There's a vote out there right now for "Best Sports Blog," which is a fine idea in principle. But a cursory glance at the "finalists" leaves one wondering what, exactly, the criteria were when selecting the nominees. It's like going to vote for Hottest Hollywood Actress and finding that both Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Anniston are missing from the finalists. Huh?

So, we're here to set the record straight and give you, the readers, the real guide to the best sports blogs out there. Sort of. In the spirit of Bowl Month, we're going to stick to college football and give you a readers guide to the best college football blogs out there.

Funniest Blog
Every Day Should Be Saturday

Winners of the 2002-04 Dennis Miller / Home Depot Zaniest Sports Blog Award, EDSBS is the hands down winner of the funniest blog award in our minds. With so many sites out there to get your analysis on, sometimes it's nice to check out the big stories through a kaleidoscope. Nowhere better to do that than here.

Best Watchdog Blog
Gunslingers Football Commentary

Bet you didn't know that ESPN even needed a watchdog. Well, turns out they do. And LD from Gunslingers does it for you. Say what you want about it being "just sports." The fact is, it matters to a lot of us and... it's BIG business. And ESPN drives the narrative. And the narrative drives the business. Next time you catch yourself rolling your eyes at Kirk Herbstreit, head over to Gunslingers and find company.

Best Team Blog
Blue Gray Sky (Notre Dame)

The Golden Domers are well covered by this pack of Irish fans/journalists who give their readers everything they could ever hope for. Analysis, humor, links: all the information relevant to Notre Dame. It's appropriately partisan without being obnoxiously so. It's what all team-centered sports blogs should aspire to.

Best General CFB Blog
Fanblogs.com

We've covered these guys plenty. They cover every team, from every angle, with links to anyone and everyone. The ultimate college football blog. A Microsoft compared to the rest of us (intended compliment).

Best Blog, Overall
MGoBlog

This one was easy for me, and I'm not even a Michigan fan. MGo's author, Brian, is a computer science guy, which gives the blog lots of goodies, including the best idea any blog has had, like ever: the Blog Poll. (Do not even begin to underestimate how cool this is, or how much work it must be. For some perspective: the jokers at Yay Sports took over the college basketball blog poll and have completely screwed it up. It's not even running anymore. The football Blog Poll has been flawless all year.) Along with the wealth of information Brian provides for his Michigan fans, the writing is top-notch. He can be as funny as EDSBS, as serious and thoughtful as Gunslingers, or anything in between. Whether he's ripping Scoop Jackson, Lloyd Carr, or the state of Ohio, or dishing out praise to things he's reading that he enjoys, "Unverified Voracity" remains the best daily column about college sports out there. I always secretly hope that he'll write two each day, to no avail.

Best "Almost There" Blog
Kyle on Football

Simply put, Kyle covers Georgia and general college football so damn well that it's required reading. The site itself is a little crude, and you wish he'd take it up to the next level, but in the end, we're splitting hairs. It's the content that counts, and Kyle's got it. A genuinely thoughtful and kind writer that we can all learn a little bit from.

Best USC Blog
Student Body Right

With apologies to TrojanWire. SBR, along with having the coolest named blog around, covers the USC juggernaut as fairly as anyone covering a 34-straight win team can. They give props to others when they're due and focus mostly on just providing news, with snarky commentary when appropriate. Throw in the fact that they've developed the best college fantasy football game we've seen, and it's an easy call.

Best Your Team Sucks, But Your Blog Doesn't, Blog
Sunday Morning Quarterback

So his team is Southern Mississippi? We couldn't care less about them, either, but the beauty of this great blog is that he spends most of his words on college football in general. Also the winner of our "Best Up and Coming Blog," Sunday Morning QB writes well, knows his football, and has excellent thematic structure to his weekly content. We're impressed.

Got other nominees for these awards? Who else do you read on a daily basis? We named a few of our favorites, but could have named many more. For a full list of our favorite blogs, check out our blog roll on the right hand column of the main page.

--PB--