We have honored sports beatbloggers in the past, but we thought it was high time that we found some more innovative sports beat reporters.

Sports reporting (especially at the pro or major college level) does not lend itself well to beatblogging, but we have found some beat reporters who are innovating and utilizing new tools. Yes, the best beatbloggers typically come from news beats, but there are some sports reporters who have lessons to share.

Derrick Goold | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

• Beatblogging, social media and other Web tools don’t lend themselves that well to sports reporting, especially at the professional level, but Goold has found ways to be innovative with these new tools and connect with users better than ever before. Goold covers the St. Louis Cardinals for the Post-Dispatch and is very active on his blog and social media.
• Goold leaves little tidbits in his Twitter feed before games. Here is one example: “Cardinals currently in clubhouse watching a MLB steroid-related video.” That’s the kind of nugget of information that would never make it into a story for the paper and probably wouldn’t even make it into a blog post. Goold’s Twitter feed is filled with tidbits like that. He also interacts with users via Twitter.
  
• Goold also has a Facebook page for himself and his blog. What I really like about his use of Facebook is how he gives users the chance to start discussions about the Cardinals or baseball and Goold participates in those discussions. Whereas Goold leads the discussion on his blog, users get to lead the discussion on Facebook.
• The nature of being a beat reporter that covers a professional sports team doesn’t lead well to beatblogging, but Goold has done a very good job of innovating and engaging his users.

James Walker | ESPN.com

• ESPN has done a really nice job of adding on bloggers to its staff, and these bloggers operate in a much different fashion than their on-air personalities and standard reporters. Walker is a former beat reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, but now has a beatblog focused on the AFC North in the NFL for ESPN.com.
• Walker engages users in a myriad of ways. He has a weekly chat where users can submit questions, and he selects the best ones to answer. This is a great way for users to be able to tap into his deep knowledge of the AFC North, and it’s an opportunity for users to ask questions that may not have been answered by reporters. This is also an opportunity to clarify some of the confusing things around professional sports (for instance, the cap hit of trading an NFL player).
• He also has a mailbag feature where users can send in questions about their respective teams. He does a mailbag at least a few times a week.
• Walker also engages in daily link journalism. He finds the most interesting story of the day for each of the four teams in the AFC North.

Dave Levinthal | Dallas City Hall Blog

• Yes, we have nominated people in the past for hoisting comments, but we’re going to keep doing it until every beatblogger starts doing this. The Dallas City Hall Blog just started hoisting comments by creating a new weekly feature.
• If you want people to leave thoughtful comments, you have to give them some sort of incentive. Being active in the comments and having the opportunity to interact with a beatblogger is one form of incentive. Another great incentive is highlighting the best comments of the week. People will leave better comments if A) they know you are reading them B) they know you’ll responsed and interact with them and C) they know if they leave something really insightful that you’ll acknowledge what they have to say.
• Levinthal said this is why they are starting this new feature: “Because, at the end of the day, we want the Dallas City Hall Blog’s comments section to be more than a repository for throwaway thoughts, bland retorts, or worse, a shouting match. Sometimes, it’s any or all of those things. Instead, we hope our blog reporting will more often than not foster thoughtful conversation and spirited, yet respectful debate on any of the hundreds of issues that face Dallas city government. Therefore, starting this Friday and continuing each Friday thereafter, we’ll select at least one reader comment from the week, highlight it and discuss it. So fire up your intellect. And while we can’t promise you a golden cow if your comment is selected — already in use — we’ll come up with something fun.”