About a month ago, I decided to work on a special July project for BertFlex.com, called Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month.  Many Cardinal-related blogs have been started up over the past few years and a lot of them feature quality content, including opinions and stats posted by normal fans like you and me.  Granted, they (including myself) are purely amateurs, while geniuses like Jay Mariotti and Woody Paige have worked long and hard to get to the top of their profession and earn the money they…okay I can’t finish that sentence, hopefully you understand the sarcasm by now.

We’re interviewing some of the finest Cardinal bloggers throughout the land, asking for their wisdom on all the hot-button issues facing the Redbirds this season and beyond. Plus we'll dip into plenty of dumb, sophomoric questions that should be expected out of us.

Most blogs last for a few months, maybe up to a year, then the writer(s) get burned out for a number of reasons, most notably “a life.”  I don’t think there is a stat for this, but “Sorry for the lack of posts lately” has to be the most common opening line for bloggers throughout the internet ("OMG! I'm so awesome..." runs a close second).  I’m not saying this in a negative way, but things happen, and a blog shouldn’t be placed at the top of anyone’s priority list over their personal lives.

That makes me appreciate the ones who stay up-to-date with content even more; it’s why we started Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month.  As much as I’d like to interview myself, truth is, our site leans toward posting funny pictures and discussing foods that include bacon, as opposed to hard-hitting Cardinal analysis.  We leave that up to the smart people, who have attention spans of more than 12 seconds.

Some of my favorite Cardinal blogs (in no particular order): Viva El Birdos, Future Redbirds, and Cardinals Diaspora; then there are the actual journalists’ blogs like Matthew Leach’s Obviously, You’re Not a Golfer and Derrick Goold’s Bird Land.  This is just scratching the surface, there are many more.  It’s a lot to keep up with, but Google Reader or Feedburner is your friend. 

You ought to check them out, they each offer a different perspective on the Cardinals, and most of the time you’ll learn something new that won't be pointed out by the professionals.  These guys (and sometimes girls too) are all well informed and work their asses off pretty much for the love of baseball, since the compensation, if any, is minimal (until you parlay it into a sweet job at InsideSTL, which will be parlayed into a sweeter job on Chalk Talk).

The best part about Cardinal bloggers is that none of them are cranky old ladies who complain about everything to Sound Off:  Pujols’ black undershirt, Schumaker adjusting his batting gloves, Chris Duncan’s glob of tobacco, etc.  And any time you can get away from the thoughts of cranky old people, we all win.

I believe Delmar Gardens has a typewritten newsletter named after Bo Hart, but that’s only a rumor I have been unable to confirm.

For more HMW, funny pictures, and bacon talk, head to www.bertflex.com