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The cover art for Grantland.com’s excellent and engaging story from this past week, “15 Biggest Plays in MLB History”; thanks to a decision made by Disney’s ESPN.com, the site didn’t even make it to Game 3 of the World Series.
Earlier this week, I wanted to find out what the smartest and most interesting English-language writers around thought about the World Series. I went to Grantland.com; it was where you went for smart writing and analysis about sports. (Check out their wrap of the momentous Game 1, for example.) While I was there, I came across a story by Chicago dermatologist, amateur baseball writer, and co-founder of the Baseball Prospectus Rany Jazayerli. It was called “The 15 Biggest Plays in Baseball History” — and it sucked up an hour I don’t regret for an itch to learn that I hadn’t even realized I might want to scratch. That’s what good writing can do for you.
On this Friday afternoon (when else for bad news?), ESPN — owned by our favorite hometown power broker, The Disney Corporation — has killed off the outstanding “long-form journalism” site Grantland.com, a creation of Bill Simmons, who recently left ESPN for HBO. Many people are heart-stricken over this loss, but what can one do? Well, one can do this. You can sign my petition!
In general, I’m not one to circulate, let alone create, petitions. First of all, my views tend to be ones that don’t appeal to broad popular tastes; second, they tend not to appeal to views help by elite decision makers, so they’re even less likely than most to be adopted. But this evening, I made an exception — because I know that there are hordes of people who feel just as I do this evening. Here it is:
Subject: HBO Should Buy and Publish Grantland
Hi,
I created a petition to Richard Plepler, Chair and CEO, HBO, Keith Cocozza, Sr. VP, Corporate Communications, Time Warner, and Jeff Bewkes, Chair and CEO, Time Warner which says:
“‘Long-form journalism’ is a quintessentially progressive, and politically and culturally valuable, American art form. Disney-Owned ESPN has just killed off a popular forum for such writers, Grantland.com. HBO, by providing “First Peek” access for subscribers and then soon setting its articles free for everyone, can both do well for itself and its brand and do good for others who care about culture, analytical power, and literacy.”
Will you sign this petition? Click here:
Thanks!
Careful readers of this blog know that I have a thing for arts education (which includes not just music, dance, and art, but fields like creative writing.) My daughter has benefited greatly from it; my wife actually engages in it with her “special needs” adult clients, who often blossom when given the opportunity to do a craft. Well, my interest in the continued existence of Grantland.com is in this vein.
This may come as a surprise to some people, but I tend to “write long.” So does Vern; so does Ricardo; so does Cynthia. While people sometimes consider this a deficiency, it’s not; it’s a style and it’s a taste. Some people enjoy and prefer a deeper and more detailed look at topics — which for some reason this year has come to be known as a “deep dive.” That’s often — not always, but a lot more than most blogs — what we do here.
We trust our readers to be able to follow a story that doesn’t just require their keeping one or two things in mind, but ten or twenty — maybe even one or two hundred. It challenges (and thus builds) the mind; it provokes (and thus sharpens) one’s analytic senses. It can be done poorly, of course, such as when repetition and bombast keep running readers in circles, rather than moving them forward on a long and twisting path laden with note-worthy scenery. (The former, by the way, is the actual meaning of “bloviation,” which dullards either do not or pretend not to understand.) And if you don’t like it, don’t read it! It’s not for everyone.
If you want to give readers the mental exercise and intellectual joy of discovered That Which Cannot Be Said Simply, it’s arguably best to meet them on topics that they care about. And that’s what Grantland.com did. It was the best sports site around these days; in terms of consistency of high quality and quantity, perhaps the best ever (given its low cost of publication compared to print magazines.) Reading it got people used to long sentences, elaborate and painstaking constructions, detailed and data-driven arguments. It you had a kid who was both smart and a sports fan, it was the best place to send them to read. On its second specialty, popular culture, it was as good as any around — not simply having some of best article, but the best average article quality around It was the bridge between the sports or entertainment story and the scientific or political or philosophical essay.
We need good and current examples of long-form journalism — and sports and entertainment is where the public will actually come forth to read them. Happily, Grantland’s archives remain open for now, so you can still Jazayerli’s instant evergreen piece for a great example of how an excellent writer can pull you into a story that you didn’t even think that you cared about and (if you pause to watch the videos) keep you propelled towards its end for an hour.
Grantland — Bill Simmons’s vanity project — was the continually refilling pot of gold, the goose who laid the golden eggs and regenerated like Wolverine when killed.
And now it’s gone. But maybe not forever, or even for long.
With the value of Grantland now essentially reduced to its archive, HBO should purchase it to go along with Simmons, to give him an elite internet platform to go along with the special programming he intends to do. The tie-ins in both directions could be amazing; the good will HBO would achieve could be as well. It would be striking a similar blow for intelligence in writing than it has long done in television production. Beyond that, it’s also a good business decision.
HBO could offer same-day access to Grantland articles as a premium to subscribers who already have the ability to get HBO Go, with a password, through the same devices they use through their browsers. For Grantland to be entirely behind a paywall would be a problem — although it might lead to a few more subscriptions, it would also diminish the site’s reach and renown. But for Grantland stories to be behind a subsciption wall for only one day would be devilishly clever, because in sports the value of predictions and analysis are ephemeral. The great analyses and stylish writing would still be worth reading days (even decades) afterwards, but for true fans they want the information now-now-now. That is more likely to push subscriptions than anything else, because by becoming open to all pretty quickly Grantland’s articles would still maintain their high visibility and prestige. (And, in fact, they would both become much higher if HBO chose to promote it — for example, in all those minutes when they’re waiting for the time for the next movie or show to roll around.)
Meanwhile, for non-HBO cable subscribers who just appreciate a great read, Grantland would still be there, and would still be pretty timely. Those of us who enjoy great writing will still enjoy reading about an opening movie on Sunday night instead of Thursday evening; not every wants to pay extra to be ahead of the curve. And we’d still have a great venue available for writers who want to go deeply into a theme or a conundrum. Everyone except HBO’s competitors — and those who hate complexity and fear intelligent analysis — wins.
(And for us Game of Thrones fans — do we really want to live without Grantland’s excellent summaries? They’ve been among the best things out there for rabid fans of the show!)
Whoever (if anyone) saves Grantland will be a hero. HBO is one of the few institutions that could pull it off — and as it moves to an a la carte offering it needs a little more to attract subscribers. Buying, reclaiming, and sustaining Grantland is a match made in heaven for HBO; we should work like hell to convince them to take on the task.
This is your first post-Grantland.com Weekend Open Thread; talk about that, or whatever else you’d like, within reasonable bounds of decency and discretion.
The bitch lied through her teeth.
I’m guessing that you’re not referring to anyone in the story itself.
I think it is an important message and metaphor, but I am still working on deciphering it.
Bloviator: This bloviate just might be the most bloviatory bloviation you’ve ever bloviated. You’re really going to talk about your bloviations (and Vern’s screeds and Ricardo’s ramblings) in the same breadth as Grantland? You’re almost reaching Dan Chmiewlewski levels of self-aggrandizing—a low blow, I know, but someone needs to talk sense to your bloviating self. What’s next: you’re going to say you’re from upstate New York?
“What’s next: you’re going to say you’re from upstate New York?”
Lol. Now that’s a real accomplishment. “I’m from Utica!”
And don’t forget “I coached softball to seven year-old girls, therefore I am an expert on the Business of Baseball!”
or;
I know who plays second base for the Florida Marlins, therefore (fill in blank)…
In the same breadth? Why not?
Putting aside all of the still-chronic misuse of the verb “bloviate”:
I talk about lots of things in the same breath. “Gustavo Arellano and Rick Bayless” — easily one breath. That doesn’t mean that I equate them or consider them equally worthwhile. One is a genius and the other is just a yapping critic.
“Grantland and Orange Juice Blog” — also one breath. That breath would also include the words, immediately following “Grantland,” “is much much much much MUCH better, than both OC Weekly”.
That was a professional publication; we’re not. We do this, for free, as a sidelight both for fun and out of a sense of civic responsibility — partly to compensate for the lack of a really good alternative weekly newspaper here. (Although, as I’ve said, the Weekly has been getting better — except for some of its enormous bias.)
Grantland has been doing what we like to TRY to do: cover topics in depth for intelligent readers. That’s why it will be missed. An unfunded amateurs, we may not be able to pull it off often, or even ever, but we can still admire it as an example of what we’d like to do. (It would be easier, of course, if we had a real editor here — but I understand that the Weekly has a similar problem.)
So we make no claim at all to being in Grantland’s league. The question is: does the Weekly? Sadly, I’m afraid that we *are* often in your league. Except that our commenters are much much much much better.
“If we had a real editor here…” Are you inviting me to edit your pieces more often, like I did that one time?
If I ever finished them more than three minutes before posting, that would work.
Most blogs aren’t edited. Most formal journalistic products are. No criticism of you intended there. I’m always happy to have edited versions of my pieces run — but generally after the unedited ones do.
It’s “breath” not “breadth” .. geniuses
I KNOW. Say that to Gus not me.
I am giving him full reign, LOL
And what was that “bitch” thing about?
HRC
Not about Benghazi.
I agree with Gustavo, I am aware that I ramble especially when I speak at the city council meetings. I need to work on it.
When I write, it is a hit and miss, it depends on the subject. Most of the time I think I keep it focused, like my disagreement with Gustavo’s criticism of the Anaheim’s Latino leaders. His unintended consequence has made harder to change the structure of power.
Huh? don’t give him anything, when he’s being nasty to you. You’re not paid to do what you do like he is.
And what makes you think he would ever spend his time listening to, watching, let alone GOING, to an Anaheim Council meeting?
What “unintended consequence”? He doesn’t want anyone besides him to be the perceived leader of OC’s Latinos. That could cut into book sales, and also threaten his genteel and relatable gigs on public radio, which could ALSO cut into his book sales (and other self-marketing.) His trashing of “rival” OC Latino leaders is entirely intentional.
And it’s great for the non-OC power structure to have OC’s main — sole, if he could arrange it — Latino thought leaders from OC be one whose gig is pissing on mainstream liberal/left Latino leaders while being friendly to our county’s rich libertarians.
Is this news to you? You give him too much credit. He wants to be “Buquer Ti Oashington.”
OK, someone sent me this:
http://thefullertoninformer.com/the-royce-dynasty/
Can any Fullertonians out there interpret and contextualize this for me, please?
THat’s from Imbriano. A full-fledged lunatic. He and Barry Levinson work together. Barry is the level-headed, even-tempered one.
A joke, but true.
Still, 2/3 of that link is a good overview of Royce’s gang.