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I love that this article treats the current zombie Deadspin site as dead, which it very much is. As explained, Deadspin got killed effectively by the Hulk Hoga

I love that this article treats the current zombie Deadspin site as dead, which it very much is. As explained, Deadspin got killed effectively by the Hulk Hogan sex tape civil trial, a chilling and horrible verdict, but I have seen some reprehensible behavior by Deadspin and gawker style sites. As a good example, Markelle Fultz was a first overall pick but suffered what appears to be some sort of pinched nerve issue that greatly affected his ability to shoot. He finally is an effective NBA player for the Orlando Magic, but Deadspin was brutal and unrelenting in mocking his difficulties rehabbing and regaining form. This is not some attention-starved social media blusterer, it was just a garden variety lottery pick trying to make his way in the pro leagues. Basically, his "sin" was that video surfaced of him awkwardly trying to shoot free throws, and then the great bully brigade of the internet got going. One of the desperations of the gawker sites was that once a term or topic soared in "clickability", they would hammer that term over and over. Some people like Trump and Musk love this, any publicity is good publicity. But Fultz was always quiet. It also gets a bit hairy with players like Ben Simmons, who get publicly mocked and derided by armies of online sociopath/fans. Sure he's paid millions to "take it" to some degree, but there are clearly lines and gawker style sites push and cross them in desperation to gain relevancy (in an era when the relevancy of the old stalwarts like Sports Illustrated and local newspapers have evaporated). A couple of those discomfort points were counterbalanced by just heaploads of great funny stories. Deadspin was the only site I checked multiple times a day, alas defector hasn't risen to that yet.

joegahona 4y ago
> Deadspin was the only site I checked multiple times a day, alas defector hasn't risen to that yet. Why do you think that is? Does Defector have a smaller staff than Deadspin did at its peak? Prime Deadspin was hit or miss for me. I didn't really care for the social-justice and "culture" content, with an increasing number of non-sports articles that felt like a college newspaper. When the PE came in and had the stick-to-sports decree, in theory I agreed, but obviously they executed that poorly, which accelerated all the departures.
- AtlasBarfed 4y ago
  Ironic (in the business sense) because the post-mass-quit Zombie Deadspin is so over the top with the identity politics takes on sports that it is eye rolling at times, almost an experiment in absurdism. And that happened ... right-o ... as soon as Defector launched, it was such a transparent revenge move by the private equity ghouls/goons. I welcome left-wing and anti-establishment takes on sports. Mainstream sports are hyper conservative (flags! anthem! flags! jet flyovers! flags! honor the military! flags! honor more military! uniforms! borderline eugenics!) with THE MOST RIDICULOUS corporate welfare with publicly financed stadiums, publicly financed training areas, massive tax breaks and favorable tax law, and a fawning bootlicker media/PR division. Left wing takes on sports are extremely important because there are many societal themes at play with sports. The manipulations by the right to fleece the taxpayers. The last functioning unions and debates about fair pay and revenue sharing. Health care and pensions. Race and discrimination. Homosexuality discrimination. Blind loyalty and jingoism vs loyalty to higher ideals and sportsmanship. So much sausage making that is too boring for regular enterprises to get attention becomes front page news in sports. Of course there's the corruption. Soooo much corruption, favorable non-prosecution, getting let off by the cops, fake "investigations", repugnant work conditions. And the comments on deadspin were pretty good. Any site with "pretty good" comments is a gem in the cesspool. The usernames were fantastic. HN users have disappointingly lame usernames by comparison.
katamarimambo 4y ago
What Deadspin really hated was The Process, Fultz was just a huge symbol of that thing. I strongly agreed with then but thought the guy had no fault for being picked no.1 and thus was unfairly targeted. But seeing the whole stuff going bad gave me great joy.
throw_m239339 4y ago
> , a chilling and horrible verdict, Gawker executive testimonies did not help their case. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/09/gawker-media-trial-hulk-hogan-aj-daulerio https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/09/gawker-media-t...
gaws 4y ago
> Deadspin got killed effectively by the Hulk Hogan sex tape civil trial That was Gawker, the gossip site. Deadspin is still around.

joegahona 4y ago

> Deadspin was the only site I checked multiple times a day, alas defector hasn't risen to that yet. Why do you think that is? Does Defector have a smaller staff than Deadspin did at its peak? Prime Deadspin was hit or miss for me. I didn't really care for the social-justice and "culture" content, with an increasing number of non-sports articles that felt like a college newspaper. When the PE came in and had the stick-to-sports decree, in theory I agreed, but obviously they executed that poorly, which accelerated all the departures.

AtlasBarfed 4y ago
Ironic (in the business sense) because the post-mass-quit Zombie Deadspin is so over the top with the identity politics takes on sports that it is eye rolling at times, almost an experiment in absurdism. And that happened ... right-o ... as soon as Defector launched, it was such a transparent revenge move by the private equity ghouls/goons. I welcome left-wing and anti-establishment takes on sports. Mainstream sports are hyper conservative (flags! anthem! flags! jet flyovers! flags! honor the military! flags! honor more military! uniforms! borderline eugenics!) with THE MOST RIDICULOUS corporate welfare with publicly financed stadiums, publicly financed training areas, massive tax breaks and favorable tax law, and a fawning bootlicker media/PR division. Left wing takes on sports are extremely important because there are many societal themes at play with sports. The manipulations by the right to fleece the taxpayers. The last functioning unions and debates about fair pay and revenue sharing. Health care and pensions. Race and discrimination. Homosexuality discrimination. Blind loyalty and jingoism vs loyalty to higher ideals and sportsmanship. So much sausage making that is too boring for regular enterprises to get attention becomes front page news in sports. Of course there's the corruption. Soooo much corruption, favorable non-prosecution, getting let off by the cops, fake "investigations", repugnant work conditions. And the comments on deadspin were pretty good. Any site with "pretty good" comments is a gem in the cesspool. The usernames were fantastic. HN users have disappointingly lame usernames by comparison.

katamarimambo 4y ago

What Deadspin really hated was The Process, Fultz was just a huge symbol of that thing. I strongly agreed with then but thought the guy had no fault for being picked no.1 and thus was unfairly targeted. But seeing the whole stuff going bad gave me great joy.

throw_m239339 4y ago

> , a chilling and horrible verdict, Gawker executive testimonies did not help their case. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/09/gawker-media-trial-hulk-hogan-aj-daulerio https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/09/gawker-media-t...

gaws 4y ago

> Deadspin got killed effectively by the Hulk Hogan sex tape civil trial That was Gawker, the gossip site. Deadspin is still around.