I dig Grantland a lot...

Yes those Charlie Pierce and Wesley Morris pieces were pure middlebrow

The sports blogger Tom Hitchner wrote recently about the tendency of sports commentators to find random, dumb, uninfluential opinions to dispute, even when those opinions are held by almost no one, simply to represent themselves as the wiser and cooler party. Too often, writers at Grantland played into this tendency, engaging in verbal eye-rolling about the idiocy of those who might disagree with them rather than just making their case.

I think this is OTM about a broader trend but I wouldn't pin it on Grantland. I feel like Freddie is very sharp on how online discourse works but I always have to filter out his various tedious bugbears about popular culture.

@BenLindbergh
Haven't told my parents about Grantland, because 1)I like that someone still thinks it exists and 2)I'm testing how irregularly they read me

NYC event

http://www.gelfmagazine.com/gelflog/archives/nov_23_grantland_appreciation_night.php

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-second-coming-mtv-news/

not sure if we have a beefs thread for this but the breathless praise for grantland at the start of this piece just reminds me how weird it is that there were grantland readers who actually thought the non-sports stuff was the good part of grantland

wes morris was actually good, rembert was fun. i would actually occasionally read it whereas now the only non-sports stuff i'll even look at on the ringer is serrano or concepcion in funny blogpost about some hbo show mode, every other non-sports writer i react to the sight of their byline the way i did to steve hyden's on grantland. the sports writing isn't as good at the ringer either though it's fine enough, i still check in. i think in a weird way the ringer misses a jonathan abrams than a lowe or barnwell; like they're still doing something like the analysis lowe and barnwell brought but the really solid features abrams could turn out they don't really even seem to attempt. even if #longform doesn't generate the clicks and was responsible for the worst moment grantland had, it's still the kind of brand building thing that can give a patina of 'quality' that can make ppl think they're smart to love/read a sight even if they really go there to find out what character on game of thrones j.r. smith is. it is kinda funny that the sports writers i really enjoyed at grantland stayed at espn and the ones i kinda loathed ended up at si.

I very much miss the Grantland versions of Rembert, Brian Phillips, Emily Yoshida and Molly Lambert.

<3 katie bakes but it seems like a struggle

how weird it is that there were grantland readers who actually thought the non-sports stuff was the good part of grantland

yeah sorry folks but the fact that ppl read this stuff makes me think they live in an alternative dimension where there are 48 hours in a day or something

got what a shitty hypocritical post. sorry

not sure if we have a beefs thread for this but the breathless praise for grantland at the start of this piece just reminds me how weird it is that there were grantland readers who actually thought the non-sports stuff was the good part of grantland

― k3vin k.,

I read Morris and Mark Harris all the time.

Rembert Browne's recaps of Designated Survivor almost make me want to start watching the show

the recent simmons-jalen podcast has some fun inside stuff on the early grantland days and how jalen got started

the simmons/jalen relationship is super heartwarming btw, very clear they are close buds and care about each other. basically everyone who’s worked with bill says he’s a great guy it seems

i loved that pod. jalen is a good personality. i listen to jalen and Jacoby on occasion. hilarious that jalen basically stalked bill as a fanboy.

Former Grantland and SI.com writer Jonah Keri sentenced to 21 months for domestic abuse.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/disgraced-montreal-sports-writer-jonah-keri-sentenced-to-21-months-for-domestic-abuse-charges-1.5831494