BS Off-Topic: The End of Deadspin

Earlier this week, the new digital overlords of Deadspin decreed that the site must only write about sports or, at most, topics that at least have a sports angle. This was a clumsy way to tell them to stop writing about politics, most people surmised. Whatever you think of their political leanings (we expressly try to avoid politics here but the BS staff is actually a pretty impressive blend), their ability over the years to write critical stories was very important. Their ability to seemingly be beholden to nobody allowed them to call bullshit on things when they saw it and to often do longform articles about topics that deserved in-depth reporting.

A few years ago, their then-parent site, Gawker, published a video of Hulk Hogan having sex with a married woman. He sued, he was backed by a billionaire who hated Gawker and its founder, he won ~$140 million and then that was that. Gawker couldn’t sustain such a hit so they declared bankruptcy, the remaining viable properties were bought by Univision (including Deadspin), and Gawker shut down in August 2016.

Univision sold them off to Great Hill Partners – a private equity firm – earlier this year, which in retrospect was the death knell. A bunch of wealthy old men definitely didn’t want to be responsible for a site that tended to upset the apple cart. It’s actually kind of surprising it took until now for them to hand down the “stick to sports” mandate. The staff of Deadspin – which included some very talented writers – pushed back hard against the mandate and their editor-in-chief was fired as a result. This was either a very bad move by Great Hill or a very smart one depending upon what they wanted the outcome to be. The majority of the (unionized) writing staff has quit as of this morning and the updates to the site have virtually stopped. If Deadspin does go on, it won’t go on in the way many have come to know it.

That’s the cliff’s notes version of how things got here. But I wanted to write a little bit about what Deadspin meant.

Deadspin began the year before we launched Boiled Sports and that’s about the only similar thing about us. We were hyper-focused on Purdue sports whereas they were….not hyperfocused on anything. They covered sports, sure, but they also gave a voice to aspiring sports blogs everywhere. People who have only read Deadspin in the past few years may not know this, but they used to link to far lesser-known sports sites (including this one) on an almost daily basis. They’d either do a feature post about a post one of us had done or they’d do a daily roundup with a smattering of links to elsewhere in the sports blogosphere. Remember, this was the early days of sports blogging and everyone was trying to figure it out. I think the first thing of ours that got linked on Deadspin was about the ol’ inflatable penis.

They also invited managers of other sites to come in and live blog games during the NCAA tournament – back when liveblogging was a thing. I did that at least once and appreciated having a few more eyes on my writing if only for a little while.

The site went through ups and downs. For many it was a daily read if only because it was not the corporate-ass-kissing kind of site that ESPN.com was. They told you who won, sure, but they also showed some of the lesser-covered aspects of games or dove into the details of something interesting. Whenever there was a controversy – legitimate or stupid – they analyzed it and cast their own judgment on whether it was legit or stupid. You didn’t need to agree with the author’s conclusion, of course – they had a famously vibrant comments section that served as auditors and collective ombudsmans of the site, for better or worse. I know I for sure didn’t agree a lot of the times with their heavily political takes and their sometimes “you’re a moron if you don’t believe this” approach, but get this: that’s okay. We’re not all meant to agree with everything and if you only consume content that reflects exactly what you think, then you’re living in an echo chamber.

I have seen many people on twitter comment that Deadspin was the only sports site they regularly read, mainly because it wasn’t only focused on sports. I personally went through stretches where I read it every day (esp during the springtime, when the NCAA tourney would rage on, when NHL/NBA playoffs were happening and when baseball was getting going) and times where I would only look every few weeks. Whenever I went there, though, I found something interesting to read.

There aren’t many places on the interwebs where you can read a multi-part ongoing dialogue about the proper way to wipe your butt but also read in-depth reporting on the atrocities at Penn State and Michigan State.

Clever, nuanced, researched writing is in short supply these days as corporate ownership of most content properties simply want charticles, listicles and as many click-throughs as possible. Readers hate most sports sites for this one simple reason!

Deadspin’s balance of ridiculousness and holding people accountable while also having fun seems to be gone now and that’s too bad. Their slogan from the beginning was “Sports news without access, favor or discretion.” Well, this week they were mandated to show discretion, presumably in order to curry favor. So it’s over. And if you think quitting your job (a job many of them loved) to stand on principle is easy, then I would posit that you’ve never had to make ends meet or pay your own bills. People saying that they’re brave to do what they did are correct.

And so it ends. I’ve said this before about things that we enjoy – if they didn’t end, they wouldn’t be special. They’d just be the way things are.