK: Both. Yardbarker is ideal for athletes who want to connect with their fans. The athletes are just as sick of the sound bites as the fans. With blogging, they know that they can tell their story, in their words, unfiltered by any 3rd party. Just imagine if you were Greg Oden or Michael Conley Jr. and were just drafted into the NBA. They are living the dream and sometimes can’t even control their excitement. If it were you, wouldn’t you want to share that with everyone you knew?

4. THE VIEW: There are so many small bloggers out there with lots to say, and new sites starting out all the time. Do you have any advice for them?

JK: Post to Yardbarker! Also, if you look at the most popular blogs, the things they have in common are that they post very frequently, they occasionally break stories, and they have a recognizable voice. It’s really hard to write a consistently good blog. With Yardbarker you get credit for your best posts, even if it’s hard for you to post every day.

5. THE VIEW: You are now starting up the 'Yardbarker Blogger Network,' which 'Valentine's Views' will be part of. Tell us a little about it. What are you trying to accomplish with it?

JK: This was the natural next step for us, The thinking was that when you pull together a bunch of great, independent bloggers, it opens up all kinds of opportunities, like those you’d get from a more formal network like FanHouse or SBN. But independence is a big part of what people like about certain blogs. We designed our Network to allow the bloggers who participate to stay independent, but still get great promotion, make some money, and be part of something bigger than their own blog. Our bloggers get extra promotion on our site and they host premium brand ads that we sell, earning more than they would from, say, AdSense. There are a bunch of eyeballs looking for the kind of content that’s showing up on these sites, and a lot of money out there for bloggers to earn. We’re making it our business to go after it for them.

6. THE VIEW: Blogging, at least most of it, is not part of the mainstream media. Would you say, though, that it has become an accepted part of the sports information landscape? Or, is it still largely looked at as a bunch of nerds in their parents' basements?

JK: I actually think that blogging is a growing force in mainstream media. We owe a lot to those basement nerds because they were the pioneers! People are tired of the stale content that is distributed through many of the traditional media outlets. Sports blogs are giving fans a more entertaining and intelligent alternative. Not to mention, the growing number of professional athletes blogging on Yardbarker is proof that blogging has risen to another level. We are not far from the day when an athlete avoids a post game press conference because he would rather go home and blog about it instead.

7. THE VIEW: Bloggers do what we do mostly for the love of sports and their teams. A select few, however, can make money. Do you think the day will come when more than just a handful of bloggers can make decent money doing this?

JK: I sure hope so! In the end, I think it will always be the passion for sports that motivates the bloggers, not the money. That said there are tremendous inefficiencies right now in the economics of sports blogging. We are trying to correct that through the Yardbarker Blogger Network. There is definitely more money to be made than through AdSense, which is how most bloggers monetize their sites today.

8. THE VIEW: Do you have a handful of favorite blogs you look at regularly? Who are they?

JK: Hmm. Handful is probably not the right word since I probably see a couple hundred blogs a week through Yardbarker. Parlayer, Sportable, The Big Lead, Foul Balls and Mr. Irrelevant always seem to consistently grab my attention, but I feel like I discover a new blog that I enjoy almost daily. I also got to show some love to home town blogs like Hotfoot and Valentine's Views.

9. THE VIEW: Do you have a favorite all-time Yardbarker post?

JK: That’s an even tougher question. I got to admit the latest Greg Oden post “Tonsils” is one I will never forget. Sure the post was pretty gross, but you got to love the kid’s honesty.

10. THE VIEW: Anything else you would like to add about Yardbarker, blogging, my wonderful interviewing skills?

JK: We need to get some NY Yankees blogging on Yardbarker so you can use your interviewing skills on them.

There you have it. Interesting stuff about the changing face of sports media, and the role of blogging in shaping the future. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Thanks for taking the time, Jack! I appreciate it, and I hope Yardbarker readers do as well.