Clay Travis on Grantland and Internet writing

[wheels89]

I don't know this guy, I don't know his work, but he sure comes off as an asshole in the quoted parts of the article. As a older former sportswriter, I know that my peer group was just like everybody else in every job -- some people were compulsive workaholics, some were very lazy, and most did as much work as they had to to do the job the best way they could.

I do love how Clay likes to attack the woes of ESPN yet turns a blind eye to what is happening at his own place. FS1 is a disaster and Fox threw up the white flag on their regional sites by laying off the writers. If Clay would have just penned -- cheap video clips and carnival barkers like me are winning -- it would have been easier to stomach instead of his trying to get on a soap box and play media critic.

 

[playthrough]

The "Grantland didn't make money so ESPN killed it" take doesn't completely fly for me. It was a vanity site and ESPN still has vanity sites -- I'm guessing ESPNW isn't exactly printing money and I find it hard to believe FiveThirtyEight is making enough scratch to cover Silver's salary, much less Silver's and his whole staff. The Simmons/ESPN union ended badly, no higher-ups felt loyalty to it afterward and it was an easy line-item cut. That is not the same as "it didn't make money so it's gone."

Travis looks at sportswriting as a clickbait beancounter. Not saying that's 100 percent wrong anymore -- and if you're on your own you better have a strong eye in that direction -- but if that completely dictates your content, chances are high your content will primarily stink.

 

[Alma]

The "Grantland didn't make money so ESPN killed it" take doesn't completely fly for me. It was a vanity site and ESPN still has vanity sites -- I'm guessing ESPNW isn't exactly printing money and I find it hard to believe FiveThirtyEight is making enough scratch to cover Silver's salary, much less Silver's and his whole staff. The Simmons/ESPN union ended badly, no higher-ups felt loyalty to it afterward and it was an easy line-item cut. That is not the same as "it didn't make money so it's gone."

This is accurate. What killed Grantland was the following:

1. It really didn't make much money.

2. Simmons was nevertheless discontent with kicking back and rolling out a 15-person Grantland. He insisted on expansion and bloat. The site didn't make a lick of money and it wasn't very good journalism - most of it was just analysis, twee projects, and opinion or pop culture fawning - but Simmons thought it had to get bigger.

3. Simmons finally began to rub people the wrong way in other areas of the company, especially on NBA broadcasts. When you're jealous of TNT's show and somehow that's Sage Steele's fault (or Magic's fault) it's kind of like, hmm. Simmons is insecure, and some other show being cooler than his bugs the shirt out of him, and he surmised it couldn't possibly be his fault.

4. When Simmons left, and Chris Connelly, who knows more about pop culture journalism than Simmons ever did, had some thoughts about changing things - specifically, less spitballing and more actual reporting and interviewing - the Grantland staff balked at that because they'd been told they were special unicorns who had to stay the same and never change. Here's an excerpt from one of the editors who departed on the same day:

The people who worked at Grantland were profound talents. Astronomical. Also, kind. The biggest challenge you'll find in this line of work is not "Ugh, this piece is a mess, let's start over." It's "This first draft seems sort of perfect, is there actually anything wrong with it?" And the people that I worked with who were capable of the Impeccable First Draft were not arrogant about that — they were open-minded, thoughtful, engaged, desperate to improve. That's a blessed professional environment. Grantland was an extraordinary circumstance, no matter your opinion. Supported by corporate largesse, until it wasn't. Praised in that uniquely transient way, until it wasn't. ​

Grantland had an "everything is awesome" kind of setting, with little-to-none of the friction that actually accompanies most great collaborations, and once Simmons left, and ESPN had to admit "everything isn't really that awesome" it fell apart.

 

[justgladtobehere]

A question I have about Grantland making money is why didn't Simmons' pod/videocasts pay the bills? The VF writer reported that Simmons' new podcast could bill $5 million in advertising per year. I know it is speculative, but the calculation seems in line with what has been reported as the going rates for podcast live reads.

 

[Songbird]

So work harder than everyone else.

Where's deck when you need him ... .

 

[Craig Sagers Tailor]

I mean, is it kind of an broad-brush kind of thing to say sportswriters don't work that hard. I'm sure there are those types out there, but there's also a ton of people he doesn't see at SEC Media day because they're SEs at a 15K daily writing/editing/shooting/paginating and managing a staff. On the other end, they're probably not as talented, but it's unfair to judge their effort.

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

As someone else mentioned, journalism is like ever other profession -- a mix of hard-workers, lazy assholes and people content to be singles hitters and never try to reach second base.

 

[TyWebb]

As someone else mentioned, journalism is like ever other profession -- a mix of hard-workers, lazy assholes and people content to be singles hitters and never try to reach second base.

Having been a lazy asshole in several professions, including journalism, I can vouch for this.

 

[silvercharm]

In regards to his Periscope comment to complaining sportswriters, what the Clay Travis' of the world don't seem to get is, that when those sportswriters are no longer there asking questions, what is he Periscoping? You mean I HAVE TO ASK THE QUESTIONS?

The Clay Travis' of the world also don't seem to understand that the content for aggregation has to come from somewhere. When those non-business type sportswriters eventually go away, where will he get his information and aggregation. You mean, I HAVE TO ASK THE QUESTIONS?

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

The Internet needs more writers writing about writers.

 

[Ace]

In regards to his Periscope comment to complaining sportswriters, what the Clay Travis' of the world don't seem to get is, that when those sportswriters are no longer there asking questions, what is he Periscoping? You mean I HAVE TO ASK THE QUESTIONS?

The Clay Travis' of the world also don't seem to understand that the content for aggregation has to come from somewhere. When those non-business type sportswriters eventually go away, where will he get his information and aggregation. You mean, I HAVE TO ASK THE QUESTIONS?

That's not so hard.

"Talk about the game, Coach."

 

[TyWebb]

The Internet needs more writers writing about writers.

And writers writing about the writers writing about the writers.

(Us, in other words.)