Counterpoint: An Opinion On Deadspin By Someone Who Has Written On Both Sites
OMBUDSMAN BLOG TRIGGER WARNING: This blog is written by my brother’s dead brother, also named Eric about his opinions on the demise of Deadspin. If you prefer to read more coverage of dancing on Deadspin’s grave please consult anywhere else on this website. I’m coming at it from a different perspective- as someone who probably wouldn’t be here right now if I hadn’t been a reader of Deadspin and benefitted from some friendships I’ve made through their comment section and former contributors
One thing I hope we can all agree on as Deadspin continues on its last legs, is that autoplay videos with the sound on suck ass. Common ground: found.
Through a series of events so complicated and disputed to ever become fully untangled, Deadspin has bled out slowly over the last 4 years culminating in this past week of firings and resignations. It all brought them to a place where they were managed by people they didn’t like, who in turn didn’t like them. They had made their fair share of enemies including people at this very company who are celebrating their demise. And Deadspin for sure would have enjoyed watching Barstool sink. Either way there would be dancing on graves. They were pretty fucking pumped when Big Cat and I got fired from ESPN, they manipulated stories about people who work here, and I’m sure they’d be just as happy if not moreso if our entire ship had gone down instead of theirs. It would have sucked when they did it, and it sucks when we do it. Double boot-licker status: unlocked. But the great part of my platform here is that we’re all free to express whatever opinion we want on whatever subject we want. It might be the only big site in existence that still has that and I’d be wasting it if I didn’t take advantage.
No matter what some from Deadspin say, and no matter what Dave says, Barstool and Deadspin did not totally exist in silos- although the rivalry has been good for business for both companies. There are a hell of a lot of people who read, or used to read both sites, myself included. I know contributors at Deadspin who were readers/AWLs. As the last two years unfolded and the war of words/sentence battle (shoutout LeBron) between us and them became more acrimonious those numbers probably dwindled a bit but I’m sure there are still hundreds of thousands of people who enjoy Pardon My Take who also read David or Diana or Drew.
Some people there hate me for myriad reasons so this blog is a classic self-cucking but it’s not meant for them to see, it’s written just because I wanted to say it. I kind of respect them in the same fucked up way that I respect an exposed wire enough to avoid stepping on it. They literally took down their own company over a perceived moral gap between themselves and their bosses- you can say that they’re quixotic, idealistic, self-righteous, but you can’t say they didn’t have guts. Deadspin wouldn’t have made it past its problematic “frumpy” Charissa Thompson days if Laura Wagner had been on staff in the late aughts because she would have gone Left Eye on the server room by 2009.
TL;DR In conclusion Deadspin was a land of contrasts. It would however, be laugh out loud funny to watch Jay Mariotti try to take over as editor in chief.