Fan Nation – The Republic Of Sport

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There is no shortage of good sports sites, which provide users the latest updates of match results, scores etc. for all kinds of sports. But these have been quite traditional in that the users can only check the scores and read the news. There is hardly anything the users can contribute than maybe a few opinion polls. But sports fans generally have a lot more opinions to express about their favorite sports than others.

That’s where FanNation (www.FanNation.com) comes in. It not only provides the users up-to-date information of a variety of sports in a community setting with a user-friendly design, but users, the fans, can blog about anything and everything in sports, network with other sports fans, create groups of interest, track favorite players and teams, and communicate with friends. It’s a place where fans share their passion for both real and fantasy sports.

FanNation is the biggest social sports site around, probably due in a large part to their relationship with Sports Illustrated. Unlike some of the other sites that follow the Digg-inspired user submission of news, FanNation aggregates news itself by pulling in content from sources around the web for the major sports. The News in the site is broken down into three types. The most prominent type is the “Truth & Rumors” section, the sports world’s gossip column.

FanNation also provides the traditional message boards throughout the site, which are divided into sports categories from Soccer, NFL, NBA, NFL, NCAAF, NHL, Auto Racing, MMA, Cycling, Golf, Tennis and others including fantasy sports. Members of the FanNation community can rate the articles and submit their comments. Members can also track their favorite teams (TeamTracker) and players (PlayerTracker).

Fans can also start or participate in a “Throwdown”. A Throwdown is a structured debate between two fans about a hot topic. The fans get three turns each to present an argument and to try to prove that their point of view is correct. Other fans are then allowed to vote on a winner.

Although the FanNation aggregation is impressive, users cannot submit news themselves. But one thing lacking are news feeds. Hence the users will have to come to the site to get all of this content (except for a member’s blog). The news pieces are short and to the point, but may sometimes not be enough for the more news hungry fans.

The content is usually always fresh and interesting though, and the discussions are very active. With a world-wide alexa ranking of 2996 and a US ranking of 820, FanNation is a site with ever increasing popularity.