Sports on Earth shutting down

[Hagios]

Sports on Earth: A Closing Tribute

Too bad, it was one of the better sites out there. The internet is evolving away from the written word.

 

[LogansDad]

Ah shit. This sucks.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

Couldn’t disagree more. The site has sucked since Pos left.

 

[JimD]

Not surprising - the unique content found on the site definitely seemed to be diminishing. SoE used to be one of my must-visit sites after a big game but it hasn't been for a while.

 

[MyDaughterLovesTomGordon]

Couldn’t disagree more. The site has sucked since Pos left.

This is true. I saw Pos lamenting the site's death on Twitter and thought, "well, yeah, they founded the site around you, and then you bailed in a heartbeat and it never had a chance."

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

This is true. I saw Pos lamenting the site's death on Twitter and thought, "well, yeah, they founded the site around you, and then you bailed in a heartbeat and it never had a chance."

He was there a couple years wasn’t he?

That being said, as much as I love Pos, he’s very nomadic. The site wouldn’t have been created without him, but he moves around a lot.

After he left it devolved into gimmicky ‘lists’ by Leitch, Wong had decent NBA converage, Costrovince was hit or miss and you’d get a random good swing in piece by Lupica. Their editorial was awful - they’d routinely get mundane facts incorrect - and they really didn’t offer much insight into, well, anything. It turned into just basically recaps and mundane stuff you can find anywhere.

I really liked the site when it launched - it felt fresh and a bit unique; then it turned into Deadspin.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Pos was there for six months, I believe. Maybe eight.

 

[johnmd20]

Pos was there for six months, I believe. Maybe eight.

Yes. His first column on that site was August 26, 2012. He was writing for NBC in February of 2013. He was there for a cup of coffee and one doughnut.

Pos killed Sports on Earth before it had a chance.

 

[Papelbon's Poutine]

Damn, it felt longer than that. It had potential, but it needed him.

 

[Leather]

In 2009 or 2010, Posnanski really seemed like the Great Hope for sports writing. His stock fell really quickly for a variety of reasons (Paterno blinders being the biggest), but I can’t help but feel disappointed by his career over he last 6-7 years.

I like his hall of fame coverage but his sentimental tendencies can virge on treacly. Also, he sometimes seems to engage in willful ignorance, which contrasts to his (really good) ability to delve into deep statistical analysis and acknowledge of practical realities. His recent piece on the Browns and Garoppolo, for instance, took the ESPN “Pats are in turmoil!” piece at face value, which coming from him seemed really odd. And he was always willing to concede to the deflategate bullshit without any of his defining inquisitiveness.

And, like, that’s ok. Not everyone has to bow at the alter of Tom Brady or whatever. That said, having the guy who jumped through countless logical hoops to defend and champion Joe Paterno accept highly questionable stories about the biggest football franchise and player of the era always seemed disingenuous at best.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

It took me a long time, but I like Joe Posnanski again. I'm not sure if I'll ever "trust*" him (due to the Paterno thing) but he likes baseball, I like baseball and I think he's a good cheerleader to have when it comes to the sport. And I think that baseball could use more cheerleaders pointing out what's good about the game, rather than why it sucks. Actually, all sports can use that sometimes.

* Trust might not be the right word here, because I understand why he did what he did. I certainly don't agree with it and I think that he took the easy/coward's way out, but I do understand it and I expected better from him. But like I said, I really enjoy his writings about baseball. His columns that he writes about every player on the Hall of Fame ballot are great. I find that the worse the player, the better the piece.

It's apparent though that Joe Posnanski is never going to be a writer that dives too deep or is interested in being the sports world's Woodward or Bernstein. I suppose that's okay, but he could be and they'll always be a sort of what if or unrealized potential of Joe Posnanski. He has to know this and I wonder if that gnaws at him?

 

[Dehere]

In 2009 or 2010, Posnanski really seemed like the Great Hope for sports writing. His stock fell really quickly for a variety of reasons (Paterno blinders being the biggest), but I can’t help but feel disappointed by his career over he last 6-7 years..

At one time I was about as big a Poz fanboy as one could be, but I'm sad to say I'm mostly in agreement here.

I think podcasting has been a non-productive distraction for Joe. He's a soulful, inquisitive sportswriter, and how many of those do we have? Meanwhile he's a self-indulgent and pretty boring podcaster, and we have HUNDREDS of those. Just write, Joe.

 

[johnmd20]

At one time I was about as big a Poz fanboy as one could be, but I'm sad to say I'm mostly in agreement here.

I think podcasting has been a non-productive distraction for Joe. He's a soulful, inquisitive sportswriter, and how many of those do we have? Meanwhile he's a self-indulgent and pretty boring podcaster, and we have HUNDREDS of those. Just write, Joe.

Pos' podcast is pretty good (although him and Shur are both WAY too self effacing) and podcasting is much easier than writing, too. You just sit down and talk and record and it's funny and topical and finished.

I don't think the podcast has been a distraction. He's not Bill Simmons, he still writes a ton and a lot of it is excellent.

 

[Spelunker]

And, he might not have mentioned this, he's working on a book. So podcasting is a very compatible form of output alongside that.

 

[JimD]

Pos still loves sports, unlike so many of his peers who seem to become so jaded by it all. I can't bash him too hard when that love obviously comes through in his writing.

 

[Leather]

I mean, he seems like a genuinely good guy and it's great that he gets to focus on Baseball (and, uh, Harry Houdini) for his professional outlet. I don't begrudge the guy; I'd be shocked if he hasn't made the calculated decision to back off on his daily writing/commitments to focus on his family and writing/podcasting for fun as opposed to for money. If he can make that work, good for him. He certainly paid his dues.

What I meant was, when I (and I think most people here) became aware of him, it coincided with a period of sports-media criticism (FJM, most notably), but before podcasts became ubiquitous and it felt like fans were captive audiences to half-assed writing (Peter King, Phil Mushnick, etc...). And then he got bogged down with the Paterno thing at the exact time it seemed like he was going to kick it into the next gear. And I wonder what that experience was like for him, and if it turned him off from becoming a more prominent national writer (or if he had a bad experience at SI that had the same effect; his stint there was pretty short).

 

[Blacken]

I think podcasting has been a non-productive distraction for Joe. He's a soulful, inquisitive sportswriter, and how many of those do we have? Meanwhile he's a self-indulgent and pretty boring podcaster, and we have HUNDREDS of those. Just write, Joe.

Don't they run ads on the Poscast? Podcast and video ads are consistently more lucrative in the current market where there's a lot of dumb money in podcasts and not a lot of money in writing at all.

 

[Spelunker]

Don't they run ads on the Poscast? Podcast and video ads are consistently more lucrative in the current market where there's a lot of dumb money in podcasts and not a lot of money in writing at all.

Amusingly, most of the ads on the Poscast are for other podcasts: it's pods all the way down.