Via Music City Miracles, here's a list that reveals Stampede Blue as the #8 NFL Blog on the Internet. Also of note is that Stampede Blue is the top NFL Blog on SB Nation. Having been a member here since April Fools Day, it's not that hard to believe. Here's a few other interesting things I noticed from the list:

• 18 of the top 30 blogs are SB Nation blogs. That's just incredible. SB Nation really created a blogging empire here.
• As much as I hate Mike Florio, his profootballtalk.com is #1 on the list. Like him or not (and I don't), people still read his filth.
• Shake's favorite site, footballoutsiders.com, makes a surprise appearance at #13. It seems to be gaining popularity.
• The #1 overall sports blog? Fanhouse.com, a site I've never heard of before. The #2 site is one that I have heard of, Deadspin.com.

Congrats BBS, Shake, Colts Homer, MRW, mgrex03, and KR for making this site the best SB Nation Blog!

I've always been one of those people who have a morbid fascination with the things most contrary to that which I hold dearest. For example, I am a die-hard fan of Miller Lite. I've drank it for years. Love it, can't get enough of it. Considering naming my first-born child after it. Well, every once in a while I'll be at my favorite sports bar, aptly named The Sportsden, watching a Colts game perhaps, and I'll get the wild notion to order a Budweiser, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Why would you do this?", one might ask, when Miller Lite is the obviously superior beverage. Do you enjoy waking up the next morning with a splitting headache and the flavor of a fresh dump in your mouth?

The answer is, no, I do not. But sometimes I just can't help but wonder, "What makes this so great that thousands of idiots would spend their hard-earned dollars on an obviously inferior product?"

Earlier today I had the same thought about the New England Patriots. And like so many times in my past, instead of letting this errant thought go to wherever it is that unworthy thoughts go to after your brain is done farting them out, I decide to find out what attraction people have to these, the Buttweisers of Professional Football.

Now, I decide that the fastest way to know the heart and mind of this smelly beast known as  Patriots fan would be to observe him in his natural environment. A place where, being amongst others of his kind, he would be most relaxed and forthcoming with his innermost thoughts and desires. So, I decide, my friends to enter the lair of the beast itself, the dreaded Pats Pulpit...

I mean, if I wanted to divine the inner workings of the average fan of the greatest team in professional sports, the Indianapolis Colts, I would visit Stampede Blue, a worthy blogspot that hosts a variety of blogs, fanposts, comments and discussions by fans on the topic of their favorite team, the Indianapolis Colts. Now, that being given, one might conclude that the same might be said of the den of the enemy, the Pats Pulpit.

Right?

Wrong.

Upon visiting this ghost town of a site, the first thing I noticed (other than the proverbial tumbleweeds blowing across my vision) was the absence of my intended subject of study, the Pats Fan. It felt rather like those portions of National Geographic that us, the viewers, never see, in which the film crew sits for hours and days waiting. Waiting for the merest hint of a sighting of the ever-elusive howler monkey (the howler monkey being the animal who's incessant shrieking jabber I most closely liken to that of a Pats fan), but must finally pack up their gear and go home empty-handed.

Now don't get me wrong, this site appears to be professionally run and full of well-written and informative posts on the subject of the most overrated team in professional sports, the New England Patriots, but what it glaringly seems to lack is readers. At least the kind that participate...

Just by looking at the home page one can readily see the lopsided comparison to that of Stampede Blue. So, in the finest tradition of sports, here is a statistical comparison:

Frequency of featured posts (the time elapsing between the most recent blog and the last one on the home page approximately):

• Stampede Blue: 64 hrs.
• Pats Pulpit: 63.5 hrs.

Like I said, pretty well-ran site, almost dead-on with ours.

Frequency of fanposts (how far back do the top ten headlines go back in the Recent Fanposts section):

• Stampede Blue: 17 days (avg. 1 post every 40.8 hrs.)
• Pats Pulpit: about a month (approx. 1 post every 72 hrs.)

Not very good for the Pats fans. We outpace them with posts occurring 43.3% more frequently. Note: This may, however, be attributed to the fact that most Pats fans are known to be knuckle-dragging illiterates.

 

Number/frequency of comments made on top ten fanposts combined (how much we the fans care about what others on our respective sites say):

• Stampede Blue: 128 comments (approx. 1 comment every 3 hrs. 11 mins.)
• Pats Pulpit: 96 comments (approx. 1 comment every 7.5 hrs.)
  Pretty bad considering their posts have been up 43.3% longer than ours. Conclusion: Pats fans are less than half as likely to listen to each other talk as opposed to themselves.

Number of comments made on featured posts written by staff writers as seen on the home page (how much do the fans care about the content being provided to them by their favorite fan site):

• Stampede Blue: 115 comments
• Pats Pulpit: 8 comments

Yes, boys and girls, you read that right, 8. A measly 8 comments compared to our 115. Pathetic...

And so on my search for the answer to the question "Why would one wish to be a Patriots fan when you could be a fan of the vastly superior and nearly god-like Indianapolis Colts?", I must concede defeat.

It seems that some of life's mysteries were just never meant to be solved...

•  

   

I refuse to pay money to be an ESPN "insider," so I have no idea what to make of the headline on their NFL page that hints at him going to Dallas.  If anyone knows about this, please enlighten us.

...

Hmm, SBN won't let me publish the story unless it's 75 words long, so I'll tell you all a pseudo-funny story about my brother.  He took this facebook poll that deduced that his "ghetto name" is Peanut.  His response, "tru dat cuz it is my favrit kinda butta."  I filed that one under "reasons why my brother will never successfully run for office."

I decided to make this a FanPost because (as I have done in the past) this is more for our community; not necessarily an article that needs to be blasted all over Yahoo, CBS Sports, and Google.

Well, if you head to 18to88, you'll see that Deshawn Zombie doesn't like it when one of his loyal readers (namely, me) criticizes some of his editorial choices:

We are Colts centric, but I hate offseason blather.  Personally, I don't find it that all that interesting. 

So...We  blog about other stuff.  As much as possible.   If BBS or anyone else doesn't like it, don't read it.   I could care less what annoys BBS.

We write for us.  We always have.  I'm trying to entertain one person:  my brother.

While this kind of response disappoints me, I'm not mad or pissed at them. My disappointment stems from my expectations. If you Google "Denver Broncos blog" or "Washington Redskins blog" you will see a massive list of sites. Folks, the Broncos and the Redskins have not been very successful football teams for almost a decade. Yet, their fan presence on the net and in the blogosphere is MASSIVE. Meanwhile, the Colts sport (arguably) the best team this decade, and we've only got only two serious Colts blogs: Stampede Blue and Indy Football Report.

That depresses the hell outta me.

When a blog like 18to88 basically tells me they hate covering the Colts during the off-season, they aren't a serious Colts blog anymore. Despite Deshawn's claim, they are most certainly not "Colts centric." When you don't think covering the team for 75% of the calendar year is interesting or important, your blog's content is not centered around that team. From January to September, 18to88 offers very little for Colts fans, and they've essentially told us that if we don't like it we can screw off.

Again, if that's the editorial decision of 18to88, that's fine. I don't "hate" them for that nor do I wish to start bashing them the way I do other media that disappoints me. There is no "blog war" here. But, as a one-time daily reader of 18to88, I'm upset that they have such disdain for off-season coverage. They also don't seem to enjoy reader criticism all that much. We Colts fans have such limited presence on the web when it comes to the number of sites. As someone who takes a lot of pride in being a Colts fan, this frustrates me.

Hopefully, more Colts blogs and dedicated sites will start popping up with dedicated writers who are willing to cover the team 365 a year. Right now, 18to88 is not such a site, and that's a shame. I beg them to re-consider. Perhaps they could bring on board a writer who is willing to cover the Colts during the off-season the way I brought shake n bake, mgrex03, ColtsHomer, and others on board.

As always, I encourage each of you to blog, blog, and BLOG some more. Make your own blogs. Create your own content. I receive roughly 10,000 hits a day during the off-season. That peaks to about 50,000 a day during the regular season. I try VERY hard to take those hits and push them to other great sites. I create weekly "Luke Link" lists that push you (the readers) to sites and stories that are cool. We are a community of fans. I do not "horde" my readers and I do not believe in blog competition. If you are thinking about making a blog, but are worried no one will care about it, don't worry. I am more than happy to link to your stuff.

All I ask in return is that you stick with it. Blogging is a passion, not a hobby. And we Colts fans need more passionate Colts blogs on the net.

For all of you sick of me talking about other blogs, relax. This is the last time I'll bring this subject up, for a while at least. Thanks, as always, for reading my ramblings.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth/0-10-143/Wheeler-wants-to-be-well-rounded.html

For what it's worth, I thought Kuharsky did a good job on this piece.  Not as verbose as our venerable SB writers', but I wouldn't expect it to be.  It was nice and to the point, and seemed to leave room for further discussion of the topic.

I'm pretty excited about our linebackers this season.  It seems we have a good mix of experience and promise.

For those who may not be aware, iTunes has four Colts game available:

Week 3 vs. Jaguars (don't need this one)
Week 5 vs. Texans
Week 10 vs. Steelers
Week 12 vs. Chargers

Every game highlights from 2006-2008, America's Game, and a numerous NFL Replays from 2007 are also available.

Just thought I'd tip off the interested for those not aware, just in case you were feeling that extra itch going into July, and wanted to revisit the tremendous victories over Houston, Pittsburgh, and San Diego to help push you forward through the last full month of waiting.

Unfortunately, there isn't a full game version of the 2006 AFC Championship Game.

I know, I know...about 3/4 of you are groaning right now, but bear with me.

According to this source, Brett Favre has already agreed to a contract with the Minnesota Vikings despite no official announcement. Maybe the no announcement has something to do with Brad Childress being off fishing in Alaska. Anyway, I came across this link via Pro Football Report which came to me via CHFF. What do you know, two sites I hate coming together to actually bring worthwhile news. Who woulda thunk it? Anyway, why, you ask, am I making a FanPost about this and wasting your valuable time? Well, 3 reasons come to mind:

1. I have a giant ego and love to be the first one to post news.

2. Since Favre is coming back, he is going to increase his consecutive games started streak even more, and we all know that that is one of the records that Peyton really wants to break (See, I linked it to the Colts.). Obviously, it's kinda hard to break Favre's streak if he won't ever GO AWAY. I was really hoping Peyton would be able to gain on him this year. (sigh)

3. The fact that this news is coming out means that we are very close to the end of this offseason's version of Favreapalooza. That is good news for everybody. The only event left to suffer through is the official announcent of Favre's signing, and that's going to happen very soon, especially since the information was leaked.

 

whassup whassup Colts fans!?

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afcsouth

just came across this interesting article posted at ESPN AFC SOUTH BLOG, which i am currently kinda mad at, cause the whole brady vs manning thing. ANYWAYS...

 

non Colt related. BUT looks like our favorite over weight running back, Lendale White is being "divorced" by chris johnson, Johnson no longer wants to be associated as a 1-2 punch, dynamic dual. he wants to be reconized individualy and should. I cant stand lendale, he has no CLASS, is overweight and over rated. He has gotten away with a lot cause he played with Bush. He got too much recognition in the NFL cause Chris helped him on sharing carries and what not. I hear hes mad LOL . 

Vinatieri won 2 championships for the Patriots.  Brady got to one and won it and got to another one and choked away a 19-0 season.  But you could say  without Vinatieri, Manning would not have been able to get through those playoff games and have no ring  [Chiefs, Baltimore(got all our points 15-0), and i guess the Patriot game].  The NFL would have a different landscape without Vinatieri in the league.  GO COLTS!!!

 . 

Poll

BETTER QUATERBACK MANNING OR BRADY?

• MANNING
• BRADY

  102 votes | Results

via i.a.cnn.net

Many Colts fans would agree that staying healthy has been one of the biggest thorns in our side for a while now. Looking back, some of our biggest playmakers - Bob Sanders, Dwight Freeney, Gary Brackett, Marlin Jackson and several more have caught the injury bug.  As a result, the Colts' roster is beginning to look like an annual defensive backs and defensive tackles convention.  This started a line of questioning that I began to ask myself.  Why are so many players getting hurt?  Is it something our trainers are doing? Is it our practice schedule?  These are all questions that I am in the process of researching, but while doing the research, I came across a list that I though might be interesting: our most durable players.  Note: This list will not include players who are no longer with the Colts. (Marvin Harrison, Hunter Smith, etc.)

Durability is a key component to success.  If you can't play the game, you can't contribute, it's as simple as that. Of course with the season getting longer and longer, it's more difficult to judge how much is attributed to "fragility" and how much just comes from bad luck or extended bouts of abuse. To judge who would be deemed most durable, I calculate the games started and divide it by the number of games that was possible for them to start.  I also do not count seasons in which they have not earned the starting spot (for example, Reggie Wayne playing as a replacement for Ismail or Jeff Saturday playing at OG in place of other injured players). [X divided by X] = appearance rate. Most durable status would require that you have at least a 90% appearance rate with at least four seasons as the full-time starter. So without further ado, I present to you...the durables!

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