Looking back, I think this is an excellent opportunity for those blogs who do some real interviews to make our presence felt. I can’t believe how many other sports bloggers seem to believe that there are ZERO sports blogs that consistently do serious research, analysis, or journalism. We need to educate those folk.

Along those lines, let me gingerly comment on the porn analogy. DavidMac, while understanding your porn angle, I have to differ with you. The right move for an industry that is perceived to be illegitimate (whether it is or not) is not to do nothing while the weirdos are rounded up and purged, OR to defend those weirdos and get down in the mud with them.

What Vivid et al. (or us in the Leitch comparison) should have done was come up with a clear statement why they are different and make a contribution to society. If Vivid would have emphasized that Max is NOT part of the legitimate industry, while emphasizing that they do business the right way, then they could have weathered the storm. They didn’t, and now they deserve to be arrested.

With Deadspin intelligence is not the issue, but anything I feel is desensitizing is just not cool.

It exacerbates and sets us up for an emotionless future. I can’t have that.

Sports is not entertainment in my eyes but when any athlete is disposed of with mere comedy it’s a problem.

I don’t care if it’s Matt Leinart or Mario Manningham…it potentially could be my son or daughter.

That’s just me.

The people I deal with view sports not as the life resolute but an intriguing microcosm we love but also very much learn from. There’s too much going on to simply place sports in the context of entertainment. There are too many discernible issues discussed–or need to be discussed–almost every single day.

The historical implications that can be derived from the discussion on Barry Bonds, Michael Vick or Roger Clemens are not entertainment based.

Is that a cop out when folks label sports as entertainment just because they shell out billions? Why is it all about them? What about the livelihood of the players. Do you think they view themselves on a whole as entertainers? Why do fans get to drive the market?

Are people being honest when laughing off life or does it pique and also contrast a dichotomy among our people?

Why isn’t there a Black Big Lead or a Black Deadspin?

There certainly are Black gossip sites but why not similar sites sports based?

It’s because we see sports differently. History affects Blacks more regarding sports and by that I don’t mean in a traditionalist sense.

General statement yes, but it certainly applies–specifically when Black journalists use our culture and upbringing to explain our vantage point.

White journalists do the exact same thing, so yes this is about race.

Blacks have fought long and hard to be included so I don’t think we are comfortable enough to now be able to laugh sports off.

Again, this is just my opinion.

Is your biggest issue with Deadpsin the comments section? A very large portion of that interview with Will was discussing the comments and it’s come up in other discussions as well.

I find this odd in the sense that I’ve enjoyed posting on Deadspin more than any other message board/blog/news site that I’ve ever been involved with. For one, there is no spam. There are no attacks among posters (that I see). Since there is an audition process of a sort, there is a certain level of talent on display. And - believe it or not - there is a certain level of self-censorship involved in the comments. During the times where Will or usually Daulerio have stepped over the line, the commentators were usually the ones to point it out. To be totally honest, if the site ever starts to fade away, it is going to be due to a commentator uprising over the tone of the site. There are already a few cracks in the armor and plenty of complaints from the commentators- Will has outsourced too much posting, Daulerio is too vulgar, Weintraub is awful.

Anyway, the commentators drive the site at this point. Nine times out of ten, the comments make me laugh more than the posts themselves.

But I don’t think it can be emphasized enough: Will is not the comments and the comments are not Will. They are increasingly moving into their own separate spheres.

Nice post! I agree with every word.