Shark Bytes

One of my favorite things to consistently read on www.lasvegassun.com is a blog written by somebody who never went to journalism school and probably won't win a Pulitzer for his contribution to the media. But it's entertaining and insightful.

I'm talking about the blog, Shark Bytes, written by legendary UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian. As I've said before, Tark is a legend and fan favorite here in Vegas, and people care about what he has to say. He is also a controversial guy because of his dealings with the NCAA, which makes his posts even more intriguing.

He updates this blog a couple times a week and he simply posts what is on his mind. Sometimes he writes about the current UNLV team. Other times he talks about his relationship with current and former college basketball coaches. The blog is basically just what Tark thinks is important enough to write.

His recent post definitely caught my eye for his brute honesty. In this post Tark goes into detail about two coaches he never liked, and why he feels so strongly about his disdain for them.

That makes good reading material!

In a world where coaches--especially the big-names--shy away from controversy, I really appreciate this kind of writing. Tarkanian often writes about the coaches he like and respects, so some people asked if he has any coaches that he never really liked. Instead of just avoiding the topic, he jumped right into it with this post.

The reason I bring this up is because I think having this feature on a newspaper website is a great idea. It makes sense. People in Vegas are interested by what Tark has to say, and this gives UNLV fans who can't get enough Rebels coverage a way to hear from a coaching legend every week.

Also, because all the stories on the site are comment-enabled, people post comments/questions on the blogs and sometimes Tark will respond directly to those questions in future posts. I'm not sure how many "newspapers" around the country are giving fans the chance to interact with a legendary coach like Tarkanian, but it seems to me like a good thing to try.