Best Blogfights of 2006

If bloggers know how to do one thing really well, it's fight.

Blogging is driven largely by raw emotion. When a blogger goes on an opinionated tirade about one topic or another, it's often an honest emotional reaction rather than anything malicious. But whatever the motivation behind them, the heated missives often ignite furious debates, played out in public, complete with contradictory Alexa charts and Technorati rank data served up as evidence.

We prefer our action bare-knuckled, so we'll maintain that the best blog boxing matches are the ones fought with no empirical data -- just good old-fashioned name calling, hearsaying and muckraking.

Take off the gloves and get in the ring. These were the best (and bloodiest) blogfights of 2006.

Amanda Congdon vs. Andrew Baron

The videoblog Rocketboom imploded in July 2006 when the team behind the smash hit 3-minute daily tech news show split up. Perky hostess Amanda Congdon, in a now-infamous video message, inferred that she was fired by her partner Andrew Baron, saying, "I apparently have been un-boomed." Andrew shot back, denying that he had fired Amanda and insisting that she left on her own to pursue a career in Hollywood. Amanda then blamed the whole thing on Andrew and his poor communication skills. Half a year later, they're still arguing in public.

Winner: None. Andrew kept Rocketboom and found a new host (sexy Brit Joanne Colan). It's still popular, but the show lacks the spark of the original. Amanda has a new gig hosting a show at ABCNews.com that has yet to prove itself worthy of your next five minutes.