4 ms·

It's important to note that the current "Deadspin" is (long story short) not the same group of people. A couple of years ago the Deadspin writers quit en masse

It's important to note that the current "Deadspin" is (long story short) not the same group of people. A couple of years ago the Deadspin writers quit en masse and have since founded: https://defector.com/ https://defector.com/ It's great! Costs a few bucks per month, which is awesome, because that lets them stay editorially independent and not rely on appeasing anybody but themselves.

exogeny 4y ago
Spanfeller is the biggest fucking herb around.
- TechBro8615 4y ago
  Deadspin and Gawker were staffed by a bunch of scumbags. I wonder if they’re still pathologically obsessed with bringing down the sexists at Barstool.
  - gaws 4y ago
    > Deadspin and Gawker were staffed by a bunch of scumbags. Show us on the doll here where they hurt you.
    - exogeny 4y ago
      Oh, poor Barstool! Who will defend them other than mediocre dudes who hate women?
majormajor 4y ago
Several groups of people even throughout the story, really. Leitch left in 2008. Daulerio left a few years later, the Craggs, etc. Honestly, I think the Defector's version tells the history in a more complete way than this article since there were several eras: https://defector.com/how-we-got-here/ https://defector.com/how-we-got-here/ - a lot of prominent quotes from names in originally linked article that were out of the picture relatively early in terms of the Deadspin/Defector "changing sports journalism" story vs more of just a "controversial posts" story.
- robocat 4y ago
  Quote from link: Lately I’ve been thinking of Deadspin as a strange machine. For more than a decade, the people charged with the maintenance of that machine were allowed to tinker with it according to their whims and idiosyncratic tastes. The result of all that tinkering was a machine which, for all its apparent wonkiness, worked brilliantly. The problem with a machine like that is that it’s difficult for anyone who didn’t build it, or doesn’t respect those who did, to understand exactly how or why it works. When Deadspin’s staffers and readers looked at the machine, they saw a wonderful and whirring contraption, but all Spanfeller and Great Hill saw was an odd collection of valves and pistons. They saw parts, but not the whole. Spanfeller’s disdain for his own newsroom, the “stick to sports” memo, Petchesky being fired, and the cascade of oppressive ads—they were all signaling the same thing: Spanfeller and Great Hill weren’t really interested in preserving what we had spent the last decade building. Maybe a few components would remain to keep up appearances, but Deadspin’s demolition was coming, and we couldn’t stop it. What we could do was refuse to participate in its destruction.
- JohnBooty 4y ago
  Absolutely! Deadspin went through various eras and changes of leadership. I think it's inarguable, though, that the lineage definitively ended in 2019 when the staff walked out en masse. The thing currently called "Deadspin" has no connection to any previous era of Deadspin other than the name.

exogeny 4y ago

Spanfeller is the biggest fucking herb around.

TechBro8615 4y ago
Deadspin and Gawker were staffed by a bunch of scumbags. I wonder if they’re still pathologically obsessed with bringing down the sexists at Barstool.
- gaws 4y ago
  > Deadspin and Gawker were staffed by a bunch of scumbags. Show us on the doll here where they hurt you.
  - exogeny 4y ago
    Oh, poor Barstool! Who will defend them other than mediocre dudes who hate women?

majormajor 4y ago

Several groups of people even throughout the story, really. Leitch left in 2008. Daulerio left a few years later, the Craggs, etc. Honestly, I think the Defector's version tells the history in a more complete way than this article since there were several eras: https://defector.com/how-we-got-here/ https://defector.com/how-we-got-here/ - a lot of prominent quotes from names in originally linked article that were out of the picture relatively early in terms of the Deadspin/Defector "changing sports journalism" story vs more of just a "controversial posts" story.

robocat 4y ago
Quote from link: Lately I’ve been thinking of Deadspin as a strange machine. For more than a decade, the people charged with the maintenance of that machine were allowed to tinker with it according to their whims and idiosyncratic tastes. The result of all that tinkering was a machine which, for all its apparent wonkiness, worked brilliantly. The problem with a machine like that is that it’s difficult for anyone who didn’t build it, or doesn’t respect those who did, to understand exactly how or why it works. When Deadspin’s staffers and readers looked at the machine, they saw a wonderful and whirring contraption, but all Spanfeller and Great Hill saw was an odd collection of valves and pistons. They saw parts, but not the whole. Spanfeller’s disdain for his own newsroom, the “stick to sports” memo, Petchesky being fired, and the cascade of oppressive ads—they were all signaling the same thing: Spanfeller and Great Hill weren’t really interested in preserving what we had spent the last decade building. Maybe a few components would remain to keep up appearances, but Deadspin’s demolition was coming, and we couldn’t stop it. What we could do was refuse to participate in its destruction.
JohnBooty 4y ago
Absolutely! Deadspin went through various eras and changes of leadership. I think it's inarguable, though, that the lineage definitively ended in 2019 when the staff walked out en masse. The thing currently called "Deadspin" has no connection to any previous era of Deadspin other than the name.