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.
― balls, Sunday, 4 December 2016 01:05 (seven years ago) link