Deadspin

Deadspin
URL deadspin.com
Commercial? Yes
Type of site Blog
Registration Optional
Owner Gawker Media
Created by Will Leitch, Rick Chandler
Launched September 9, 2005
Current status Active

Deadspin is a sports website owned by Gawker Media and was launched in September 2005. As of February 2010, the site had attracted over 462 million unique visitors and about 573 million page views.[1]

Deadspin's founding editor-in-chief was Will Leitch, author and a founding editor of the New York City-based culture website, "The Black Table." Leitch announced on June 5, 2008 that he would be leaving to take a position at New York magazine.[2] He was replaced by A.J. Daulerio, former senior writer for the site.[3].

The current staff consists of managing editor Tom Scocca, senior editor Tommy Craggs, writers Barry Petchesky and Luke O'Brien, video editor Emma Carmichael, nights/weekends editor Brian Hickey and contributing editor Drew Magary, along with a rotating group of regular contributors, interns and editorial assistants. The editorial tone is similar to that of its sister site Gawker.com: sarcastic, humorous and often critical of mainstream media personalities.

Contents

Content

The site posts commentaries, recaps and previews of the major sports stories of the day, as well as sports-related anecdotes, rumors and YouTube videos. The last post each evening is tagged "DUAN" and means Deadspin Up All Night, often taking on a life of its own and featuring wildly diverse (and not necessarily related to sport) commentary. Like Gawker.com, stories on Deadspin come from anonymous tips, readers and other sports blogs.

Mainstream recognition

Sports Illustrated cited two stories that came from Deadspin, photographs of Matt Leinart partying in New York City and the first published report that outfielder Matt Lawton had tested positive for steroids, as two of the top web stories of 2005, and Time magazine named the site one of the 50 coolest websites of 2006.[4][5]

"You're with me, leather," a phrase allegedly used by ESPN anchor Chris Berman, appeared in an anecdote submitted by a site contributor, became a running gag among readers and was used on-air by television personalities such as ESPN's Tony Kornheiser and Neil Everett and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.[6]

A second season episode of the Starz sitcom Party Down name-checked Deadspin. The episode concerned a fictional NFL Draft prospect dropping in the draft because of his rumored homosexuality, with Deadspin providing photographic evidence.[7]

Deadspin broke the story of NFL quarterback Brett Favre's alleged sexual misconduct toward journalist Jenn Sterger. The story was picked up (and credited to Deadspin) by numerous mainstream media outlets, including ESPN,[8] Newsweek,[9] and the New York Daily News.[10]

References

External links