ESPN shuttered Grantland, its one-of-a-kind sports and culture website last month, seemingly out of nowhere. Looking back, the signs were there 鈥� founding editor Bill Simmons left in May after ESPN said it wouldn鈥檛 be renewing his contract, and major budget cuts across the board at the company were bound to have an effect on the four-year old website.
Grantland was founded in 2011. Named after Grantland Rice, a newspaper and radio sportswriter, the site began as a kind of final resting place for Simmons鈥� popular columns and podcasts. In addition, he pulled in a diverse crew of writers interested in more than just final scores. Grantland was killer. It will be missed. Thankfully the Grantland archives are still available. If you鈥檙e just learning about the site now, here are some stories to get you started.
听by Alex French and Howie Kahn
I’m a radio guy through and through. Even when I made a three-and-a-half-year detour into TV news producing (after spending the previous 11 years doing almost literally everything that can be done in radio), I knew I’d be back someday.
So when this oral history into the humble beginnings of WFAN showed up about six months after I departed AM radio in Los Angeles, I thought it would feature only everything I already knew. I mean, I am crazy about knowing as much about the history of radio and听television in the U.S. as is possible.
But what Alex and Howie were able to do is get many of the principal players into the conversation. And that allowed for incredible insights into how sports radio really took flight.
This helped remind me: never stop trying new concepts; never stop innovating; never let any good idea go to waste. It also inspired me to get back into radio as soon as humanly possible. 海角精品黑料 was the lifeline, and that is an opportunity for which I will forever be grateful.
-Brandon Millman, writer
by Brian Phillips
I apologize for making this my submission, because if you trust me at all and click on the story above, the rest of your day is shot. Phillips was, for my money, easily the best writer at Grantland, and this is arguably his epic.
It鈥檚 less a story than a nearly 20,000-word immersion into Alaska鈥檚 defining sporting event, and how it feels taken in from the sky to a member of the uninitiated. It is a story of man vs. nature at its grandest which will pull you into its world as it draws you further and further up the tundra and into the unknown.
–听Noah Frank, digital sports editor
by Bryan Curtis
This is my favorite piece of multimedia web journalism to date. I won鈥檛 ruin it for you, but suffice it to say that once you click on the link, you鈥檒l be hooked into reading the story. Just make sure the sound鈥檚 on. I never cared about water parks, or water slides, or any component of this story until I read it. I don鈥檛 even really care about them now, but the journey was worth it.
– Noah Frank, digittal sports editor
听by Jay Caspian Kang
Do you remember when Brian Holloway鈥檚 house was taken over by rabid, party-hungry teens? Do you even know who Brian Holloway is? Yeah; I answered no to both of those questions. And I probably would have been fine not knowing until I read this. The story of former Patriots player Brian Holloway and 鈥淗elpMeSave300鈥� is a fascinating look at the dangerous power of social media, especially in the hands of people who rally against it. Author Jay Caspian Kang dug deep into the details of the event and found that there鈥檚 a lot more to the story about the ruined house in Stephentown, N.Y., and none of it looks good for the former NFL player.
– Dana Gooley, digital editor
听by Jonathan Abrams
Eddie Griffin died suddenly at age 25 after his car crashed into the side of a moving train. He wasn鈥檛 a famous one-name guy like Kobe or LeBron. He had recently been let go from the Minnesota Timberwolves, and some believed听Griffin was suicidal. This features very little in Jonathan Abrams鈥� longform article. Abrams tracks Eddie鈥檚 life from start to finish, weaving together vignettes from his early days with memories of former coaches and fellow players. Griffin was by no means a saint, and Abrams doesn鈥檛 shy away from that. The domestic assault and violent, often uncontrollable behavior he exhibited eventually overshadowed his talent on the court. He presents the real Eddie Griffin to you, to the best of his ability. Obviously, this story doesn鈥檛 have a happy ending. Don鈥檛 let that discourage you from reading it.
– Dana Gooley, digital editor
听by Jonah Keri
I don’t know whether听Jonah Keri loves his own mother as much as he loves Pedro Martinez. And who could blame him?听Growing听up in Boston during the Red Sox’ glory days, I thought Martinez was pretty much royalty. So maybe this article won’t mean as much to you as it does to me. In a world of cold, hard statistics, a little love for a great man is a welcome interruption. The article is both a narrative of the Hall of Fame ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y., and a love letter to Martinez, complete with video highlights.听Keri describes seeing the pitcher while gatecrashing a fancy Red Sox party in his honor, writing, “For almost every day of every year, I will write and report objectively on baseball, but for one night all decorum and protocol were lost.”
– Dana Gooley, digital editor
(AP/Mike Groll)
AP/Mike Groll
by Bryan Curtis
You can sum up the basics of Bryan Curtis鈥檚 鈥淭he Ballad of the Piggyback Bandit鈥� really quickly.听 A young man apparently obsessed with jumping on the backs of high school athletes gets banned from high sporting events in five western states and becomes internet famous. But there鈥檚 much more to the story that Curtis really听explores, to听figure out the motivation for the 鈥減iggyback bandit’s” actions. Spending this kind of time on a story that usually ends an evening newscast was remarkable. Of course, this story became particularly memorable when the bandit .
– Brian Drew, editor
by Amos Barshad
Regardless of whether you’ve been to Boston, you’ve seen these shirts before. The timeless chant, immortalized in block letters on basic cotton t-shirts, can still be seen today. But I guarantee you don’t know how much blood, sweat and punk music went into their creation. Amos Barshad takes you to junkie flophouses, hardcore rock venues, and the famous bridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike where the Boston teens illegally pedaled their wares. Once you read the full story of how these shirts came to be, you’ll never look at them the same way again.
– Dana Gooley, digital editor
听by听Jordan Ritter Conn
Take all of your preconceived notions about lingerie football and throw them out the window. These women are hardcore. Wearing minimal padding to emphasize the things that make people actually watch the games, they hit each other with as much ferocity as your average NFL player. And the injuries are frightening. Here’s the difference: they don’t get paid, they don’t have benefits and they can be fired from the team for gaining five听pounds. Despite all that, and a sleazy league manager to boot, these women continue to play in these conditions because it’s the only way they can. If this isn’t an argument for a women’s national football league, I don’t know what is.
