Media News & Notes
College Football, Media Gossip/Musings June 23rd. 2008, 2:10pm
Obviously the huge news, which was covered this weekend by Imig: Mike & the Mad Dog may be splitting up. We listened to the show at 1 pm today and Mad Dog, hosting solo, opened the show by saying: “It was the first I had heard of that. From Easter through May 9, Mike and I were having a lot of issues. Yankee Stadium, Ortiz, Ramirez, Don Nelson, Shaq with Phoenix, Escobar with the Braves, you name it, we were fighting like cats and dogs. The tolerance level was low. Does that mean last Wednesday was our final program together? That’s taking a big leap. We are under contract. WFAN needs us - everybody’s replaceable, we’ve learned that - and I need WFAN.”
A great piece on how celebrities help sell stuff, featuring Dan Marino, Tiger, and Michael Jordan. Also, thanks for the memory of Joe Namath and pantyhose. (NYT)
Bob Papa could be the NFL Network’s play-by-play guy, and Michael Strahan is close to joining the FOX pre-game show. (NY Daily News)
Deitsch is sick of the ESPN flacks trying to get him to quit writing about Newsday’s Neil Best! (SI)
The person who updated Tim Russert’s death on his wikipedia page - before the family was alerted, or the news was out - worked at NBC and was fired. (NY Times)
Taking SI’s Chris Mannix to task for his pretty awful piece on hating soccer. (Unprofessional Foul)
The Golf TV people deserve the Tiger Woods injury. (Mushnick)
From Sports Business Journal: The New York Times partners up with YES Network. This means, of course, they are now in bed with the Yankees and Red Sox. “The YES Network has struck an online content syndication deal with The New York Times, extending a run of digital media deals for the New York regional sports network. Under the terms of the pact, the newspaper’s nytimes.com will use segments from YES’s original, wholly owned video content within its own coverage of the New York Yankees, including interview segments from YES’s pregame and postgame shows; its long-form interview program, “CenterStage”; and the weekly “Joe Girardi Show.”
And of course, there’s this. (Deadspin) Weirdest day in quite some time: A flurry of emails saying Colin Cowherd gave us props? And then a flurry of emails saying, “this is like Puffy laying in the cut setting up Tupac at the studio and now it’s time to bust back!” Sorry folks, I never really played that game. This guy named Matt Ufford attempted it repeatedly, and I just elected not to engage in it. Leitch? I met the guy once, probably about three summers ago before Deadspin had got off the ground and I “interviewed” (read: Had a beer) for his wingman gig. It probably only took place because I had done a test sports blog for Gawker nine months prior under a different managing editor, but it was nice of him to extend me the courtesy. (I was writing for ESPN.com at the time, and hey, the freelance money was nice.) Leitch has been nice enough over email and seems like a swell guy. There will be no stone throwing from here, though maybe if the book deal and sweet magazine gig come my way, perhaps. (We kid.) But I’m curious - so which is it: Do you want bloggers to clean up their act a bit or what?
I actually don’t think there’s been a dramatic change at our site, and I guess you can’t please everyone.
112 Responses to “Media News & Notes”
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June 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Blog war!
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
The only thing that maybe bloggers could clean up is rumors that could get you sued for libel. Another than that, give hot chicks and dick jokes.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Now I finally see it, Francesa was the inspiration behind the “Pat” character from Saturday Night Live.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Should read “give me hot chicks and dick jokes.”
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:23 pm
A few things have been tightened since Bissinger, and this is one of them. You’d hardly notice the others. It is comical how everyone is saying I’m ‘bowing to the man.’ That’s funny.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:27 pm
As Whitlock said, Leitch plays the martyr role well and is someone who couldn’t find the moral high road with a map, compass and Mother Teresa serving as his guide.
In that post, he writes as if confirming stories (which may have been useful before trying to ruin Stuart Scott’s marriage at the Super Bowl) and “cleaning up” a site are bad things. This from the guy who used to regularly link to “OnTheDL” and helped fuel the KSK post about Peter King’s daughter. Not to mention he is buddies with Ufford, whose claim to “fame” is posting suggestive pictures of a high school female pole vaulter. Congratulations, Ufford, you’re a fucking creep.
Now, Deadspin has 34 different authors writing game re-caps about basketball, football, baseball, soccer, and badminton. Yes, Will, very edgy. They’re interviewing mainstream journalists and ESPN guys and their SHOTY awards are about as interesting as a Who’s Now? segment.
Deadspin has changed, too. The best part of this whole thing is that Leitch apparently sees nothing wrong with posting pictures of Allison Stokke, or running stories about Stu Scott and a text message, or accusing people of taking steroids with no evidence whatsoever. Bissinger was right on that part, whether he screamed it at the top of his lungs or ran back to his apartment and typed it on a blog: it’s creepy as all hell.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I read the comment section in Leitch’s piece. I gather the KSK guys would like to skin TBL alive.
FYI, TBL, I enjoy reading lots of blogs, but I think yours is the best on the Net.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Libel legal question: If you linked to a story with libelous content (”Kobe’s Hot Three Way Gay Escapade!!”), could you be sued as well?
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Why’d you load up on all the interns if you weren’t going to use them in a blog rumble, TBL?
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Thanks, NDub.
This all feels weird. I’ve got family coming over for lunch in 20, and I’m sitting here reading stuff about me. The hell?
http://www.stopmikelupica.com/2008/06/bissenleitch_for_the_final_tim.php
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Yes! Grab your empty mountain dew cans and leftover pizza crust for tonight we dine in hell
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Deadspin is awesome. Will is awesome. There has to be somebody out there that will throw guys like VY and Matt Lienart under the bus while they are partying with 18 year olds (shirtless!) on the one hand and “being role models” on the other. That is why I came to blogs in the first place because you damn sure know fucking espn isnt going to run what is really going on becaus ethey lick so much athlete ball it is sickening. So please jason, run with the rumors, don’t stop showing everyone the “role models” and what they do in their spare time.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
not like it matters, but i religiously check on 4 blogs a day - TBL, PFT Watchdog and The First Saturday in May. keep up the good work TBL.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I still don’t like the ‘we’ mentality that everyone is digging their heels into; the beauty of the internets is that there is enough room for KSK, Deadspin, TBL and fucking Shanoff to all build their audiences. No body has the blue print because there shouldn’t fucking be a blueprint.
Not everybody has to have equal editorial standards or give a damn about journalistic ethics. Does that make some things harder? Sure, but so what?
Trying to decide what ‘we’ should be changing as a movement/medium results in ‘us’ all sounding the same. Leave staleness to MSM.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm
no news to me that the KSK guys dont like TBL. That fucker the Maj always comes on here stirring the pot.
Brush the haters off TBL. You do a much better job than those 50 people over at Deadspin.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Will say again here, I don’t understand where the heat is coming from at Deadspin. They have made numerous changes for good and bad. Way to many writers posting garbage and a lot less of the shady stuff going up. Everyone reads blogs for different reasons, and gravitates to the stuff they WANT to read.
I just don’t get why Leitch would take issue with anything anyone says. It’s one guys opinion on a topic. Seriosuly, he was just blasted on HBO for his opinions and everyone for the most part defended him. So I don’t know, maybe he should shut the fuck up and not read it if he doesn’t like it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
A few things have been tightened since Bissinger, and this is one of them. You’d hardly notice the others. It is comical how everyone is saying I’m ‘bowing to the man.’ That’s funny.
TBL, it’s funny that you say this now, because you came across in the article as things are changing in large scale in the blogging universe. Sort of like your man-hairs are finally growing in, but then you say this. So, either the story is correct or this statement is correct, although, I have a feeling you may be playing both sides right now.
Either that, or you got snookered by this writer tempting you with prime print space and said things that you normally wouldn’t say or were taken out of context.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
The person who updated Wikipedia didn’t work for NBC. They worked for Internet Broadcasting Services.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
MikeNYC - Damn, you hit the nail on the head! Pretty much said everything that was on my mind while Billy Wagner was crashing.
All of Leitch’s sycophants will pat him on the back, but he was clearly wrong. The sports blogosphere is a wasteland and, good as Deadspin has been, Leitch is largely responsible for the shortcomings of the medium as it relates to sports. Too often, Will and his contributors have taken the easy way out, truth and/decorum be damned. To slam Jason for admitting that sports blogs need to clean up their act is convenient. Convenient for a guy who is on his way out the door for a job in old media…but wants to keep his “blog cred”. Dick move, Will.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Grab ya glocks, when you see Tupac
Call the cops, when you see Tupac, uhh
Who shot me, but ya punks didn’t finish
Now ya bout to feel the wrath of a menace
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I like how Will waits 10 paragraphs to mention his own guy said the same exact thing you did, then writes it off as a misquote or “toxic shock.” Ten paragraphs. And Will, saying it’s not a “polemic” against Jason (get those 10-cent words in while you can) after tearing a guy a new a-hole for the duration of your post is both gutless and bad writing.
It’s like that old Norm MacDonald bit where he rips David Spade for like 30 seconds straight, then ends it with, “but he’s a good guy.”
That being said, Jason — what were you thinking with those quotes?
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Am I loser for not knowing what the hell KSK, Shanoff, Ufford are?
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm
The crux of Will’s argument is not to hide from who you are…well TBL has always been the more credible of the two…done the interviews with Journalists and stayed away, for the most part, from the vile garbage…so if Jason feels he has a business to protect and a bit a patience is needed before going with a rumor so be it. 3 years ago, none of you were making real money…now you are. As for looking in the Mirror Mr. Leitch…take a good hard look…you are the one changing…you are leaving to go on to New York Magazine, which the last I checked , was not the Enquirer or the Star. You obviously strived to be more than a gossip monger and a pseudo smut peddler…your own man made similar comments…how convenient he was misquoted. As for TBL deciding who he wants to be…maybe he looks at his readers…which can be more than one line wonders and dick joke connoisseurs…maybe they asked, oh wait lots of us did, that TBL have some accountability. Unlike you who has someone else paying the bills, Jason McIntyre does not. So if he sees why the should be a slight aire of civility and responsibility to his posts, it is only because he has a business to protect and a readership to maintain and grow. Good luck with your magazine. I can’t wait for the next 800 words that you write that will be edited and made more responsible.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:54 pm
dan shanoff has an audience??
anyways i dont get why deadspin has to comment in on how TBL wants to run his site. if deadspin wants to pst anything they come across thats their decision and if TBL wants to check facts that up to him
not sure why every blog has to file in line with deadspin and co
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
KSK = crappy site from Deadspin commenters (it’s guys doing schtick, badly)
Shanoff = half-assed journalist who has nothing to say and, like 10 million others, has his own blog…where he adds nothing
Ufford = complete no-talent who “writes” for withleather.com
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
TBL doesn’t need interns. He’s like the Spartans, lining up to take on Leitch and all his KSK minions.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Fucking ridiculous. I don’t understand why Deadspin is getting all high and mighty about TBL tweaking some things here and there. That’s a ridiculously short-sighted view of things; it’s like, “this is the way we started out doing it, and regardless of whether we discovered another way that works better/more efficiently, we will stick to this old, inaccurate way because we don’t want to ’sell out’ to ‘the man.’” Kinda sad.
The whole Buzz thing…I think TBL meant that Buzz said (beneath all the psychotic vitriol and foaming at the mouth) that blogs should be more accountable (i.e. accurate) for what they post. And TBL kind of agreed with that (to a certain extent). Whoopty-fucking-do. He didn’t say that Deadspin needed to do the same, or that they were less of a blog for not following suit.
Get over it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:56 pm
have you tried the ‘78 Dick Joke? vintage of the decade, BULLY!
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Mike MYC - If the Stu Scott story is entirely true, couldn’t it be argued that Scott was trying to ruin his own marriage? The guy saying “look at what this guy did” is no better OR worse than the guy that actually did it.
and this:
How is that any different than TBL’s interviews and the 2008 Culture Tournament? Not hating on TBL, because I like both TBL and Deadspin. But why the love for one and hot spit towards the other?
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:57 pm
@cbh-
you are better off for not knowing shanoff.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
i haven’t said anything and your server tells me i am writing comments too quickly…
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I agree with The412. that’s a dick move if i’ve ever seen one. Sounds like Tiki Barber to me…
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
And oh yeah, Shanoff?
People read that bucket of douche?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Ok, I just get lost with the lingo here sometimes.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Does this take away from the Dream Team 2008 post?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
This is my ENTIRE point. Daulerio had NO way of knowing what and wasn’t true, in that moment. None. And yet Will ran the story anyway, because he’s “edgy” and doesn’t give a shit about getting a story right, when the endgame is to draw clicks and worry about getting the facts right later. “If” it is true. Man, that cracks me up.
It’s not. But you don’t see TBL tearing Leitch a new one for trying to be “credible,” now do you?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Someone forwarded me your movie comment over at Deadspin. Sorry those aren’t up to your liking. Hey, you’re entitled to your opinion, but you may want to steer clear of here tomorrow …
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
i use to read what dan said. but i still comment on an offshoot site from him because i liked chatting with some of the guys.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm
@irish: You see the potential JO to the Raps for Ford, Rasho, and #1?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
And one more thing — how incredibly gutless is Will’s post? If the guy wasn’t out the door in four days, does he write that? Of course not. You can tell by the headline. Man, so infuriating on so many levels.
and p.s. It’s “MY” last week, not “OUR” last week. If you’re putting bylines on posts, why the need for the royal we? I need a drink.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
@nick p- i did see that. I would take that if i were the Raptors. Plus it would make your boy the starter at PG
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Deadspin had a great run but ever since Will went out to shill his book that site just misses more than it hits.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
“The hell?” indeed. TBL eats lunch at 3:00? When the hell do you eat dinner, man?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Neither Will Leitch nor Jason McIntyre speak for anyone in the blogosphere, but thtemselves.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Mike - Completely agree. The thing is, Leitch had his name out there at the time. TBL has tried (and has been very successful) at being somewhat credible even when he was 100% anonymous. Maybe Leitch just has a bit of a grudge? People could filet him (and have done that), knowing that his name was associated with the salacious stories. Perhaps Will is just associating TBL’s credibility with the recent outing of his identity and now the Bissinger business.
I’m not defending Leitch or hating on you or TBL, just trying to find what this all means
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
gotta eat 6x per day son…guns need ammo.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
hey TBL, i like your movie posts, it’s refreshing. i just know ufford and his ilk don’t. i was tweaking him not you. while i think you have some weird taste in movies, i can’t hate on that because i watch some utter crap anyway.
but, you still did not respond to my point. if you disagree with it that’s fine, but your redirect is not adequate.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
TBL: Thanks for the link.
The enormous, enormous fallacy of Leitch’s argument here should be apparent to everyone. Bissinger’s spittle-soaked tirade was about wanting blogs to be more accountable. It seems that some bloggers [me, for instance] thought he had a point. Leitch’s first response was “NUH-UH!” His response now is “SO WHAT?” These are very, very different.
And both pretty stupid. Stupid for different reasons, but stupid nonetheless.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
That’s how you make a point, bitches!
/looks for more spelling errors…
/hits Submit Comment
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Has Will not seen a picture of Jason? Doesn’t he realize that just one of Jason’s 24-inch pythons could render Will a vegetable?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Deadspin was my first sports blog. It was so new and exciting, clever yet risque. Now that frisky young girl has turned into a bloated hausfrau that you wouldn’t bang for all the beer in Pottsville. Between the thoroughly unfunny commenters and mundane posts, I can’t say I’ve visited that site in the past 6 months.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Well said, Canadian.
Bissinger has been the whipping boy of the blogosphere since his tirade, but he did make some salient points. He was a bit over the top, sure, but he was on point with his criticism of Leitch’s work…and Leitch knows it.
And, now, Leitch is bitter that Jason has chosen to be a grown-up and re-evaluate how he does business. Disappointing, but predictable given the tenor of Deadspin over the past 12 months.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
spot on, lozo. it seems that will leitch wants the whole sports blogosphere to agree with what he is saying, even if he is leaving said blogosphere in a week.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Wow! I’m in. Thanks Jason for the prompt tech assist in getting this comment account repaired. I have considered commenting a few times and stalled. My inspiration to respond never quite outweighed the hassle of having to sign up for yet another internet account. But this the combined straw that broked my camel’s back.
First, I wouldn’t know Mike or his Mad Dog if they came to my house and ate all of the ramen from my cupboards. Why is this top news? Can somebody elaborate?
Second, TBL, the closest I ever became to being motivated into signing up for this stuff was during your The Happening post. I just wanted to holler “Man-oh-man do you have some horrible movie taste!” But this is coming from the guy that dropped by religiously every Friday morning for a LOST post. So I guess it’s a even trade.
Third, Deadspin vs. TBL or whatever your mama calls this drama. I must say, I always considered TBL the more even-handed of the 2 by far. In my book, nothing has changed on that front. I thought Will’s decision to post his thoughts was odd. But I didn’t read them to be as huffy as folks around these parts seem to interpret. I figure he’s probably just loaded with tons of nervous energy, what with giving up his baby in a matter of days and all.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
by the way, is dan shanoff pretty much saying that TBL doesn’t speak for the blogosphere but Deadspin does? wtf.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Funny thing about the Big Lead commenters is that you guys are genuinely smart/clever/funny. This post shows that in its entirety. You guys can post opinions that sound like coherent thoughts. Meanwhile a quick scroll of Deadspin posts will get you no sort of constructive input. When I do (rarely) read Deadspin after the comments section I feel like that scene in Billy Madison… “we are all now dumber for having listened to you…”
That being said, I think the readers are the reason that TBL is as well done as it is. We are smarter/more clever/more humorous than that group that reads a blog because its “edgy” and I think TBL’s work shows this. Keep it up everyone.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I like Will Leitch’s work and own his book (I seem in the minority on that count on this board), but is anyone else a little sick and tired of this whole debate about the place of Blogs? The Buzz thing happened….let’s all move along.
And doesn’t this seem a little hypocritical as when last I checked, Will was on HBO telling us it shouldn’t be up to one group of people to decide “what is palatable and what is not palatable”?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
@phat i think that is because you have to be selected to comment on deadspin and no one there dare criticizes the masters of deadspin for fear of having their commenting privileges taken away
but this whole debate is stupid deadspin can wrote the way they want and TBL can do the same. will trying to be the voice of all blogs at the same time he is exiting stage left is all too convenient.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Deadspin comments are a clusterf*ck one-liner competition. they can be funny, but there’s no variety to it at all… that and an inflated sense of self-importance are why I quit reading Deadspin.
Just a personal preference though.
/big ole dick joke
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
does it have to mean something? i think it simply means that he has an opinion on the piece, and you can read the LA Times piece and form your own.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 pm
When I do (rarely) read Deadspin after the comments section I feel like that scene in Billy Madison… “we are all now dumber for having listened to you…â€
Since I started commenting on here, I don’t really read Deadspin that much though I usually check it out a couple times a week. And outside of a few commenters whom I find pretty funny (UkraineNotWeak, Gourment Spud), it’s the same Martin Lawrence, SAS comments. I’m not sure when they know something isnt funny anymore, but the newbies reiterate the same shit for acceptance (look, i made a 6 month old joke again! I get this place!)
And yes, I enjoy the fact that we can have coherent paragraphs peppered with dick jokes. Balance is key.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Like it or not, Will is the voice of all blogs. He is not the best IMO (that would be Brian Cook, sorry TBL), but Will certainly has turned most people on to blogs. He is a great writer and is very eloquent when he wants to be (see his post on 9-11 form his earlier blog, Red Table?) I think Will is just pissed that stupid Buzz had any impact at all in changing this “thing”. Blogs are supposed to be edgy and crazy and often times they com eup wrong, but the last thing any of us want is another espn.com in which we wait around to see if the news will piss anybody off before we post it. I like TBL and haven’t visited D-Spin in a long while, but Will is a great writer and if you don’t think so well then, that is like your opinion, man.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:48 pm
@johndewar
Oh yes, of course. It is intensely hypocritical. But that’s at least partially because I think Leitch is… suspicious of his own opinion. Or at least realizes how infantile it is.
He wants to post rumo(u)rs and drunk pictures. Great. Why did it take him so long to say so? Why the pretense between 4/30 and today? I think he recognizes that his take on this is pretty lame. He wants to do what he wants to do. And he wants it because he wants it. Generally, we stop making this argument at about, oh, seven years old, right? I’m glad he finally came around and said it outright, but finally copping to it doesn’t make it any better, you know? Admission doesn’t remove guilt.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
eeeeeeeeeee!!!
/i have contributed next to nothing to this post…because we should move on. enough is enough.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
I think you’d find alot of people here read Deadspin as well. And, while I think good many people have enjoyed that site, the posturing of Will Leitch as the Godfather of Sports Blogs has been tiring and has drained our enthusiasm for his work.
For starters, Leitch is not the “Godfather of Sports Blogs”. Do you want to know who is? Bill Simmons.
Oh yeah, I said it. Simmons was Boston Sports Guy long before AJ Daulerio had a byline or Big Daddy Drew had moved out of his mother’s basement. And, while it’s fashionable to knock him now, he’s the guy every sports blogger wants to be.
I’ve enjoyed some of Leitch’s work, but I have lost a good bit of respect for him as he’s spent the past 12 months breaking his arm to pat himself on the back. We get it, Will. Deadspin is popular. Blogs are “different”. Buzz is out of touch. Alright… Now go to New York Magazine and try to rip off Malcolm Gladwell the same way you tried to be Bill Simmons.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
@lozo:
Dude, it’s Monday.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
TBL - That was merely a “what the hell” comment. It doesn’t have to mean anything, and can mean whatever to whomever. I’ve read that LA Times piece a ton of times, and still read TBL and Deadspin. I’m a blogger, I love reading blogs. You can write and say whatever you want, and Will can do the same. It won’t change me or other blog readers from clicking on whatever sites we want to. We know what’s good in our own minds
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
412…preach it sister.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
The thing is, this LA Times bullshit is almost like baiting the blogosphere into re-hashing all this nonsense. We should be trying to expand the blogosphere and move it forward rather than continuing to bring up this old news/controversy. If you want to be credible, fine. If you want naked pictures and dick jokes, fine. Let’s just move forward.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
No, he just thinks he is.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Blogs are supposed to be whatever the hell their creators want them to be. In other words, blogs aren’t “supposed” to be any one thing. That is the point.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Maggs…A guy I rarely read is not the Voice of me and since I am a blogger now (majorleagueJerk.com WHORE!) I don’t agree with what he has to say. To say anyone is the voice of anything is narrow-minded and naive..and knowing you from your comments I feel those are things you are not…Is he an important voice because of what he started and the size of his audience…sure…but it is like saying one talk show host is the voice of Talk Radio…everyone is different and everyone is in this for different things
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:57 pm
i call bullshit on that one spencer, this line was the best so far today
i call that a contribution
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
your take?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
@Magglio: I feel the same way. I haven’t visited Deadspin nearly as much as I used to, mainly because Will has been writing less and less and it’s turning into more of a magazine type space with different writers popping in for different columns.
As for the actual post, I didn’t like that it kinda called out TBL, but I did like that it was a rant in favor of not cleaning up the blogs. I admit to reading With Leather and laughing. Same with KSK. I like having the insanity of sports that they capture.
However, I comment here more than anywhere else. Mostly in the Ballin’ post because the NBA is my sport and because it’s fun to piss of Irish . I do it because the number of regular posters is diverse, yet small and manageable, plus intelligent. We all know each other and know our likes/dislikes and know how to push each other’s buttons to a large extent. But it’s all fun.
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Agreed. We know what we want, and we’ve brought it from day one. Along the way we have altered a few things, and we will continue to tweak. Some things may work, others, not so much. Such is life.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Like it or not, Will was the voice of all blogs.
too soon?
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
All this over a Kobe post?
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Some things may work, others, not so much. Such is life.
So the numbers posts might not be around forever? Ok, thanks.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
mingusmonk - mike and the mad dog, for better or worse, basically made sports talk radio what it is today. they’ve ruled the NY airwaves, not just in sports, but afternoon drive like no other. i think their only comp is straight news radio.
412 - you’re spot on about Simmons and sports blogs. if it wasn’t for him and the espn behemoth, sports blogs probably wouldn’t be where they are today.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Perhaps it was Buzz Bissinger’s end game to stir up the blogosphere and have it eventually destroy itself?
This is all a bunch of stupidity. When did the blogosphere start taking itself so seriously? And when did we elect Will Leitch as the president of the blogosphere?
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:08 pm
This “feud” is more between Deadspin and Billy Wagner than Leitch and TBL.
But seriously, I find it a bit much to get all up in arms over a blogger using criticism to improve his site.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
@RWH
I agree with that. He may not be the voice of sports blogs but he became the loudest. MLJ is not sitting with Costas on HBO… I don’t think Will “wanted” to be what he has become (which maybe why he is stepping away) but to say he is “patting himself on the back” is completely rediculous. Will is humble if you have ever read his work. That last bit was directed at 412.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
The most successful blogs will be those that can build a large readership of people who don’t comment. Taking a cue from internet forums, some bloggers lose sight of the fact that actual commenters represent a vocal, extreme, and very small minority of the people visiting the site.
A blog that resists pandering to the lowest common denominator, that avoids becoming the writing on the bathroom wall, is ultimately better-positioned to succeed. It has more upside, if you will. (Yuck)
In my opinion, that’s TBL. That’s why it’s the only blog I read, unless I click on something interesting in the Round-Up. There are a lot of people out there who aren’t hardcore-internet or hardcore-stupid or hardcore-angry or whatever it is that makes people become compulsively-commenting internet clones. Most people have better things to do, and those people are your target audience.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
TBL - I said it in the comment below the one you quoted. Its complete nonsense. I’m tired of hearing it. Could it be a MSM ploy to divide the emerging blogosphere? Try to get a big blogger (TBL) to comment and hope another big blogger (Will) finds something odd with it. Looking at what’s transpired at both Deadspin and TBL today, it sems like the article did exactly what it tried to do, stir the weeks-old pot. The Bissinger business is old news. It has no weight in my mind. He was an ass, everyone got pissed, and now we can’t go anywhere without it being brought up. How can we advance the blogosphere if this is still a major issue to everyone? Every blogger has the right to say what they want in the way they wanna say it. TBL had the right to say what he did, Will had the right to comment back. But it needs dropped.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
On MLJ there is some inside stuff posted, and it is noticeably small in statue compared to the stand alone stuff…how I approach a post is to write it as if it will be read in 5 minutes or 5 years as a stand alone piece of the time
/MLJ talking to Bob Costas
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Turn the other cheek, TBL. Show them who is a bigger man (fiuguratively and literally).
Besides arguing on the interwebs is like competing in Special Olympics. You may, you may lose, but youi’re still retarded.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Priceless.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
We Are the Postmen - You do realize that Will isn’t going to get you a job at New York magazine, right?
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
412 on fire today. Well done sir
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
There are a lot of people out there who aren’t hardcore-internet or hardcore-stupid or hardcore-angry or whatever it is that makes people become compulsively-commenting internet clones.
It’s my 9-5 job that makes me obsessively comment on this site but thanks for snubbing your nose at me ass.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
@412
What is the point of that comment? You don’t like Will, we get it. He didn’t let you comment on his website and you are just so pissed about it that you will forever hate him. Great. Please continue with your day.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Maggs- we also get that you like Will. Wipe the shit off your nose
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
@irish
What the fuck was that shit?
What did I ever say to you?
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
TBL, I appreciate you acting like this is no big deal. Has to be hard to let someone say that shit and not respond back with words. Politics I hate. Someone mouthing over something you said in a paper I hate even worse. It’s his site, he can say what he wants. This is YOUR site, and yet you still kept it real and didn’t stoop. +10 my friend. Because come next month nobody will care that Leitch isn’t blogging anymore. I’m guessing your site will continue to grow with with a lot more deadspin readers after today. Thanks Will. Now where is the Wagner/paypal donating button?
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
However, I comment here more than anywhere else. Mostly in the Ballin’ post because the NBA is my sport and because it’s fun to piss of Irish .
see ya next year Brave Sr Rob
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
@Jesus:
I was never the one to point and laugh at the special kids in high school, but goddamn is that funny.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Will is a weiner. He looks like a weiner and sounds like a weiner. TBL on the other hand looks like my old next door neighbor Navin, and I liked Navin.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
They definitely want this. Some of them. I think someone wrote about this.
About stuff like this? Not difficult at all. Guy had an opinion. Everyone can have one
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Just for the record, I’m kidding about pissing off Irish being one of my main goals. However, I’m naturally good at it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I’ve pretty much given up reading Deadspin, especially once Hirshey left to goto the 4 letter.
You can read almost of the same stories they have there here or at AA or any number of other places. And most places can do it without the need to work blue.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I catch a lot of heat from the KSK guys for “not reading the other blogs” and this was my exact point - if i look at all the blogs, i’ll definitely find interesting info, but then i’ll just turn them into massive posts, and we’ll all have the same shit.
I assume that anyone who reads deadspin is also likely to read the other blogs, so if they see it elsewhere, why do they need to see it on my site, too? Obviously there will be some similar posts as news happens. And sometimes, i’ll think i find out something and another blog has already gotten it.
Posnanski summed this up best: He prefers to tune out all the noise, and operate that way.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
lol @ Jesus fucking up that joke. Irony is the bestest.
Keep up the good work TBL.
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
/blog’ed
June 23rd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I think the Deadspin comment about changing up the blog because it becomes more popular is pretty off-base. And really, it’s not what Reilly did. Reilly settled for his popularity, whereas I think this blog is making the changes to continue to move forward. I once did a sports blog, I ran it with a lot of inside jokes and things that 10-15 friends sitting with me in law school classes would laugh at. If it ever got popular off one thing, I would certainly have had to change things to keep it popular.
I think it is a strong quality that this blog can recognize that it still has room to evolve.
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I think Irish already said it but damn- 412 is on fire today. I’m way late getting on here to comment about this, but I pretty much agree with everything he said.
June 23rd, 2008 at 6:32 pm
oh and I LOVED how Leitch just blatantly gave Daulerio a pass. That’s really fucking convenient for your bullshit, Will.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I read TBL and others (even WithLeather(just for the pics)) but I can honestly say I havent checked Deadspin regularly in the last 8 months, same tired shit with no real value. With TBL you get a good mix of everything and even the roundup is money. I dont comment a lot but dumb shit like this drags me out. Fuck Leitch, real convienent he leaves in a weak. At least here people can comment on shit and it not be one-liners. I am not saying they dont spiral into jokes but there are some serious responses to which even Jason responds, when was the last time you saw Leitch in the comments….I can tell you I havent been there in awhile and just deleted them from my favorites.
June 23rd, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Some good points by a lot of you. I think the point that really hits home is that the MSM would love to see the blogosphere spend more time fighting amongst each other than focusing on what they have done to this point to become successful.
I think you can read KSK, Deadspin, TBL, etc. and enjoy them all for different reasons. Just like some people have subscriptions to Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine…ok, bad example, but you get my drift.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Fuck Leitch… I appreciate what he’s done and all, but who made him the blogfather? It’s your site, do whatever the hell you want with it. He acts as though listening to what he says to do is somehow more noble than listening to someone in the “mainstream.” And yes, it’s not crazy to think you might adjust the way you operate once your audience grows; that is a far cry from selling out like Rick Reilly.
And know what else? Everyone commended Will for how he remained calm once Bissinger went crazy; I was actually pretty disappointed, and my initial reaction was: GROW A PAIR! If he really wanted to make Buzz look foolish, he should have stood up for himself FACE TO FACE, not afterwards on Deadspin.
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Oh, and I have to second what Big L said above: I too haven’t really read Deadspin much in the past several months, or actually ever since they started chopping their articles so short before the jump. It’s nice to see Jason actually interacting here in the comments, and there’s a lot more creative writing (like the article on top sportswriters’ salaries).
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
On a final note, I think a lot of this may stem from a certain level of jealousy. Yes, Leitch has a much higher profile currently than Jason, but he’s never truly been in control of his site and has always had to defer to some creative direction from above at Gawker. And the folks at Gawker are all about the page views, so I guarantee you that their policy is: when in doubt, if it’s hot, just run it. Not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but it’s true. And before Leitch gets too big of a head, just about anyone who can write half decently could build up a large blog under the Gawker brand - it’s much more difficult flying solo and the consequences are different when you actually own the site.