A lot of people always ask me 'Will, what sports do you reckon the Telegraph writes about the most?'
'Good question', I respond, 'I would imagine it's probably football, or maybe Ultimate Fighting Championship.'
And it seems I'd be right to question my first guess, judging by the tag cloud on the Telegraph's blogs (right). But of course this is just the blogs and we all know the Telegraph's online following likes nothing more than a bit of no-holds barred bloodsport.
However, some people of a more traditional mindset may be surprised to hear UFC so dominates sports more closely associated with the Telegraph's traditional readership; rugby, cricket, horseracing - the latter of which isn't represented at all among the Telegraph's blogs (consider this my application if you're reading over at Telegraph Towers.)
Cynics may suggest it's a shameless SEO-driven attempt to indiscriminantly court click-happy readers from non-traditional demographics and territories (the lucrative US teen market perhaps). Nothing wrong with that of course, though most-written-about doesn't mean most-read. Others may say the apparent disconnect between content and core audience is a potential downside of the bloggers' self-selection of beat areas and one which is exacerbated when niche bloggers write far more prolifically than those covering traditional hot topics.
I wouldn't dare criticise however. They can't be that keen on fighting without picking up a trick or two.