Here’s your chance to cast your vote for who you think has been the best EPL blog during the 2009-10 season in the EPL (English Premier League) Awards.
Only one vote per person. The voting closes on Saturday, May 15, 2010. The winner of each EPL Awards category will be announced on EPL Talk on Monday, May 17.
This is the second annual EPL Awards, which is hosted by EPL Talk, the number one Premier League blog in the world. EPL Talk features a daily podcast (also available on iTunes) featuring interviews with some of the biggest names in English football, as well as daily Premier League news and analysis and more.
Now it’s time to vote:
[polldaddy poll=3070324]
Update: The UF blog has been disqualified from the category.
Now that you’ve voted in this category, be sure to vote in the other categories to recognize the best of the 2009-2010 Premier League season:
- Best and Worst EPL Players, Teams and Managers
- Best EPL TV, Radio and Podcast Coverage
- Best EPL Blogs, Websites and Books
And see who the winners were in the 2009 EPL Awards!
Despite the number of options, this was a fairly easy choice: Pitch Invasion, for sure.
Most of the best choices–Run of Play, Pitch Invasion, etc.–on there are much more than just an “EPL Blog.” I mean, if that’s all they were, I wouldn’t read them as much.
Evan, true. But this is an EPL contest, not a general football contest. But all of the EPL content from the contestants is highly recommended.
Cheers,
The Gaffer
No argument on the last part!
Pitch Invasion is a great blog and I agree its is much more expansive than just EPL.
UF has to be cheating.
Its very clear UF is cheating, not least because no one goes to their site and having just visited it for the first time it is pretty clear its an amateurish site at best.
If I could vote multiple times then i would cast my vote for The Spoiler, CaughtOffside and Dirty Tackle
Michael, I feel the strong urge to prescribe a bit more Pies in your life – whoateallthepies.tv
Yes, actually I meant to add Pies to the list. I visit it regularly, one of the best of the bunch for sure.
Dear Michael,
yeah, we can’t be very good because you don’t visit our site! It is you with whom tastemaker power resides. Good job.
Also, our name has the word “Unprofessional” in it! What did you expect!
Best,
James T
Founder/Editor of a site that Michael doesn’t visit.
I think half of these sites are racist.
James T is just jealous at the reasoning prowess displayed by Michael. “I’ve never been there before, therefore they must be cheating in this poll.”
http://yourargumentisinvalid.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/the_cat_is_pushing_a_watermelon_out_of_a_lake.thumbnail.jpg
Andy Gray thinks Michael’s logic is flawless
Andy Gray doesn’t say this very often Michael, but take a bow son.
Indeed my logic must be flawless, after all the assumption that UF is cheating was cited by others before me.
I guess the point is. Regardless of whether I have visited the site or not, hardly anyone else has (alexa is and see for yourself), hence the rather alarming % of votes UF has received. My money is on a Chimp resetting their IP address a few hundred times a day whilst playing Connect Four with an Albatross.
Michael:
sorry your site isn’t winning the popular vote.
James T
sorry your site has been accused of cheating by a number of people
even sorrier you felt the need to ‘fix’ the vote
also didn’t know I had a site
Good Luck though
Also my vote went to Dirty Tackle. Damned good site.
The nation can breathe again, for Michael has voted!
Go Dirty Tackle! You can do it!
I have to say I am enjoying the banter between James T and Michael but whilst what James T is saying is amusing, I do note that he seems unable to explain why others, as well as Michael (who has a bee in his bonnet for some reason) have noted the unusually high numbers of votes Unprofessional Foul has received. I mean UF had like a shedload of votes within a few days, they all came at the same time but have then abated somewhat. Coincidence?
So James T, if you want to get it off your chest now I am sure we would all understand.
‘Cheating?’ Michael, you must be an Arsenal fan or maybe Arsene Wenger himself? You are losing, shut up.
So I supposed ‘John’ who first posted about UF ‘cheating’ is also just angry because he is losing?
Also how can I be ‘losing’ I don’t even have a bloody blog! If you mean, the blog I selected is losing, then yes I guess at the moment they are losing.
Jesus Calm Down! Who Cares. I mean its obvious UF is cheating, but its not like UF will get a big award or anything. Relax people.
Assuming every single pageview counted as a vote, we’d surely be defeated. However, Michael/Archie, it never works that way. I guess our fanbase is more loyal than most when it comes to the voting element.
It’s easy to figure out how we got votes. We have posted the link to this thing twice. Once in the first day or two (then our readers came and voted), and then again last night (and our readers came and voted… and defended our honor).
Seriously, though. It’s just a poll.
Andy Gray thinks it’s as big as the Oscars.
I voted for Unprofessional Foul merely in spite of Michael’s childish complaining.
Stretford End: If only that were true. UF’s number jumped last week or so, too (when I made my first comment). I find it funny that with all the UF writers defending their site, none of them have flatly denied cheating or seem all that unsettled by being accused of it.
We are not cheating nor do we care about the accusation of malfeasance.
Comment from Tim W on UF’s Facebook post about this: “Us? vote rigging? the horrors!”
The sarcasm is thick there. Come on guys, I like your site, I really do, but it’s obvious what’s going on here and it doesn’t exactly make you look good.
I can tell you two things. One, we are not cheating. Two, we do not care if we are alleged to have cheated.
As others have pointed out, it’s an internet poll designed to attract pageviews which in the end is fairly inconsequential.
Cheers, Barry!
wouldn’t the results of a poll merely reflect the views of those who bothered to vote, as opposed to overall popularity? so maybe UF readers are just more active as opposed to ‘clearly’ cheating?
Andy Gray still thinks its fixed.
I won’t stand for these people making a mockery of this competition. The internet demands integrity.
James T, there have been serious allegations made against your blog and its so-called “writers”. You must justify your clearly unwarranted success or at the very least have the decency to look bothered by it. If you do not, you ruin the sanctity of our time-honored tradition of voting in internet polls.
Shame. Shame on you sir.
The idea that UF’s success (or apparent success) is down to them asking for people on their site to vote for it as a little bogus. From what i can make out everyone of these sites, or at least most of them, have had articles and messages asking their readers to vote.
UF has obviously cheated, but as Miles said earlier, who cares. If they want it that bad, then let them have it.
@John: I just thought I would add some reason. It’s cool. People will think we did something or they won’t.
Actually, I’m just enjoying the kerfuffle. It’s kinda fun.
Puppies are really enjoying it, too.
Agreed. We all know UF cheated, but hell why not. Clearly its their best hope of winning the award. Personally I reckon Dirty Tackle will win out in the end, clearly the better blog by a country mile.
I can confirm that puppies enjoy this kerfuffle. They also enjoy naps and pooping on your carpet.
Amen.
Guys, this election is starting to resemble a Nicaraguan mayoral race meets one of my site’s special-URL-category races. And neither is pretty.
I demand that Unprofessional Foul immediately relinquish all claims to the royal bloodline and auction the diamond encrusted crown on Ebay immediately!
Time to inject some sense into this childish banter…
I voted Dirty Tackle. Merely because I do not wish Brooks to unleash the Continental on me once more. Really, I found him in my shrubbery slathered in mayonnaise and suggesting we do vaguely erotic things to our toenails last week. Not an experience I’d like to repeat.
***If the above reference confused you, go read Dirty Tackle at once. Clearly, your life is void of perfectly receding widow’s peaks and strangely erotic condiments. I suggest you remedy that.
LOL!!! Was Timitar videotaping? 😉
😛 Indeed he was. He seemed to have misplaced his pants, come to think of it. Ah, well. These rather odd incidents come with being a Berba beauty, you know.
I personally think an up and comer is AFootballReport.com. It is run by a good lot of students from across the globe, and they actually have a decent sense of humour. Just a thought for next year. I’m not going to waste my vote on them since it will mean nothing, so here’s to Pies & Dirty Tackle
Whoa, look at Dirty Tackle coming on. Brooks must be cheating.
Well I guess the difference is that UF suddenly jumped from 2% to about 35% in the space of a day, which appears to have led many to believing that they simply monkeyed around with IP addresses to register repeat votes. Maybe that is why UF have been accused of cheating by so many?
Dirty Tackle’s rise to prominence in the poll at least looks gradual and less suspicious. Also given that DT has about ten times the traffic of UF, they have more of a fanbase to influence the vote.
Either way. Go Dirty Tackle!
yes, and the fact that one of their commenters specifically mentioned using computer shenanigans to move back into the lead is completely a coincidence
http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/blog/sow_experts/post/Links-And-WAGs-in-Umbro-shirts-?urn=sow,238690
They’re still .2% behind you guys two days after that post was made. So yeah, I think it’s pretty clear that it’s a coincidence.
For people who keep saying how little they care about this, the UF guys sure are writing a lot of comments on here.
Perhaps we simply find this whole interwebz donnybrook amusing.
Um, isn’t the fact that people are coming out of the woodwork to hate on UF and can’t believe they aren’t cheating proof enough that they don’t deserve “Best EPL Blog”? I mean, if they were deserving of such a massive number of votes you’d figure less people would be up in arms about it… or at least coming to defend them (other than the actual UF guys).
Wait, hold on. So because someone accuses UF of cheating, that’s “proof enough” that they’re cheating?
Isn’t a more likely scenario that fans of UF came and voted, and haven’t come back to check out the comments and defend UF’s honor? I mean no offense to the Gaffer, but it’s an internet voting contest, people vote and move on, they largely don’t come back to see who is moaning in the comments section.
No it’s not proof that they’re cheating, i said its proof that they dont deserve it. Must be rather embarrassing to be leading a poll and having everyone and their grandma tell you you shouldnt be there
I wasn’t aware that 4 or 5 commenters on here constituted “everyone and their grandma”, but I can assure you that we’re not embarrassed at all
We are not cheating. Simple. I wish you folks would accept that hey, just because you don’t read us, lots of other people do.
Hooray internet!
Yes, I’m sure if “Hot Tub Time Machine” showed up as the leading vote getter for the Oscars then people would just “accept that” too.
Also for the “lots of other people read UF” argument, we actually know that they don’t. Ever heard of Alexa ranking? We can see that UF is magnitudes smaller than the likes of Dirty Tackle, CaughtOffside.
And please don’t try the “Yeah but our 10 guys are really committed” argument again, we’re out of straws.
Consider that: (a) we get over 150,000 hits a month; and (b) we don’t know the actual NUMBER of people that have voted in this poll.
Your argument based on readership size is invalid. But thanks for playing.
Hits? Seriously? Is your site also on Geocities?
If by “hits” you mean pageviews, you’re at less than a 10th of some of the sites on that list. If by “hits” you mean unique visitors, you’re less than 1/4 of some of the sites on that list.
Should I roll out some petulant one-liner to pretend like I won as well?
please, feel free. You obviously take this far more seriously than we do, particularly considering that you don’t have a blog in the fight.
Or do you?
Yes, the fact that yourself and James T make up about half the comments on this thread really shows you’re not taking it seriously.
Honestly, Steve C, I’d like you to keep being entertaining. It’s most fun to watch
And for the record, our site is hosting by Xanga
hosted*, dammit
You can also check our Friendster page for more information.
:crickets: 😀
If there was a “crickets” emoticon, this is where I’d use it.
@n
We have decent traffic, and I have not asked anyone to vote, as this award is not worth anything, especially any of my effort. After reading all this shit, I really couldn’t give a crap if we win or lose. Itss importance to me ranks right after taking a morning dump.
@Steve C. Yep no one is reading UF, no one at all. All the uniques are imaginary…
I didn’t say no one, I said less than 1/10th the pageviews and less than 1/4 the uniques of the actual “popular” sites on that list.
I only point that out to counter NY Kid, who used “150,000 hits” like it was mean to justify the fact that UF has the most votes here when, in fact, the opposite is true.
If the opposite were true, then based on your poor syntax we would actually have the fewest votes here.
I’ll take your change of subject and nitpicking as a concession that UF is, in fact, not particularly popular.
It’s not worth your effort and you don’t care about it, yet you’ve now come back to comment twice about it. You’re kind of saying one thing and doing another.
Is this a developing trend with UF?
Dirty Tackle is winning! Look it really doesn’t matter that UF cheated, clearly its what they felt they had to do in order to win. Shame it failed though.
Its as clear as day that the fact that out of nowhere UF went to something like 35%, which clearly made many suspicious, indicates something funny was going on. I am sure EPL Talk are looking into it but I guess it doesn’t matter now.
Oddly enough I have visited UF twice as much since this all kicked off and I quite like it. I guess all publicity is good publicity.
My top three in particular order at Dirty Tackle, COS and The Spoiler
…voted for UF and was not bribed nor am I a connect-4 playing monkey. In fact, I have had this tab open for days and don’t even know where I clicked the link. Come on you mighty whites in Hamberg!
Great poll, and thanks to everyone connected with any named blogs, you’re all making money writing about football which is pretty sweet.
If you are looking for a conspiracy then maybe you should consider (perhaps an article?) the following:
-Liverpool comeback for champions league win (check the betting patterns)
-France winning WC in France (remember the delay!?)
-Italy winning WC in Italy (1. everything in Italy is corrupt and 2. their domestic leagues were proven corrupt that year)
Haha you UF guys are hilarious. After all that “we don’t even care about this award” posturing you’ve embedded the poll ON UF.com in one of your posts?
I applaud your complete lack of effort to cover your cheating or your hypocrisy. Bravo. Bravo.
I thought you didn’t read us.
I didn’t, but I checked it out to see if maybe I was wrong and maybe your content is award worthy.
It’s called a sense of humor, Steve C. I suggest you procure one thusly
Right right. So far multiple writers from UF respond non stop on a daily basis to this thread because you don’t care, you cheat on the voting because you don’t care (one of your own commenters just said he “keeps voting” to help you win), and you post the poll onto your site because you don’t care and its a “joke”.
Right right, very credible.
well clearly we control the behavior of all of our commenters.
as for the poll on the site, it was made embeddable so we decided to have fun with it. Not our fault that: (a) it’s embeddable; and (b) no one else has done it
You don’t find this the least bit amusing? I’m enjoying this, and for what it’s worth, I voted for Dirty Tackle, several times. They’re a great site, but we can’t all have Yahoo! backing us. And so, we return to the arduous UF salt mines to carve out our space.
Keep getting indignant, Steve C! This is making you look like a real stand-up guy who I’d love to drink beers with.
Can’t all have Yahoo! backing you? Oh please.
Dirty Tackle was doing their thing on some garbage default black blog template and when Yahoo decided to expand their blog stable to include soccer, they chose to acquire DT ahead of any of the other soccer blogs out there, including UF. So put your violin away about not having backing, if UF was the shit you Yahoo! would’ve made you an offer instead of DT.
I don’t have a site, but I work in soccer and its part of my job to watch blogs like DT, UF and EPLTalk.
“I work in soccer…”
We’re aware of who you are, and we all know that you don’t have a blog because you would lose it the same way you lost your radio show after your disgusting comments about Hillsborough
Yes you caught me. Why oh why did I use the alias “Steve C” when I, Steven Cohen, am trying to keep my identity secret. Silly me.
No violin here, Steve. Can’t afford one. And thanks for the history of DT, which we were already aware of. Brooks does phenomenal work.
But hey, keep expanding my opinion of you to even greater heights!
(the comment was made that Yahoo!, being Yahoo!, has an awful lot more traffic. I even seem to remember Brooks highlighting how dizzying his traffic was upon moving to their site. Still, like I said, he does phenomenal work and fully deserves it. What I’m struggling with is why so much of your “job” appears devoted to bitterness towards our humble website. But then I remembered — this is the internet! Now it all makes sense.)
Yes Yahoo! has big traffic, but unless I’m mistaken DT won this actual award last year? Before the Yahoo move?
I had no animosity whatsoever towards UF prior to this poll, where at first I merely saw allegations of cheating and thought they maybe had some merit but didn’t really care even if you were. It’s more the defiance from your writers in the comments that prompted me to get involved because, in my opinion, there is no way you are leading this poll without some IP dodginess or other vote rigging. I’m even happy to let that slide had you just kept quiet and let it happen like most cheaters do.
But to come out and try to justify your lead in the face of the facts, like a distinctly average readership, puts you in the “Tiger Woods” school of crisis management.
So, in short. I had no problem with UF until you explicitly tried to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes. If you kept mum and let your cheating win, I wouldn’t have given two shits.
Also you really think you’re being smart by guessing Steven Cohen? Even he is not stupid enough to act coy about his identity while using the alias “Steve C”.
We’re just having fun, Steve. It’s soccer and blogging, two things we love more than the families we are forced to spend all our time with.
I often go around to various message boards and pick fights with people who I think are out of line. I’m some sort of comment crime fighter, defending the innocent.
So don’t take it personally.
I voted for UF! multiple times! ha! gotcha epltalk! make the poll to where it’s more difficult than merely refreshing my page to be able to vote again and you won’t have people like me (who have no idea what an IP address is, or where this IP place is located) voting multiple times for the site I like most.
everyone else can suck it! boom done.
It seems UF has been removed from the poll?