Thus came Bissinger, a veritable buzzsaw of opinions, laying waste to virtually everything and anything about sports blogs in a way that Costas could only dream about. His vitriol was so widespread and so complete it was actually hard to discern his overall point. From what I could tell, he doesn’t like, for example, the profane nature of many blogs and he made this point as forcefully and profanely as he could. He’s no fan of the fact that many of the postings are done anonymously, the opinions offered by cowards who won’t use their real names. For good measure, he also thinks nearly everything on these sites is poorly written, lacking in insight, and authored by a bunch of boobs, misfits, and idiots.
Deadspin’s Leitch, representing the new guard, actually came across as the adult in the room. He didn’t defend some of the more ridiculous examples that Bissinger cited but neither did he find it necessary to point out that these examples didn’t represent the level of electronic discourse any more than People magazine represents the level of printed discourse.
Costas did his best to appear as the moderate voice, reminding Bissinger in a “there there” fashion that from time to time there is some insight to be gained from bloggers, even if you have to dig through 10 layers of cow dung to find it. How could Bissinger disagree? He couldn’t so he didn’t. But if Bissinger came away with a more complete picture of his nemesis he didn’t let on either.
And then there was the odd sight of Braylon Edwards of the Cleveland Browns sitting with these two wearing a look that suggested “what am I doing here?” Edwards said, I think, that he reads the various Internet sites but didn’t seem to have a strong opinion one way or the other about much of anything. The guess here is that he was invited because he’s one of the bigger loudmouths in sports. Instead he used the opportunity to finally shut up. If Edwards thought this might be a tryout for a media gig post football, he needs to get back in the weight room, so to speak.
In addition to the Bissinger/Leitch carnival, there was another somewhat similar panel about athletes and the media. It featured the aforementioned McEnroe along with former New York Giants running back and current NBC commentator Tiki Barber and Selena Roberts, columnist for Sports Illustrated. It was less theatrical than the Bissinger segment but basically it made the same points.
Roberts didn’t directly attack the internet like Bissinger, but she made it pretty clear that all of this attention has made athletes much more guarded and made her job much more difficult. She complained, for example, of the obstacles placed in front of her just to interview LeBron James about his relationship with Jay-Z. Without saying it specifically, she let it be known that ultimately it was the reader that suffered because she was not able to bring her special insight to bear on such a hot topic. Ah, for the old days when a beat writer could sit in the hotel bar with Mickey Mantle and knock back shots until 4 a.m.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Okay, many a points about the panel:
• Bissinger says blogs are cruel, right after he calls Will Leitch "full of shit" to his face.
• Costas lauds credentials and access, yet neither Bissinger nor Costas can get the byline right on Big Daddy Drew's column about Rick Reilly. (Costas said it was A.J. Daulerio, no idea how the hell he got that wrong.)
• Leitch was asked to respond to a Deadspin column that he didn't write. (On TWO DIFFERENT OCCASIONS.)
• Drew's subsequent satire post about Bissinger fucking horses was absolutely obscene. And hilarious.
• Credentialed sports reporters are in no danger from sports blogs.
• Leitch is the nicest, most genuine guy you'll ever meet, but holy Christ he needs a speech coach.
2 - El Bicho
“confuses simple mean-spiritedness and stupidity with edginess.”
sorry, but that does sound like a good portion of the Internet.
"the profane nature of many blogs and he made this point as forcefully and profanely as he could."
So? There's a difference between talking about the work and the work itself.
"Leitch was asked to respond to a Deadspin column that he didn't write."
If he's the publisher, why shouldn't he account for them?
3 - Gary Benz
Two points, El Bicho: if Costas is concerned about mean-spiritedness and stupidity being confused with edginess, why did he invite Bissinger to engage in nothing but mean-spirtedness and stupidity? Second, there may be a difference between the work and talking about it, but geez, if you're going to criticize the work for being profane, shouldn't you find a better way to criticize than using your own healthy dose of profanity? I'd be surprise if in some private moment of self-reflection that Bissinger doesn't come to the realization that he came across as a ridiculously bitter has-been when in truth he's neither.
4 - Matthew T. Sussman
"If he's the publisher, why shouldn't he account for them?"
He should certainly be accountable for the column, but Leitch didn't pen it and as it turns out didn't really share the sentiment of the paragraph Costas brought up. It was like asking Dave Nalle why Alex Hutchinson thinks we should overthrow the government, and Costas fell into the false assumption that two Deadspin sports bloggers think alike in that all credentialed sportswriters are bad.
It would have made more sense to actually debate him on something he wrote. (Y'know, like the book he was there to promote.) He was asked why he published the Matt Leinart beer bong photos, but he was just linking and rehosting pictures from TheDirty.com.
5 - El Bicho
"if Costas is concerned about mean-spiritedness and stupidity being confused with edginess, why did he invite Bissinger to engage in nothing but mean-spirtedness and stupidity?"
First, maybe I am wrong, but I believe Costas' concern about the confusion was in regards to sports journalism. Second, while Costas knew Bissinger agreed, unless there was a rehearsal, how would he know the way Bissinger would act?
"It was like asking Dave Nalle why Alex Hutchinson thinks we should overthrow the government,"
That's not accurate. Nalle's not the editor in chief of BC, but even if he were representing the site, he wouldn't need to defend why Alex thinks the government should be overthrown, but why BC published it.
Leitch was there to represent Deadspin and had to know what was going to be talked about, so he should be able to make the case for DS publishing articles he disagrees with.
6 - Matthew T. Sussman
"if he were representing the site, he wouldn't need to defend why Alex thinks the government should be overthrown, but why BC published it."
Exactly, and that's why I had a problem with Costas trying to debate the article's points to the original author by proxy through Leitch.
I think the only time he was pressed on "why did you publish this" was when his byline actually showed up on the post with the Matt Leinart photos. And I was fine with that question.