I’ve been playing around with Technorati and trying to see what bloggers write about when it comes to sports. I’ve spent some time coming up with tools and some items to determine what stories on ESPN.com bloggers are linking to. I’m going to try to make this a regular feature, highlighting the top articles of the week as well as interesting blog posts that link to the stories. Let me know what you think of this feature.

The number one blogged story of the week is, surprisingly, Rusty Wallace flips Tony Danza’s go-kart in race — Danza’s kart flips after ‘bump and run’ from Wallace. Not much commentary, though lots of pointing and laughing. Dan Smith of Diablo Canyon 2 wishes they were wearing helmets to “give the kids the right idea.”

MLB’s announcement of an international baseball tournament generated a lot of buzz this week. Consumption Fit, among many others, loves the plan and is looking forward to a competitive tournament. Daryl at Singapore Sox Fan comes up with a potential Canadian lineup. That’s rough considering the Domincans. The name of the tournament isn’t so popular. (That potential Domincan lineup is SICK).

Another big story was the report that home runs are down 8.8% this year in baseball. Lots of commentary about this, as you’d expect. Grace and Wayne breaks down the numbers with some actual math. The Steam Vent chimes in with this:

Any statisticians out there want to raise their hand and tell me what this graph signifies? Anybody? Right. It’s the natural ebb and flow of any statistical category, and nothing more. If I had told any of my stats teachers through college (5 of ‘em) that the reason HR production dropped this year was because of tougher steroid regulations, I’d be punched. No, I’d be beaten with an axe. Publicly hung. Drawn and quartered. You get the picture.

Well said. :)

The full top 20 is after the jump.

Top Buzz for week (May 8, 2005 6:14:14 PM PDT)

16 - Rusty Wallace flips Tony Danza’s go-kart in race — Danza’s kart flips after ‘bump and run’ from Wallace
(latest trackback at 2005-05-13 01:17:02)
14 - MLB - Baseball World Cup set for ‘06 — World Cup announcement made
(latest trackback at 2005-05-14 09:34:29)
13 - NFL - Vikings’ RB Smith had drug test avoidance kit — Smith was stopped at airport last month
(latest trackback at 2005-05-13 11:26:26)
13 - MLB - Power outage: Homers down for first time since ‘02 — Homers down 8.8 percent from first 5 weeks of ‘04
(latest trackback at 2005-05-14 12:37:56)
11 - MLB - Royals skipper Pena resigns — Pena resigns after Royals’ 8-25 start
(latest trackback at 2005-05-12 02:21:22)
10 - MLB - Giambi to stay with Yanks, but could be sent to minors — Torre, Cashman meet with former MVP
(latest trackback at 2005-05-14 07:29:58)
10 - NFL - Report: Eagles won’t renegotiate Owens’ contract — Owner: Owens has received ’self-destructive advice’
(latest trackback at 2005-05-13 05:42:37)
10 - MLB - Report: MLB investigating Bonds; Giants ‘freaking out’ — MLB reportedly fears Bonds at risk of conviction
(latest trackback at 2005-05-14 08:58:11)
10 - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players
(latest trackback at 2005-05-14 01:47:02)
10 - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/scoreboard
(latest trackback at 2005-05-14 01:47:02)
9 - http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=250507006
(latest trackback at 2005-05-12 05:14:36)
9 - GAMMONS - Gammons: Land of the unknown — Living in the unknown
(latest trackback at 2005-05-11 02:04:38)
9 - MLB - Drehs: Foreign territory — Foreign territory
(latest trackback at 2005-05-11 10:11:01)
9 - NBA - LeBron fires agents, possibly in favor of friend — LeBron fires agents, possibly in favor of friend
(latest trackback at 2005-05-12 04:29:24)
8 - NBA/PLAYOFFS2005 - Sources: Nash to be named MVP — Nash fourth point guard to win MVP
(latest trackback at 2005-05-09 04:25:23)
8 - MLB - Rickey Henderson to play in independent league — Henderson signs contract to play in San Diego
(latest trackback at 2005-05-10 10:20:09)
7 - NFL - Brady finally agrees to long-awaited contract extension — Brady now among the NFL’s highest-paid players
(latest trackback at 2005-05-13 04:52:16)
7 - http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index
(latest trackback at 2005-05-14 06:19:18)
7 - Page 2 - Schoenfield: World Cup dreams — World Cup dreams
(latest trackback at 2005-05-14 09:34:29)
7 - Page 2 - Whitlock: Color matters — Race still can rock the vote
(latest trackback at 2005-05-12 11:23:31)