Joe Posnanski gets his own "longform" website

I would hope Double Down would have the sense not to write off the career of one of the most successful sports writers of a generation as a Greek tragedy days after that writer has been handed a new website tailored just for him by a major media company.

 

I wrote off nothing. Joe's Penn State chapter was riveting and I pointed out why.

But I've got a question: Since when does a new gig at a "major media company" connote excellence or even success? You have people all over the business saying Reilly hasn't been the same since he was given a swimming pool full of cash by ESPN. Joe deserves every success and I hope this new site does well. He has plenty left to give. By your standard, though, I guess we'd ignore Jordan's foray into the minor leagues and just pretend it didn't happen.

How people respond to failure -- hmm, just about the backbone of every good piece of sports journalism ever written -- is interesting to watch, no?

 

People here have never wanted to admit the book was a failure, and sloppily executed.
I am not convinced his writing has been much better since.
He sells candy. Great if that's your thing.

 

How do Greek tragedies end? My point was that the Penn State debacle has not been a career-killer.

As to your query, yes, I think it's pretty clear that landing a deal like this is a sign of success. And Rick Reilly has had a tremendously successful career. And I never said a word about excellence or quality.

I'm against hackneyed and illogical metaphors, not critical analysis.

 

It wasn't a career-killer, but he was the wrong person at the wrong time writing about that topic. And he compounded it by saying ridiculous things - and then by saying nothing.

 

He got paid three-quarters of a million dollars to bowdlerize his subject.
Fair or not, that is what folks will remember.

 

What just got under my skin about is that I don't think any serious sports fan in America thought, even before the scandal, that Paterno was pure as the driven snow. At the very least, he was an old crank, and had been for some time.

Posnanski was writing a 1950s biography of him, which was unacceptable with or without Jerry Sandusky.

The fact that the scandal broke was only part of the problem with Posnanski's book. The biggest problem with it is that he got $750,000 to lionize an unworthy subject to begin with.

 

We better stop throwing snowballs at the King of Hearts.

 

i hear you on the ending. good point. but when a guy's strength -- empathy, love -- is the very thing that brings him down, causes him to crash -- in public? again: sportswriting ain't the life of kings. but, for me, anyway, this is the closest a minor endeavor like ours ever comes to greek.

 

Joe Posnanski leaving sportswriting for this:

Passions in America

A break for these messages ... - Joe Posnanski

(Except for his writing at The Athletic.)

 

I wish Joe every happiness.

 

And also for his writing at his own blog, which he’s offering only to his Patreon subscribers.