Life isn’t all rosy here at Cartilage Free Captain Towers. Oh sure, I’ve got the corner office here at the paragraph factory, but this is a blog that’s supposed to be about a football team that plays football matches, and right now only half of that is true. It’s forced us to get creative about what we cover and how, and while there’s still a lot more to come, we’re all getting a little stir crazy while stuck in our houses with our families/housemates/strangers.

So let’s have a thought experiment. Let’s pretend that every SB Nation soccer blog is actually a person, embodying their site content. Now let’s go a step further and pretend that we have to choose five blogs that we have to live with, Big Brother-style, until the coronavirus pandemic blows over and we can all start watching #sprots again. Who would you pick?

Yeah, fine, this is just a way for me to share which other networked soccer blogs I’ve enjoyed reading lately. These are my personal opinions, and it’s also impacted by the interactions I’ve had with some of the blog writers/managers. But if you’re here chances are it means you’re looking for diverting #content to keep your minds off the fact that you haven’t left the apartment in three weeks. If this leads you to some other great blogs with additional great content to read about other (less great) teams, then I’ve achieved my objective.

Here’s my list of personified SB Nation soccer blogs that I’d choose to be stuck in a small house with until the coronavirus blows over. It was hard — there are a LOT of blogs I love to read and leaving some of them out was difficult. Click the titles to be taken straight to the blogs.

7500 to Holte

Aston Villa

I’m not a Villa supporter, obviously, but I’ve been a huge fan of 7500 to Holte for years now. Over the past five years it’s gone through a couple of changes of leadership, but they’ve always promoted from within, which has led to a remarkable continuity of quality content. Now led (again) by site founder Kirsten Schlewitz, this blog is churning out super posts that don’t get nearly the number of eyeballs they deserve. In the SBN Quarantine House, this blog is the foodie that does most of the cooking but mostly keeps to themselves and is averse to house-related drama.

The Busby Babe

Manchester United

Eww, really, I hear you say, the United blog? Yep, and for one good reason — Busby Babe has been putting out some of the best creative oh-crap-football-is-in-shutdown content I’ve read on any blog thus far. Brent Maxmin and Alexander Netherton are pulling out the stops during the COVID break, and their articles have ranged from heartfelt tributes to fandom to the first five-a-side article, to analyses of cheese. They’re also blogging the current season of Top Chef (because why not?), which is extremely my jam. Most of it is stuff I really wish I had thought of first but it won’t stop me from stealing their ideas. In the house, this blog never takes off their match-worn Giggs jersey, but you can over look the backhanded comments about “past titles” because they’re fun to hang out with and they keep the fridge stocked with beer.

Sounder at Heart

Seattle Sounders

I’ve always been a little jealous of the MLS blogs because they tend to have ravenous American fan support and readers that are regionally based and actually get together to do stuff now and then. They also are able to get media credentials and watch/cover their matches in the stadiums, something that I can only dream of doing 8000 miles from London. Sounder at Heart is the largest MLS blog and is loaded with high quality writers who are dedicated to their craft and their team. The current manager is a Liverpool fan, but we won’t that hold that against Mark Kastner. In Quarantine House, this is the guy glued to the Playstation playing FIFA 20 Ultimate Team, but who will do the dishes when asked.

The Short Fuse

Arsenal

Yeah yeah yeah, I know. But look — we’ve maintained a healthy and gosh-darned cordial relationship with the Gooners down the hall at SBN Towers for years now. They’re good people, and even let us take over their blog a couple of days after losing a charity contest. Aaron Lerner is doing very good work in the couple of months since he took over as site manager, and if we’re lucky I can convince him to let us do another takeover why holding his arm behind his back and giving him a noogie while saying “stop hitting yourself stop hitting yourself.” In the House, this is my (fictional) little brother. What can I say? Sure he’s a bit annoying but he’s still family.

AllForXI

Women’s Football

Over the past couple of years I have greatly enjoyed getting more familiar with women’s footy. That has lately meant paying close attention to Tottenham Hotspur Ladies Women as they climbed the pyramid to the top-flight WSL this season, but my interest started back during the 1999 Women’s World Cup. AllForXI is relatively new to the blogroll, but Stephanie Yang & co. are doing really outstanding writing and more people need to be reading their stuff. They’re also really nice and occasionally front some of Carty Free’s woso content. This blog is a reminder that I really need to start watching the NWSL more. Also, SBN Quarantine House already has too many dudes, hopefully this will counterbalance things.

I know that many of our readers don’t just just read Carty Free, so let’s have it — what other SBN blogs are you reading, and why do you like them? To the comments, let’s be havin’ ya!