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'Costas Now' Smackdown: Bissinger's Panties In A Twist Over Deadspin
May 1, 2008

On Tuesday night, HBO's Costas Now live look at new media with guests Buzz Bissinger (Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of "Friday Night Lights") and Will Leitch (owner of the popular sports blog, Deadspin) was wilder than a Nolan Ryan pitch.

Bissinger's panties were in a twist over the free-for-all nature of blogging.  Leitch kept his cool, "surmising [according to the NY Times] correctly that the segment was destined for Youtube."

Liberally lacing his comments with profanity, Bissinger eviscerated Leitch and expressed his disdain for all bloggers, everywhere, anytime.

Said Bissinger, "I think blogs are dedicated to cruelty, they're dedicated to dishonesty, they're dedicated to speed."

(Well, okay - Bissinger is right on the third and last count.  Speed is of the essence.)

The outraged Bissinger poured on the scorn.   "I care about the written word and I care about reporting.  The writing on most blogs is terrible."

Seemingly unruffled on camera, Leitch was rattled enough to write a late night post titled "Of Jimmy Olson, Spittle, and the Dying of the Light."

Snarked the NY Times Richard Sandomir, "Note to Deadspin:  that's Olsen, not Olson."

As of this morning, Leitch is still blogging about the incident.  And I do think that Deadspin was a wee bit stung, or perhaps chastened, as evidenced by this post on Deadspin by A.J. Daulerio. 

Daulerio, for his part, felt the need to explain his entry into the blogging business.  (He couldn't break into mainstream media after graduating from La Salle U. with a double Communications/English major.)

Youtube keeps dumping the vid, darn it.  But Leitch captured and posted on his blog, for your viewing pleasure.

Posted by Mary McNamara on May 1, 2008 | Comments (0)