Hank Brockett at The Brockett Blog gave a great recap on the  The Kings of All Media: Leveraging Podcasting and Video to Build a Media Megabrand Panel at Blogs with Balls 3 that featured Skeets and producer Matt Osteen from The Basketball Jones (The Score), Jay Busbee (Yahoo! Sports), David Jacoby (ESPN, Sports Guy Podcast), Ian Orefice (SI.com), Michael Rand (Star Tribune) and was moderated Matt Sebek (Joe Sports Fan).

Brockett concisely and accurately points out many of the panel’s key points, diverse as the voices were, particularly those focused on the production process and monetization/sponsorship.

You can read the post here:  Talking podcasting at Blogs With Balls 3.

Brian Grey used to run big sports sites for really big portals, first at Yahoo (YHOO), then at News Corp.’s (NWS) Fox Sports. Now he’s going to do the same thing at a start-up: He’s leaving an entrepreneur-in-residence perch at Polaris Venture Partners to run Bleacher Report, a San Francisco-based sports network.

And a nice summary of the experience that Grey brings to Bleacher Report, extracted from Ben’s analysis:

Grey has worked on the digital side at one of sport’s premier sponsors [Nike], experience on the league side [MLB], a stint at the largest internet company in it’s prime [Yahoo!], startup experience [Shutterfly], VC experience [Polaris Ventures], as well as running two of the top three sports entities not named ESPN.

As the WSJ piece indicated, Grey leaves a position as entrepreneur-in-residence at Polaris Ventures — not a shabby gig in its own right. Congrats to the team at Bleacher Report for luring a seasoned veteran back into the sports media game.

Brian: look forward to conversing with you at #BWB4.

Alana G joins Dan on OnTheDL to clarify some of her much talked about positions from the event in Chicago.

Listen to the episode here.

All kidding (mostly) aside, we’d like to share with you a few of the photo highlights from the festivities that took place Saturday, June 5 at Wrigley Field and take a quick moment to once again thank P&G for the involvement of its NFL locker room brands — Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Old Spice and Febreze — as well as Vicks and Prilosec OTC. Looking back on the event and seeing the recaps and responses from people who attended — both the good and the bad, one thing that’s abundantly clear is that we’re fortunate to have companies like P&G willing to be an active part of our conversations (and contribute resources to help make sure those dialogues have a place to happen).  Thanks again to P&G for their support of Blogs with Balls 3.

And now, without further ado, here are the pictures from #BWB3. (If you have some of your own, we’d love to see them. Send ‘em to us via Twitter or Facebook or email them to info@blogswithballs.com):

[View with PicLens]

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** As you look back on these photos and reflect on a great day of discussion, conversation, free hot dogs and John Daly-inspired beverages — if you haven’t already — do us a favor and thank our fine sponsors with a shout-out on Twitter:

• Old Spice (@oldspice)
• Gillette (@Gillette)
• Febreze (@febreze_fresh)
• Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport)
• Guinness (@GuinnessPours)
• Prilosec OTC (@prilosecOTC)
• The Fifty/50 (@thefifty50)
• The Captain Morgan Club (@CMCWrigleyville)
• Jeremiah Weed (@jeremiahweed)
• SB Nation (@sbnation)
• Yardbarker (@yardbarker)
• Fox Sports (@foxsports)
• ChicagoNow (@chicagonow)
• FanSided (@fansided)
• Justin.tv (@justintv)
• Gowalla (@gowalla)

Dan, a good friend of ours, also caught up with MGoBlog’s Brian Cook to talk about his “Ethical Ambush” (along with Spenser Hall) on The Big Lead…which has sprung constructive commentary and debate on the issue ever since.

You can listen to the episode here: DL384: Brian Cook of MGoBlog on BwB3 & Blog Ethics.

And just to hold you over until a proper highlight reel can be presented, here’s video of EDSBS/SB Nation’s Spencer Hall getting ambush iced by Jason of Eleven Warriors:

Why Blogs With Balls 3 Was the Best Conference I’ve Ever Attended (Flagged for Follow Up)

This past Saturday I attended and spoke at a fantastic sports media conference called Blogs With Balls 3. Massive kudos to Kyle Bunch and the crew at Hugging Harold Reynolds for what was the best conference I’ve ever attended (and for inviting an ‘outsider’ like me to speak). Do not sleep on the next time they put one of these together!

That’s right – the best conference I’ve ever attended. Here’s why, in no particular order of importance …

Monday (Blogs With Balls 3 recap) edition: Wha’ Happened? (RandBall)

During the panel on ethics and legality in sports blogging, the difference between bloggers and traditionally trained members of the mainstream media (or even the blogosphere) was never more evident. The casual approach to facts when putting together a blog post was stunning….In any event, we understand blogging is not the same as journalism. But the standard has to be higher.

Blogs with Balls 3: Welcome to the after-after-after party (Hail to the Orange)

As for the event itself, the series of panels on the important aspects of sports blogging, from ethics to technology to most importantly, gettin’ paid, I didn’t really know what to expect. obviously when you have representatives from companies like Proctor and Gamble or ESPN, there is only so much crazy and cursing that can take place…

The ethics panel and democratization of media panel were probably the two most raucous and stimulating that would take place, and without going into the drama too much, one lesson could be clearly taken away. As a blogger, it isn’t only your credibility that you should be worried about, but the credibility of the entire blogging community.

Blogs with Balls 3 (Or Drinking with Other Bloggers) (Eleven Warriors)

Over the weekend, the third installment of Blogs With Balls was held in Chicago and besides being a great excuse to get to know some of our frenemies over rounds of adult beverages, also served as a great way for bloggers to share best-practices and other tips for success with each other.

Blogs with Balls 3 the Aftermath (The Sports Bank)

Chicago was the center of the sports blog universe, at least for one weekend. Perhaps it’s more than coincidence that Blogs with Balls 3, the convention I’m speaking off, took place here at the same exact time that Chicago was hosting a jewel event, the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, with high media coverage. The day after BWB3 concluded the Chicago Blackhawks moved to within one win of clinching the Stanley Cup. There were many internet sports luminaries in attendance including Scott Reifert Director of Communications for the Chicago White Sox.

‘Laziness As A Business Model’: My Panel At Blogs With Balls 3 [Video] (With Leather)

A quick, unbiased aside: The guys behind Blogs With Balls fill a genuine need in our industry. Their three organized gatherings of sports blogging talent, insight and personality have been, in my opinion, without peer. In addition to hearing from some of the most accomplished online sportswriters out there, I’ve had chances to meet a variety of people at these events.

Some of those people, like “Wisconsin Rob” and Ryan from Rumors and Rants, were people that I’d been emailing and tweeting with for some time. Others, like ESPN’s David Jacoby, were sports fans in high places with whom I’d otherwise have no business associating. For people with equally woeful social skills, this is both refreshing and necessary. This was the second trip I’d made to Blogs With Balls, and it was the second instance where I felt I was getting great value for my money and my time.

Video: Robert Littal At Blogs With Balls 3 in Chicago (Black Sports Online)

The business that we are in for the most part is independent. We are our own bosses. We run our own ships. We make our own rules.

There are times because of this tunnel vision we lose perspective and we don’t open our mind to other things. When you bring all these different people together it is just a wealth of knowledge.

Hopefully you’ve heard it from at least one of us already, but just in case — thank you.

No offense to Blogs with Balls 1 and 2, but we can say with confidence that this was the best event yet, by a margin comparable to that of Sunday night’s ‘Hawks-Flyers game (sorry, Enrico). And that has everything to do with your attendance, your questions, your conversations, your Guinness pouring, and so on.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be doing a thorough post-mortem and will be reaching out for feedback from every single one of you. While we were certainly pleased with the event, we want to build on the great weekend we had in Chicago to make something even better when Blogs with Balls 4 in [redacted] rolls around. In the meantime, send us links to your recaps, photos and/or videos from the event — we’d love to share them with the entire community on blogswithballs.com. We’re also in the process of putting together a panelist and attendee directory, to help keep the conversation going.

In closing, we’d be remiss if we didn’t express our utmost gratitude to all of our sponsors and partners — P&G and its family of NFL Locker Room brands, Guinness, Bleacher Report, Jeremiah Weed, SB Nation, Jose Cuervo, Yardbarker, Fox Sports, ChicagoNow, The Captain Morgan Club, The Fifty/50, Mystic Celt, FanSided, Justin.tv, Gowalla, Notice Software — and of course, thanks again to every one of you for helping to make Blogs with Balls 3 a success.

Cheers,

Don, Chris, Kyle and all of Team BwB

The popular site is just one of more than 250 unapologetically biased sports sites owned by SB Nation, most of them dedicated to a single team. The sites, written by fans for fans, do not claim to break news or have an inside scoop, but they often serve as a digital water cooler for the like-minded, The New York Times’s Joseph Plambeck reported….

Now the company is getting into the regional sports business, introducing 20 new sites in the next several weeks that are dedicated to all of the sports in a particular city, as varied as New York and Kansas City.