A mini-earthquake rocked the blogging world late last night – the founder of the most popular sports blog on the net, AOL Fanhouse, lost its fearless leader, Jamie Mottram (aka Mister Irrelevant). Where was he going? What was he doing? Sports Business Daily has the answer – Yahoo Sports. We spoke to Mottram about his movie, and a Q&A follows.

Q: Let’s start with the obvious – why leave? Was it just that time?

I love FanHouse and would never leave for anything but a tremendous opportunity, and that opportunity is at Yahoo! Sports (I’ve already learned that the exclamation point is important). They want to increase their lead on ESPN by developing blogging and community components that none of the major sports sites have figured out yet, and they want me to quarterback that effort. It’s a great fit.

Q: In a short span of time, you founded the Fanhouse, hired some of the finest sports bloggers on the net, and it achieved large amounts of success. Did you think it could grow so large, so fast?

There was no doubting that FanHouse would own. Of course, it had its tribulations, but from last September’s launch to now, it’s been a rocket ride to the top of the sports blogosphere (Ballhype don’t lie!). Sounds thrilling, I know.

The success has been attributable to three things, in ascending order: 1) Support from the leadership at AOL, namely AOL Sports GM Neal Scarbrough and AOL News & Sports Senior VP Lewis D’Vorkin. 2) The efforts of folks at AOL Sports such as Producer John Ness, who’ve made FanHouse the best sports blogging experience and also an integral part of AOL Sports. 3) The work of the 60-plus pro bloggers posting on FanHouse every day; with them on board we would’ve had to have been fools to fail.

Q: Are you surprised Fox or ESPN or Sportsline hasn’t copied the Fanhouse model? Or was it just a unique fit for AOL?

I don’t think something like FanHouse has to be unique to AOL Sports, I just think AOL Sports was in the best position to take a chance and get it done.

As for the aforementioned three, I’m surprised at and disappointed in ESPN’s half-stepping. They acquire and hire TrueHoop and Henry Abbott, so they’ve got a great blogging experience for the NBA. Then they try to replicate that for NFL with HashMarks and Matt Mosley, but what about MLB, college football and basketball, etc.? It’s unclear what their strategy is, and, from what I understand, blogging is just not a high priority for ESPN.

I think Fox Sports wants to be one of the cool kids, and are probably in a good position to do so, but they haven’t taken any tangible steps in that direction. Unfortunately for them and everyone else, Yahoo! Sports is ready to move on this, and we’ll get it done.

Q: Do you expect your going away party to be anything like Gilbert’s birthday jam? If you can have five athletes on the VIP list, who you got? And five journalists, sports or otherwise?

Well, I’m really not going anywhere. I’ll still be working from my kitchen table, hosting The Blog Show and blogging at Mr. Irrelevant.

If I were going to have a Gilbert-esque soiree, though, the five athletes would be Arenas (he did invite me to his), Da Meat Hook and the three Skins from The U. (Portis, Moss and Taylor). I’m a DC guy through and through.

As for journalists, The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg would have to be there, because we’re blog brothers. And Mr. Irrelevant’s Chris Mottram too, because we’re blood brothers. So that leaves room for three more. Let’s go with Bill Simmons (to write a column half as good as his one from the ‘06 NBA All-Star Weekend), Gus Johnson (to MC) and Yahoo! Sports’ Dave Morgan (always invite the boss).

Q: Do you have any thoughts on the massive blogger strategy (what you started at AOL) vs. the blogging a sport strategy (ESPN’s Hashmarks and True Hoop)? The pros and cons of each?

Either way you go, there needs to be continuity and comprehensiveness, not to mention exceptional content.

We achieved all of that with FanHouse, and the results (big traffic from non-AOL users, six-figure monthly sponsorships, etc.) speak for themselves. With the sport-by-sport strategy, we only really have ESPN to look at as a barometer. TrueHoop is awesome, but it’s an acquired success. Hashmarks hasn’t gotten as much traction and they haven’t moved past those two yet, so it’s hit-and-miss.

Other alternatives include the team-by-team (see: SB Nation) and city-by-city approaches, which no one has tried yet.