The Top 5 Sports News Web Sites

There are literally thousands of places on the web to get your sports news information. Whether you want the latest headlines, up to the second scores, editorials, or in depth analysis, there are a myriad of choices for you. While some sites only offer one or two of those things, there are several that offer all of those and more. My Top 5 are below:

5. Yahoo! Sports (sports.yahoo.com) - this site is all substance and no flash. It looks essentially the same as it did five years ago. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it just doesn't knock your socks off. Any information that you need is readily available and up to date. Columnists aren't as well known as the top sites, but they are solid.

4. FOX Sports (msn.foxsports.com) - a few years ago this site was a mess. It was the anti-Yahoo! - all flash and no substance. In the past few years they've toned down the flash and increased the substance. The live gamecasts at the top of the page are extremely innovative. For example, for a baseball game you not only see the score, but also an overview of the diamond and what runners are on base. If you are interested in a specific game you can roll your mouse over it and get more details. If FOX keeps innovating like that, they won't be number 4 for long.

3. Sports Illustrated (sportsillustrated.cnn.com) - this site excels in two things - editorials and rumors. They have THE best writers (they are Sports Illustrated after all) and they do an excellent job of providing tons of content. Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback column is absolutely priceless. They also compile a 'Truth and Rumors' section for each of the major sports. It's essentially a compilation of all of the rumors from local newspapers across the country. The best part about it is it's free, unlike ESPN's rumors.

2. CBS SportsLine (cbs.sportsline.com) - everything is great about SportsLine - they are often the first to break news, gamecasts are innovative and effective, and for what it's worth the fantasy sports are the best on the web. Well, they are great at everything except editorials and analysis, and they are horrible at that. Tony Mejia, Dennis Dodd, Pete Prisco, and Greg Doyle are the worst group of sports writers on the web. Where are the editorials from their on-air personalities like Jim Nantz and Billy Packer? ESPN and FOX manage to get their on-air personalities to write, maybe CBS should consider it. Read the comments at the bottom of any article by any of the aforementioned writers and you'll realize that I'm not the only one that thinks they are horrible.

1. ESPN (www.espn.com) - they are consistently ahead of the curve in every one of the important aspects. They are the worldwide leader in sports and they show no signs of giving up that crown on the web. I commend them for getting their best personalities - John Clayton, Steven A. Smith, Barry Melrose, and Peter Gammons - to write consistently good articles. The only downside is that too much information is hidden in the 'Insider', ESPN's paid service. It's frustrating to read a headline, click, and then realize that you can't read the story because you have to pay for it.