11/05/24
February 06, 2007
You Can't Stop Deadspin; You Can Only Hope to Contain It: PRWeek profiles Deadspin.Com "dorky and corn-fed" editor Will Leitch, whose influential, sarcastic and ESPN-mocking sports blog is fast becoming the New York Yankees to SportsFilter's Detroit Tigers.
Sports *is* entertainment. Duh.
Deadspin (the main 'articles', not so much the comments) reminds me in some ways of the golden days of sportscenter- sharp, funny, still gets you the information you need to know. Even the comments are in some way reminiscent- what was 'you can only hope to contain him' except a big inside joke with all the people who watched sportscenter day in and day out?
posted by tieguy at 09:14 AM on February 06, 2007
I agree bperk, the times ive actually read deadspin it seems like two or three shepherds and a boatload of sheep falling in line with no real thoughts of their own, or differences of opinion.
Just 100 comments that are nerdy inside jokes with absolutely no sports discussion.
posted by Folkways at 09:18 AM on February 06, 2007
deadspin.com is basically crap.
lame comments and lame content.
I'll stick with SportsFilter thanks.
posted by bobrolloff at 09:19 AM on February 06, 2007
What, like we don't have our own (neglected) inside jokes?
Deadspin: NOT A SPORT
Deadspin writers: NOT ATHLETES
posted by LionIndex at 10:09 AM on February 06, 2007
whose influential, sarcastic and ESPN-mocking sports blog is fast becoming the New York Yankees to SportsFilter's Detroit Tigers
Deadspin is simply a different beast than Sportsfilter and I don't see comparisons to them on an apples-to-apples basis particularly helpful (although from a raw numbers perspective, it potentially boils down to real dollars, which are certainly comparable).
The key differentiator being, I believe, the opportunity for the rank and file to make front page posts and write columns here, rather than a small group of authors deciding what's notable, funny, etc. there.
If comparing mainstream sports media to Deadspin is (to borrow an analogy from the linked article) comparing apples to paper clips, then comparing Deadspin to Sportsfilter is like comparing paper clips to razor blades.
Yeah, that's right, we will cut right through your What, like we don't have our own (neglected) inside jokes?
Anyone noticed an uptick in prostitutes dying under mysterious circumstances in San Diego lately?
(If what you mean by mysterious circumstances is being disemboweled and strangled with their own entrails.)
posted by holden at 10:49 AM on February 06, 2007
I just realized I have a real short 6 degrees of separation to Will Leitch.
Doesn't matter. I'm all Sportsfilter. When do we get our SpoFi 4-Eva tattoos?
posted by jerseygirl at 10:50 AM on February 06, 2007
to finish a thought above (damn comments edit timeblock) ... we will cut right through your puny paper clips with our razor blades!
posted by holden at 10:51 AM on February 06, 2007
We should get avatars like deadspin has. I'd like to claim this one:
It has a certain "I drank an entire keg by myself and then slept it off facedown on a scratchy corduroy pillow last night" feel to it that I was really looking for as avatar representation.
posted by jerseygirl at 10:58 AM on February 06, 2007
If I read that Alexa plot properly, Deadspin is attracting about 400 out of every million people on the internet.
So, the people that visit SpoFi, y'all are like one in a million.
posted by gspm at 11:01 AM on February 06, 2007
I just realized I have a real short 6 degrees of separation to Will Leitch. Like a half-dozen midgets or is it less than 6? That might make you both Masons. Or members of the 5% Nation. Whichever's cooler (and I think I know the answer).
I'm with tieguy and holden on this one. I mourn the days of the walled garden of deadspin, but the posts themselves are still funny and the core commenters are an amazingly sharp group by Internet Standards.
posted by yerfatma at 11:02 AM on February 06, 2007
Wow, jerseygirl, that's one step short of a George Clinton mugshot.
posted by dusted at 11:24 AM on February 06, 2007
As a lurker on both, I like Deadspin, but definitely am a little reluctant to post regularly as it is a pretty closed community. Well, that and I don't feel funny enough.
Plus, the major difference is that their goal is humor - not discussion. They don't discuss anything.
However, as fatty says, I'm guaranteed to laugh everytime. Their core group is as funny as it gets, and Leitch finds the funnybone in every story so consistently it borders on genius.
My only complaint is that while I enjoy that fact that they don't harbour any sacred cows - sometimes their humor is shockingly racist and they tend to have a rather zealotous demand for like-mindedness.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:33 PM on February 06, 2007
That graph makes more Florida Marlins than Detroit Tigers: Competitive as hell in terms of talent - but not that anyone has bothered to notice.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 12:37 PM on February 06, 2007
but definitely am a little reluctant to post regularly as it is a pretty closed community. Well, that and I don't feel funny enough.
Seconded. I mean I feel the same, not that you're not funny enough, which I feel goes without saying. If you take my meaning.
posted by yerfatma at 01:28 PM on February 06, 2007
I wouldn't mind seeing some Weedy and yerfatma straightening out the ranks over at Deadspin. I am not nearly funny enough for the site, and fortunately I don't have the membership to prove it. I'm pretty sure that site has prompted construction on a new wing in hell. Whenever I read just one thread there, I laugh my fool head off, then feel three days of shame for it, swearing to myself like a college kid with a hangover that I will never go back there. When it comes to self-administration of guilt and inadequacy, I have got to stick to porn.
posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 03:21 PM on February 06, 2007
The occasional racism and such on their comment boards is all the more troubling because typically they have avoided attracting morons to the board- the core group there is fairly witty, well written, etc., and yet still descends into racism/sexism on a fairly regular basis. If they were quasi-illiterate (like some of our occasional posters here) I'd be less bothered, somehow.
[Also, the fact that they lampoon the hell out of ESPN makes me happy to no end.]
posted by tieguy at 04:01 PM on February 06, 2007
I just wanted to respond because you said "New York Yankees" in your opening paragraph (as soon as the Super Bowl ends, I count the days until pitchers and catchers report).
posted by dyams at 05:04 PM on February 06, 2007
If they were quasi-illiterate (like some of our occasional posters here) I'd be less bothered, somehow.
Ignorance is bliss, tieguy, and in some strange way, easier to understand. The last thing a sports blog needs is a bunch of David Dukes running amok.
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 06:50 PM on February 06, 2007
... I count the days until pitchers and catchers report.
The four most glorious words in the English language: pitchers and catchers report.
posted by rcade at 07:16 PM on February 06, 2007
I wonder if Deadspin writers consider taking your kids to church to be on par with Nazi indoctrination, like SportsFilter's Frazer? Maybe I'd like it better over there. Thanks for the heads up.
posted by carolinared at 05:25 AM on February 07, 2007
I'll tell you what they don't consider cool: cross-posting your personal grudges.
posted by yerfatma at 05:32 AM on February 07, 2007
It was 5 days ago. Time to get past it.
posted by jerseygirl at 06:19 AM on February 07, 2007
The four most glorious words in the English sporting language are '32 teams playing today.'
posted by tieguy at 06:33 AM on February 07, 2007
"Wanna play another round?"
posted by SummersEve at 06:40 AM on February 07, 2007
I wonder if Deadspin writers consider taking your kids to church to be on par with Nazi indoctrination, like SportsFilter's Frazer?
Deadspin writers burst into flame the moment they cross the threshold of a church.
Clearly I missed the best argument of the week. Peace be with you.
posted by rcade at 06:46 AM on February 07, 2007
I wonder if Deadspin writers consider taking your kids to church to be on par with Nazi indoctrination, like SportsFilter's Frazer? Maybe I'd like it better over there.
They do. We have a foursome every Sunday, right after we watch Robert Schuller's Hour of Power.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:14 AM on February 07, 2007
We have a foursome every Sunday
Nimrod, Ramrod, Quimby, who gets to be The Ref?
posted by yerfatma at 08:29 AM on February 07, 2007
Denis Leary, natch.
posted by Ufez Jones at 08:56 AM on February 07, 2007
"We have a foursome every Sunday"
I hope to hell you're talking in golf terms.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 12:51 PM on February 07, 2007
I don't begrudge Deadspin their traffic. You don't really see a whole lot of discussion. Some good snark though. A little less tolerant than SpoFi seems to be (Exhibit A : The Barbaro Board). To tell you the truth, Deadspin seems a bit like Fark for the Sports set. I don't have any evidence, but I get the feeling that anyone looking for some cogent discussion on the 'Spin might get stomped like a cop at a biker rally.
posted by lilnemo at 05:43 PM on February 07, 2007
I must confess I don't really understand Deadspin's popularity.
I don't believe for one second that it is populated by diehard sports fanatics.
The site is more like sports as entertainment rather than sports directly.
So, they have one little blurb linking to a sports-related article and then 100 comments that are nerdy inside jokes with absolutely no sports discussion.