Blogger Sherman tees up national sports media site

Ed Sherman

Another veteran Chicago sports journalist is striking out on his own — digitally speaking, that is.

Ed Sherman stepped down Friday after more than three years as a daily blogger for Crain’s Chicago Business, where he covered the local sports/business beat and hosted the Crain’s Business of Sports video series.

Starting sometime in April, Sherman said, he plans to launch ShermanReport.com, a self-financed website devoted to national sports media. The new site, which will combine Sherman’s original content with aggregated links to other stories, was designed by Jonathan Liss, the Evanston web developer who also designed the media blog JimRomenesko.com.

Sherman, 52, began writing for Crain’s on a free-lance basis in 2008, shortly after he accepted a buyout from the Chicago Tribune, where he covered sports for 27 years. For much of that time, he doubled as the Tribune’s golf beat writer and sports media columnist.

Although he will devote most of his energy to the new site, Sherman said he has agreed to write a weekly golf report for Crain’s, as he has for the past three years, starting with Masters Week in early April. He also will continue his sports interview video series for Crain’s. On the radio side, he still co-hosts The Score Card, a weekly golf show with Steve Olken, from 6 to 8am Saturdays on CBS Radio sports/talk WSCR-AM (670).

"Ed has been a terrific contributor to Crain's online,” said Jim Kirk, Crain's chief of editorial operations. “He expanded our reach with his insight on the world of sports in Chicago. We're extremely pleased he will continue to contribute with his golf coverage, especially with the Ryder Cup coming to the area later this year.''

With increased emphasis on breaking news, Crain’s is looking to take the coverage of the business of sports in-house, Kirk said. No other changes to Crain’s blog lineup are planned at this time.

Sherman’s startup is on deck just weeks after the official debut of ChicagoSide, another Chicago-based sports site, headed by author and Chicago magazine sports columnist Jonathan Eig. Up unofficially since January, Eig’s site at ChicagoSideSports.com plans to deliver new material from a lineup of more than three dozen free-lance writers and links to other stories each day.