Lacking the zip of Deadspin and the passion of smaller sites, the Big Lead is comprehensive in its sports coverage without being all that much fun. But what used to be the sports-blog project of anonymous friends when it was founded in 2006 is now big business founder Jason McIntyre (his identity was eventually revealed by Sports Illustrated) just sold the Big Lead for a sum "in the low seven figures," according to the New York Times.
From the savvy to the satirical, the eye-opening to the jaw-dropping, TIME makes its annual picks of the blogs we can't live without