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Lisa Galaviz – October 4th, 2009

Yesterday at Geekfest 2009 (As @KCbandit liked to call it), Ann Gaffigan (former American

Record holder in the steeplechase and current Computer Website Mogul) and I were discussing

website design. I asked her what her favorite websites were and we started looking up

specific athletes sites we’d already been to, which then lead me to google “Top Athlete

Websites”. Unfortunately, the most recent article I could find was from a Sports Illustrated

article from 2006 and when I looked up those top sites, to be frank, they sucked! So, I

decided that I was going to create a list of MY favorite athlete websites. Now, before I

give you that top ten list, there are definitely a few pet peeves that Ann and I have. Music

is Ann’s #1 pet peeve…turn it off!! My favorite athlete website did have music and while I

felt it added to the experience, I did turn it off after a minute, so I could listen to my

own itunes in the background. My #1 pet peeve is websites that don’t take advantage of AJAX

which basically means the entire page re-loads with every mouse-click even when the header or

other parts of the page remain the same and don’t need to be refreshed (thus, creating that

annoying flicker and taking longer to load the page). Also annoying, ads and pop-ups! Now, I

noticed that most, if not all, of the websites in my top 10 took advantage of flash. Ann and

I looked a wide range of athletes websites, from a wide variety of sports, all over the

world! If you have a website you think should have made my top 10 list, I’d

love to hear your recommendations! Please comment! Some side notes, I HATE my website

design!…and will thus be upgrading it in the next month, so please don’t judge my top 10

list based off my own website design. I found the websites I liked were creative and

reflected the specific athlete’s personality. I liked websites where most of the information

was shown on the computer screen and I didn’t have to scroll to see the whole page. I also

liked websites that are updated frequently with news, blogs, and other information.

#1) Danica Patrick: http://www.danicaracing.com
#2) Usain Bolt http://www.usainbolt.com
#3) Shawn Johnson http://www.shawnjohnson.net
#4) Anthony Famiglietti http://www.runfam.com
#5) Brianna Glenn http://www.briannaglenn.net
#6) Serena Williams http://www.serenawilliams.com
#7) Annika Sorenstam http://www.annikasorenstam.com
#8) Natalie Gulbis http://www.nataliegulbis.com
#9) Tyson Gay http://www.tysongay.net
#10) Deena Kastor http://www.deenakastor.com

For fun, my other 2 favorite website designs, not related to athletes:
Harry Potter: http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthehalf-bloodprince/
My friend I’ve known since 3rd grade: http://www.ethniphotography.com/

My favorite starting page to a website (but there’s nothing else):
http://www.amandabeard.net

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There are 6 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

Maya says:

I'm disappointed in your choice of Danica Patrick. What is she saying about female athletes on her starting page? She certainly isn't helping the world see female athletes as competent competitors that deserve respect beyond being sex symbols. . . .

Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 6:46pm EDT

anngaff says:

Fun post, Lisa! I think Danica is a high-powered woman who knows how to market herself. I think her website is awesome and I expected nothing less from her. I don't agree with her using her sexuality to market herself, but that doesn't take away from the fat that her website is quite a piece of work!

Sunday, October 4, 2009 at 8:58pm EDT

jschonb says:

whether or not one agrees with the way Danica markets herself, she understands a key principle of business - know your audience. Clearly female athletes and feminists aren't the ones paying her bills.

Monday, October 5, 2009 at 2:38pm EDT

robm says:

There you go again, Jane, making sense. Many if not most people have enough mental agility to value someone as an athlete while also appreciating his or her sex appeal. One attribute doesn't preclude the other, and Danica appears to be using both quite effectively to market herself (or putting it in Jane's no-nonsense fashion, to pay her bills).

The world teems with matters more important to feminists and female athletes than Danica's home page. Leave such things for Puritans to busy themselves with.

Monday, October 5, 2009 at 4:04pm EDT

Jewell says:

Yeah, I have to agree with Maya while Patrick's site is beautiful and very color coordinated but I do not think it carries the message of women in the sporting world.As women in sports we need to think of our sport first then the glamour behind it. I do not think Patrick's site portrays that. I will have to go with Natalie Gulbis' site. I like the color, the coordination and the entire site embraces her sport.

Monday, October 5, 2009 at 5:47pm EDT

toplisthomepage says:

I've made up a list of the top 10 most popular sports websites which I think you might like, also i made up top 10 categories in a bunch of other stuff at www.toplisthomepage.com.

Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 1:33am EDT

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