• media

    SI's Dr. Z Recovering After Two Strokes

    This is sad news from the sports media world. Paul Zimmerman, the grouchy football columnist better known as Dr. Z, suffered two strokes in late November and is currently on a leave of absence while he recovers. He'll survive, but how it'll affect the rest of his writing career is still undetermined. Peter King wrote a pretty fantastic tribute to the man in his latest column, highlighting some of Zimmerman's long-form football pieces that he used to write for SI before he became the Dr. Z persona full-time. More »

    2:00 PM on Tue Dec 2 2008
    By DAULERIO
    3,484 views, 57 comments

    Most discussed The Muggsy Bogues Redux Experiment: Get well, get well soon. We want you to get well. No, seriously. Get well. more »

  • ESPN

    Exploring the ESPN Business Model (Hint: It Involves Swimming In Piles of Cash)

    By now everyone knows that ESPN paid $100 million more than Fox could afford for the rights to the BCS games beginning in 2009. Cementing, to a great degree, ESPN's status as a post-season college football monopoly (they now control 29 of the 34 bowl games). And we've also noted that this increasing power has come without a great deal of criticism. To a large degree because ESPN now employs most of the people who are talented enough to raise criticism against the network. But we've never really seen their power broken down in a cogent article examining their business model. Until now. Enter Richard Sandomir of the New York Times. Read on. Be scared sports fans, very scared. More »

    10:15 AM on Wed Nov 26 2008
    By Clay Travis
    6,864 views, 86 comments

    Most discussed Rob Iracane: Great work, Clay. The only way we can fight the ESPNopoly is to finally get Deadspin TV off the ground. more »

  • Bill Simmons

    The Creative Impasse Between Bill Simmons and ESPN Appears To Be Over

    The rumor about Bill Simmons "quitting" his B.S. Report podcast on ESPN due to restrictive over-editing policies were apparently overblown, for today the B.S. Report has miraculously reappeared. The one noticeable change to it is the new pre-show disclaimer from the Sports Fella himself that states , "The BS report is a free-flowing conversation that occasionally touches on mature subjects." More »

    5:30 PM on Tue Nov 25 2008
    By DAULERIO
    14,487 views, 32 comments

    Most discussed formerly Chief Wahoo: Can we get a warning before Reilly's work that it may contain inanities and shoddy writing? more »

  • media

    ESPN Mag To Get a Sharapova-cized Makeover

    Each year, ESPN "The Magazine" trots out special issues like the goofy jocks-are-in-charge issue one when they let a professional athlete play editor for the week. (Remember one year Matt Leinart did this. Yeah, it'll probably be a long time before he gets on the cover again.) This year the mag has enlisted the help of grunty, long-legged tennis player Maria Sharapova to put her own distinct editorial flourish on it. According to the email sent out to the ESPN magazine staff, she's, not surprisingly, going with a fashion-oriented issue — but could use some more help: More »

    2:30 PM on Mon Nov 24 2008
    By DAULERIO
    9,628 views, 56 comments

    Most discussed Gourmet Spud: Ideally, some of you have ideas that put to use her interest in style and applies it to our pages. Yes, more »

  • media

    Chicago Magazine Writer Loves Him Some Jay Mariotti

    By his own count, Jay Mariotti wrote more than 3,000 columns in his 17 years as a Chicago Sun-Times columnist. But now that that's all over, and being an ESPN jabbering noggin is his main gig now, how does a professional contrarian stay relevant in a world that's swiftly passing him by? By grabbing a suit jacket and Levis and posing against a brick wall for a magazine story, that's how. In the December issue of Michigan Avenue, Josh Schollmeyer does a Q&A profile of Mariotti, Schollmeyer charitably refraining from the same character assassination tactics that made his subject famous. Title? Mariotti Unplugged ("Do Freebird!"). Ha. As if Jay was ever "plugged" to begin with. More »

    5:30 PM on Thu Nov 20 2008
    By Rick Chandler
    6,554 views, 40 comments

    Most discussed Raskolnikov: Schollmeyer is also as irrelevant as Difranco. more »

  • media

    Buffalo Sportswriter Dies After Press Box Fall

    Tom Borrelli, a sportswriter for the Buffalo News died today after an accident that happened at high school football game. On November 8, Borrelli was climbing up a steep metal staircase (almost like a ladder, really) on the way to the press box at All High Stadium, when he hit his head on a girder above him and fell backwards down the steps to the concrete floor. He was paralyzed from the neck down, and remained on a respirator for almost two weeks before passing away early this morning. More »

    4:30 PM on Thu Nov 20 2008
    By Dashiell Bennett
    8,705 views, 49 comments

    Most discussed v0ice: My condolences to his family. I wish things like this didn't get brought up on sites like this; people more »

  • Whimsy

    Is This The Most Suggestive Sports Headline Ever Written?

    When I worked at the Peninsula Times-Tribune in Palo Alto, Calif., (former home of Ray Ratto!) a young copy editor came up with a rather inadvertently amusing headline for a story in the features section: You May Be To Blame If Your Dog Won't Come. That still ranks in my top 10 of funny suggestive headlines, but what of the sports division? We may have a new leader. More »

    11:00 AM on Thu Nov 20 2008
    By Rick Chandler
    9,738 views, 52 comments

    Most discussed Candace Parker Secret Lover: Apologies for this one, but I remember seeing it and almost throwing up: more »

  • media

    What Is ESPN Sports Passport, And Should I Be Afraid?

    Surely you've noticed by now that alongside every recap on ESPN.com is an ad for ESPN Sports Passport. But what is this exciting service and how will it affect my daily life? Let's let the WWL itself explain:

    WERE YOU THERE?
    Did you attend this game? If so, start chronicling your sports memories today with ESPN's Sports Passport. Enter the games you attend, upload your photos and share your memories! Link    . More »

    9:30 AM on Thu Nov 20 2008
    By Rick Chandler
    3,967 views, 35 comments

  • ESPN

    Rick Telander Does Not Fear ESPN's Wrath -- But He Does Respect It

    In a tough economic market, you'll find many sports writers scaling back on their criticism for the sake of job security. Trying to garner attention through traditional shit-stirring isn't the best way to keep your self afloat right now — piss off the wrong source or anger enough readers and you may find yourself expendable. Chicago Sun-Times columnist and Mariotti-foil Rick Telander penned a column today about the WWL's acquisition of the BCS bowl games, but then veered into a somewhat dangerous territory of half-heartedly criticizing ESPN's steamrolling empire. He suggests the corporation has its tentacles around so many sportswriter's necks that there isn't anyone left to bitch about them besides the person they pay to do it, staff ombudsman Leanne Schreiber. Oh, and, so he says, "renegade bloggers", of course. Telander also mentions that he's worked for ESPN in the past and still pops up on "Rome Is Burning" every once in a while. So he doesn't exactly go after the network with knives out. No, instead he goes to the best source for truth (and bowel movement Facebook updates), Jason Whitlock: More »

    2:15 PM on Wed Nov 19 2008
    By DAULERIO
    7,441 views, 44 comments

    Most discussed Weed Against Speed: ...but I'd say for now that he will be allowed to sit on Jim Rome's couch in the near future. That's more »

  • Interviews With Geniuses

    Fire Joe Morgan: The Exit Interview

    Like many of you, my heart sank last week when I learned that Fire Joe Morgan announced they were hanging up their purple spikes after, as they put it, "21 years, and almost 40 million posts." Fire Joe Morgan was one of the reasons I got into this blogging game — and what a game it is! — and I'm sure I'm far from alone. While your tributes keep filing in, I'm proud to have had the opportunity to sit down with the FJM crew last week and talk to them about their "decision." More »

    1:30 PM on Mon Nov 17 2008
    By Will Leitch
    19,579 views, 57 comments

    Most discussed Carmen McFanzone: The terrorists have a lifetime OPS+ of 1.1639. more »