I have no idea who is left at the site. Samer? Nothing on his twitter about quitting. Roth? Ratto wasn't a full time employee. Who's left?
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Deadspin is Burning
- Thread starter John Marzano Olympic Hero
- Start date
*Every* overall "good" entity does some shitty things along the way. I think there's a bit of grave-dancing going on from some more "traditional" journalists. In a similar vein (and to bring it back to sports) .......according to a friend who's sort of on the inside, many WS observers were hoping for a Nats win not because of the Taubman/Luhnow disaster, but because they are a less analytically driven franchise.
Guys like Pierce and (more recently) Ray Ratto are old, but never seemed to buy into the "oh those kids" shit. Most of the most visible stuff there was very well-written. Ultimately, I think that still gets 50.1% of the vote. At least I hope so.
Ratto did tremendous work at Deadspin once they picked him up. The tone of the site was a perfect outlet for his own style.
Interestingly, it appears that the other two places I visit on Kinja, Jalopnik and Kotaku, are functioning as usual this morning, with the usual writers.
This seems to be a Deadspin-centric conflagration.
This seems to be a Deadspin-centric conflagration.
Deadspin was always profitable, and has a much larger readership than the Ringer or Barstool.
I was stunned to see him there. He was a contributor to The Sporting News in the 70s(!).
His first piece for Deadspin was this, which for a site that drove most of its traffic catering to anti-Patriots sentiment was remarkably subversive. Talk about taking the piss out of his own employers.
And Bell Belichick stands athwart the future was amazing as well.
Dave McKenna is another part-timer I'd suggest hunting down wherever he shakes out. His eulogy for one of his former colleagues Jennifer Frey is one of the best longform Deadspin ever posted:
https://deadspin.com/the-writer-who-was-too-strong-to-live-1785661187
https://deadspin.com/the-writer-who-was-too-strong-to-live-1785661187
Wow, have to say that I'm shocked by Magary leaving. Maybe shocked isn't the right word, but I guess it's the finality of it all. I'm sure that the guys running the site will hire a bunch of people straight out of college to work at the site, write some milquetoast stuff and then it will finally close down without much of a whimper in about 18 months.
I like Howard Bryant a lot, and I think that some of what he says is true-ish, but I'm not sure why he's dancing on Deadspin's grave. Whitlock? Sure. Simmons? Most definitely. Same thing with Barstool. But I'm not sure what Bryant's beef with Deadspin is, especially because Deadspin used to shit on Callahan and Dennis and Minihane all the time. The enemy of my enemy thing. And, I think that Deadspin did do some legit great journalism and wrote some smart stuff. I wonder what's behind that?
It seems to me that Ratto, Roth and Paez-Pumar are the last ones there.
Sucks.
I like Howard Bryant a lot, and I think that some of what he says is true-ish, but I'm not sure why he's dancing on Deadspin's grave. Whitlock? Sure. Simmons? Most definitely. Same thing with Barstool. But I'm not sure what Bryant's beef with Deadspin is, especially because Deadspin used to shit on Callahan and Dennis and Minihane all the time. The enemy of my enemy thing. And, I think that Deadspin did do some legit great journalism and wrote some smart stuff. I wonder what's behind that?
It seems to me that Ratto, Roth and Paez-Pumar are the last ones there.
Sucks.
Man, I hope not. I like writing on the internet. And I don't mean chin-stroking bullshit like you read in so many places.
Deadspin wrote a few articles about Bryant’s DV arrest that he probably didn’t care for.
As for Simmons, I don’t think he’s said anything one way or another on Deadspin, and probably won’t while he’s negotiating with the Ringer union.
Roth just tweeted that he's putting up "some last stories I edited at Deadspin" this morning, which sounds to me like he's gone too.
In terms of unique visitors, it's not close (the extent to which unique visitors translates to revenue/profit is debatable, but the readership is certainly much bigger).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/for-bill-simmonss-the-ringer-podcasting-is-the-main-event-11548673244
WSJ is paywalled, but here's the relevant graphic:
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/billsimmons/comments/al1nlb/ringer_web_traffic_versus_competitors_from_wall/
Apologies if this has been linked above, but I thought it was an interesting read (although she obviously had skin in the game). One of her principal gripes is that G/O was hellbent on replacing a 2013 model (which might or might not be dying) with an even more problematic model that dates to 2006.
https://theconcourse.deadspin.com/the-adults-in-the-room-1837487584
In a related story, this is what drove me nuts about SI's similarly incompetent demise recently (with similar owners imposing the same idiot content farm model). Lots of people pontificating about print who didn't realize SI's website was pretty damn big and brought in some bacon on its own. As Michael MacCambridge reported in the Ringer, SI was actually pretty profitable, it just suffered by being constantly used as a piggy bank to prop up other publications by its ownership. But no, easier to bloviate about how people don't buy SI anymore "because they know the score" as if newspapers didn't exist in 1954 (much less radio and, hell, even TV).
Oh, that's right. I recall that about Bryant's arrest.
And I didn't mean that Simmons was taking a victory lap, he's not (as far as I know), but he could. Some would argue that he should. No other outlet hit him harder than DS. And, TBH, a bunch of it wasn't warranted.
What I think is going to be interesting is Will Leitch's Saturday email blast. This must be killing him.
Good point re: Leitch.
I’ll be surprised if BS really spikes the football on the (current and former) Deadspin writers, while he definitely can be thin skinned (um, SJH scaring him off SOSH?) I don’t see him as vindictive. And given the Grantland/ESPN experience I think he’d empathize with their situation enough to dull any venom he might have.
If BS wants to break the internet, he should have Magary on his Podcast. It would be amazing listening.
He employs a few of their former writers as well.
Wouldn't imagine Harvilla, Knibbs, David Shoemaker, or Katie Baker taking a victory lap well.
Wouldn't imagine Harvilla, Knibbs, David Shoemaker, or Katie Baker taking a victory lap well.
Simmons has some pretty thin skin, sure - but he's very adept at roster building.
I could see him snapping up a few ex-Deadspin folks. As mentioned above, he's already nabbed quite a few of them.
I could see him snapping up a few ex-Deadspin folks. As mentioned above, he's already nabbed quite a few of them.
Man. Stoolies really are the Trump supporters of the sports world.
There aren't a lot of them, but they are FIERCELY loyal.
How many Barstool visits are for their, uh, ethos, and not just Pardon My Take fans? PMT isn't exactly cut from the same cloth.
That's the story I was referring to upthread. I read that and thought it wouldn't last long. It was just over 2 months ago.
So I just got a PM from someone I respect taking issue with my characterization of Stoolies and I want to clarify that I didn't even take into consideration the PMT listeners in my description. Oddly enough I don't even link PMT to Barstool in my mind any more. I was referring to the Portnoy fans who are acting quite the asses over on Twitter over the last few days. I would agree that PMT isn't really the same thing.
This doesn't need to be the time or place for that discussion, but I'm curious to hear the rationale as to why PMT should be considered distinct from the overall Barstool brand with respect to issues such as this.
Because PMT puts out what seems to be a quality product that doesn't have Portnoy's personal brand of obnoxiousness. And when I see Barstool fans behaving badly, most of the time they're tagging Portnoy in their behaviors, not Katz or PFT or PMT.
I do think, upon further reflection, it's probably worth making that distinction. My own reaction in not even linking the two in my mind was pretty telling. When I think of Barstool, I think of Portnoy and not PMT.
Because they're one of the top 20 podcasts downloaded in America, so given the site visit numbers above, it's safe to say that there are a lot of people that consume the podcast but don't consume the broader Barstool universe. They've carved out their own brand.
I genuinely understand and agree with the overall position you both articulate, I just have a hard time logically reconciling it because it's (for better or worse) under the Barstool umbrella and overall branding. (clearly on me there to reconcile it)
I think Kenney is spot on given the numbers that PMT is obviously it's own beast, but I'm legit the opposite of you SJH- I've got to do some mental homework to separate the two (and I'd be surprised if I was alone in this) rather than keeping them separate by default in my head.
I think Kenney is spot on given the numbers that PMT is obviously it's own beast, but I'm legit the opposite of you SJH- I've got to do some mental homework to separate the two (and I'd be surprised if I was alone in this) rather than keeping them separate by default in my head.
Because listeners of PMT (or Spittin Chiclets or Foreplay or Call Her Daddy or Chicks in the Office) doesn't fit SJH's preconceived notion of what a Barstool fan is, lest it might stop him from making blanket statements calling millions of people a "rapacious pack of dickheads".
These things ARE Barstool. It's their entire business. They have two top 20 podcasts (Call Her Daddy is a WAGON), they have a boxing business, a vodka that no liquor store can keep in stock, merch, videos, a massive social media following, and frankly a bunch of shitty blogs that no one really reads anymore (as evidenced by that graphic). Every single one of my friends consumes some form of Barstool content regularly, without exception (men and women) and I doubt any of it is their written content.
Rapacious pack of dickheads indeed. What a ridiculous and ignorant statement. I'll make sure to let my girlfriend know what you think of her, since she follows Fore Play on social media and loves their Youtube golfing videos.
Sorry for making this another Barstool sidetrack. Everyone should go back to mourning/remembering Deadspin (seriously).
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I consume zero Barstool content as it is, so to me the PMT brand name is large enough and well known enough to stand on its own. I understand that others may see it differently.
I read those two far more than Deadspin as well, and the tone and coverage couldn’t be more different. Very minimal snark and it’s clear the writers just love their respective topics (cars and gaming). Even though Jalopnik leans very much towards a specific, performance-focused view of the automotive world, when they post a review of, say, a new family crossover or boring sedan, they don’t just use the space to snark it to death, but generally talk about its strengths and weaknesses (maybe while lamenting, in a passing comment, that it’s not a stick shift). Kotaku does some great deep dive journalism into the gaming industry, and even when giving a negative review to a game they are earnest and even handed about it. Basically, they have a lot less of the original Gawker DNA in them.
And I wonder if that helps with ad revenue. I see gaming ads in Kotaku all the time, and I wonder if they’d have fewer willing sponsors if their general tone around games was closer to Deadspins coverage of sports.
Ironically I originally created my Deadspin account to comment on Jalopnik. Thus the car-centric username. Had I initially wanted to comment on both I would have chosen "Brad Park Ward."
While it's not strictly necessary to think about how your employees will take any change in business direction, it is usually wise, especially when your value to the consumer is largely tied to the brains of those employees and especially, especially when those employees have a very public platform to trash the shit out of you.
Meanwhile G/O Media continues to act like the Houston Astros in regards to PR screwups:
View: https://twitter.com/maxwelltani/status/1189938933305659392?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/maxwelltani/status/1189938933305659392?s=20
Dom's out. He was a great football writer.
View: https://twitter.com/domcosentino/status/1189941524940890112?s=20
View: https://twitter.com/domcosentino/status/1189941524940890112?s=20
The new writers are here, pumping out content.
When I first saw the headline and the obvious pseudonym, I thought that this might be from one of our members and his days as a minor league mascot. But it's not. And that person can write much better than Malt Schlitzmann.
If this is what we're going to get from Deadspin, 18 months until death might be a bit much.
When I first saw the headline and the obvious pseudonym, I thought that this might be from one of our members and his days as a minor league mascot. But it's not. And that person can write much better than Malt Schlitzmann.
If this is what we're going to get from Deadspin, 18 months until death might be a bit much.
Jeez, who is still there? I don't think Roth has actually officially quit, but he's sure acting like he is. I think it's him and Samar Kalaf at this point, and I'm not sure either aren't still "there" to try and post embarrassing articles on Deadspin's CMS.
From Roth's twitter, everything being published now is just clearing the cache of items already written, so freelancers can get paid. He's doing them all a massive solid.
Samer just published a Gerrit Cole article, so I guess he's still there. It's a pretty clearly mailed in effort, however.
"You're goddamn right it's layering season" was a sports story (a Jambaroo).
Yikes. Even ignoring the fact that Deadspin revolves around the idea that it's impossible to divorce sports from the rest of society:
View: https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1188909121665470464