I've been living in
All this introduction is a way of saying: I'm disappointed. This week - the week that Leitch's book was released and TBL gets a mention in the first paragraph in the lead story on ESPN.com by one of the best writers currently writing about sports - the most popular subjects on the respective sites are Dana Jacobson's poor decision-making at a silly ESPN function, and whether or not a particular Univ. of Florida co-ed is dating Heisman winner Tim Tebow.
I got hooked on Deadspin and TBL because I was pretty much spent on ESPN's perspective of sports. They just didn't seem relevant anymore. My mornings are now spent with a bowl of cereal in front of my computer, not my television. ESPN isn't presenting stories that my friends and I talk about. The topics that interest us most are usually ignored or covered poorly. Stories brought about on TBL or Deadspin closely resemble the conversations I've always had with my friends. In high school, it was Jim Rome's "takes" being broadcasted locally on
Given the response that compromising photos of athletes and journalists alike have created on Deadspin, I'm now positive that I'm not the only person out there who finds a picture of an obviously sloshed Eli Manning funny. I can't help it. Somehow it resonates, also. Maybe this reaction is my generation of sports fans' (I'm 27) collectively asking themselves "What the heck are we doing with all this information?" It seems an appropriate response to being so invested in something you (seemingly) cannot possibly change. You can only spend so much time rehashing Dusty Baker's destruction of the Cubs pitching staff because of his inability to grasp the finer points of PAP before wondering what the heck Kyle Orton does with his free time.
A decent portion of the content on ESPN is a joke; it's the product of the 24/7 news cycle. Both print (on-line) and television. I don't think anybody disputes that. Probably not even higher-ups at ESPN would fight that point very vigorously. To witness five minutes of banter between Skip Bayless and the unfortunate soul seated across from him is to know that ESPN is not in the business of presenting a high-level discussion. And Bayless is a bright guy. He knows his role.
Observing the de-construction of these people: Bayless, Woody Paige, and Sean Salisbury, brings with it a certain amount of satisfaction. I can't say I wasn't pleased to find that somebody was covering the worst behavior of ESPN's most poignant personalities. Accountability, at last! Though after a few years of observation, it seems that this coverage just feeds the machine. ESPN's current ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber - she took the reins from the decidedly less tenacious George Solomon - has turned into one of the only must-reads at ESPN.com. Strangely, for me, reading about office politics and the journalistic misses of a sports network have proven more interesting than reading about the sports themselves. And I don't think I'm alone.
That's not to say I don't enjoy sports. Through HGH, NCAA recruiting violations, Bud Selig, the BCS Championship, and everything else, I find myself caring about the outcomes and storylines. And I find myself wishing that TBL ran more interviews with media types. Got more "journalisty" more often. And that Leitch would lend his much-needed perspective on the absurdity of the NCAA and the on-going steroids controversy more often. The first sports website I check every morning is still The Big Lead and I don't see that changing any time soon. Nobody gives me a better rundown more quickly. But I think it’s worth remembering that chasing eyeballs is what got ESPN to where it is today. Listen to this interview with Leitch, aired Saturday on NPR. Towards the 3:30 mark Leitch is asked to explain a glossary entry about Tony Dungy in his latest book. The interviewer found it to be in poor taste. Leitch backpedals a little saying the bit about Dungy "may be a bad example" and that it was a "cheap joke". The interviewer then goes on to suggest that Leitch is perpetuating the same stereotypes he is presently roasting advertisers for in the text of "God Save the Sports Fan".
The pressures one faces when trying to sell something (a book perhaps; or advertising, whether it be on a television channel, or a popular sports blog) to an expecting audience are nearly universal... and we are the audience. The same people that used to watch the 11 o'clock SportsCenter religiously and found Jim Rome's Fax of the Day to be the cleverest of commentary. And don't get me started on the Ewing Theory.
I'm going to keep hope alive that Will Leitch is right. That we (sports fans) are not all as dumb as Anheuser-Busch thinks we are. But, if we're not, why are we so captivated by Jacobson swilling vodka?
5 comments:
I was pointed to your blog from TBL this morning and I have to say that this post says exactly what I am thinking. I am like you in the sense that the first site I check every morning is TBL followed closely by Deadspin. It is just a better way to catch up on what I might have missed last night while also getting a good chuckle about the latest pop culture train wreck.
I kinda lost the narrative of your post near the end, but I agree with a lot of your points.
I, too, love TBL, Deadspin, Simmons, et al. Each because they all initially brought a unique voice, or view, into the discussion of sports.
And yeah, I also would prefer Will Leitch to not be as apolitical as he is in his opinions. But you have to understand (and I think you do, if I interpretted your last paragraph right) that Leitch doesn't want to blow his future by pissing anyone off (other than ESPN, obviously). He's got a nice gig occasionally writing for the NY Times. He's got other contacts, and his post-Deadspin world, whenever it might be, is wide open for him.
More importantly, you seperate him and Gawker from "big media" types, but I would say that even if they aren't ESPN, that they still belong in the same category as Yahoo! sports, etc. Meaning, as you pointed out, there is advertisement concerns, etc. that puts some limits (though not much) on content.
TBL, on the other hand, can rip on whoever they want, has they are truly independent (for now).
Wow! Feedback. Awesome. I love TBL's perspective and Leitch is a talented dude. I just don't want to see these guys post boobs because it generates page-views. It seems like that's what got us into our current dissatisfaction with the sports media. Isn't it?
I have to agree as well. I love to discuss issues like this in my blog, and am glad to see someone else also is concerned a bit.
I'm a little concerned that the bloggosphere will start chasing numbers and lose all focus. The Dana Jacobsen coverage was a bad sign; talk about a non-issue. I had no idea who she was until I heard about her on Deadspin.com! I'm kind of worried that this is the bloggosphere's "Ron Mexico" moment of the kind Leitch described in his book. Anyway, this was good, you should write more often.
It's perhaps worth mentioning that the "E" in ESPN stands for "entertainment." I still pay attention to them because my job requires it, but they are not relevant to my personal experience because I don't care one whit about any of the teams in the half-dozen or so media markets they target.
I've never seen TBL, so I can't comment on it. I have read Deadspin a few times, and it's not really my cup of tea. Will is a cool guy, though, and I'm glad that he's tapped into something that people seem to dig.
The larger issue of providing quality content vs pandering to the lowest common denominator is a challenging one, and always will be as long as money is involved. Not that anyone asked me, but I don't have an answer for that.
I have a rough idea of where I draw the line in my own publishing efforts but others may have their own ideas. It's difficult to blame folks for meeting a market need. That's just the nature of markets.
Interesting questions...
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