Internet a haven for those who crave Aggie sports coverage

By Tyler Riggs

February 27, 2008 | You attended the big Aggie basketball game last night, and read the recaps and analysis of the game this morning in The Salt Lake Tribune, The Deseret Morning News, and The Herald Journal.

Then, you discussed the game with your colleagues at work. But after digesting so much information about one sporting event, you still crave more.

You're not alone, and fortunately for your case of Aggiemania, there are several fans like out and they're all finding the cure for their Aggie addiction online, in the form of fan-based Web sites and sports forums.

College and professional sports teams having a fan-based presence online isn't something new, not even for the USU Aggies, but in the past year the variety of sites that have been created online has increased, giving fans of Big Blue everything from comprehensive stats coverage to live game chats to keep them enthralled with the Aggies.

The two most popular Web sites covering the Aggies online are likely ScoutUState.com and TrueAggies.com.

Craig Petersen, an instructor in USU's Huntsman School of Business, has operated TrueAggies.com for the past several years, and said the various Web sites online have helped him become more involved with Aggie sports.

"Mainly due to the previous versions of this site I joined the Big Blue Club and became a Touchdown Club members," Petersen said. "Without the Web sites, I would not have joined and become so involved."

Petersen attends a range of sporting events, from football and basketball to volleyball and women's soccer, and posts photos from the events on his site. The popularity of his photos can be seen simply by looking at any MySpace or FaceBook page of a USU athlete, many of whom have posted Petersen's photos of themselves on their profiles.

The most popular feature of ScoutUState.com is the site's message boards.

ScoutUState.com is owned and operated by a company called "Scout" and is affiliated with FoxSports.com. The site also includes information on basketball and football recruiting, although some of that info -- which is compiled by nationwide sources employed by Scout -- requires a subscription.

On ScoutUState.com, users say they enjoy the diverse opinions they're able to find from other fans, as well as the friendships that are formed by interacting with other members of "Aggie Nation."

"I like this site because it offers various opinions on Aggie athletics that can't be found in the published media," said Ellis Mather, a user of ScoutUState.com who posts under the handle "ejmpalle."

"There's no other place that I can go and get real in-depth opinions on various issues," Mather continued. "In fact, I appreciate this site more than any other source on Aggie athletics, because we're not afraid to challenge the status quo here."

ScoutUState.com has actually been used as a launching point for other Aggie fans to promote their own Aggie Web ventures. Recent startup sites include Big Blue Chat and USUStats.com.

Big Blue Chat provides a place for Aggie fans to meet and chat with each other during Aggie games and so far this season has received a good response with as many as 20 users chatting during some away games. Meanwhile, Aggie fans can get up-to-date stats both for the current season and historically at USUStats.com, a site started recently by Aggie alum Nick Ballam, who also posts on ScoutUState.com as "Treesap32."

"I have wanted to create the site for some time now because I really enjoy delving into the media guide and learning about the history of who we have played and what records have been made or can be broken," Ballam said of his site. "It was obvious to me that the official site was lacking and I hoped to fill the void that is out there by creating the site. Hopefully I'll be able to make it into what I envisioned it to be someday. I just need some more time."

The popularity of the various Aggie Web sites that are organized and operated by fans apparently prompted the "official media" to get into the fan-produced content arena. Last year, The Herald Journal's prep sports venture, CacheSports.com started producing content covering the Aggies. While CacheSports editor Clay Moffitt said the site is getting a good amount of readership from apparent Aggie fans, not as many fans are actually participating in the creation of content as he would like.

"We would definitely like to see more people get involved and write more about their team and provide some of the coverage," Moffitt said. "The fans have been good to go and view all the content, but they haven't been as good to actually get involved."

Moffitt said that when a user registers to post a comment on CacheSports.com, they also receive an e-mail from him inviting them to blog or get involved in some other way with the creation of content on his site. Moffitt also supplements his coverage of the Aggies with video highlights from games, a feature which likely is unique to his site.

Ultimately, today is a better time than any in the past for those passionate about the Aggies, especially those outside of Utah, to be able to follow their team. With several Web sites already started by fans and more likely to come in the future, the possibilities for fan-produced coverage of the Aggies -- and any other sporting team out there -- are endless.

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