Jason Whitlock leaving ESPN

That's journalism!

 

Two Explications, ok maybe. But if you get to The Explication Part III you might should take a long hard look at yourself.

 

Yep. Essentially the same personality defects his critics claim derailed him he put on display in his response to them.

FWIW, I once really dug Whitlock, I recall a time when I thought he was one of the most entertaining and insightful writers out there, but somewhere along the way (perhaps it was the Oprah appearance?) he got sooooo over the top full of himself, and I've found his work mostly insufferable ever since.

He truly needs to dial down the self-important blather, be more sportswriter, less of whatever the hell this grandiose other thing is that he's been trying to become.

 

Felt the same way about Stephen A. Smith. When he first started on (IIRC) TNT (or TBS) (or both?) he came across as someone who knew his shit about the NBA. Enjoyed watching him in the studio. And then for whatever reason(s) he just flipped the script and became ... what he is now.

 

I thought the same thing. Maybe is right. I would argue that if you have to trot this out twice, the problem might be you!

 

Quite possibly. The only redeeming quality of his first Explanation was getting Arthur Bryant's to cater.

 

Part 2 takes a whole bunch of shots at Greg Howard and Deadspin.

It's the kind of piece that makes Howard appear disingenuous - you don't write in an email you're not trying to bash somebody and then eventually quote anonymous sportswriters calling Whitlock vicious names. Deadspin's editors, if they really added a racial epithet to Howard's black QBs piece - who knows if that's true - well, that looks really bad, too.

Whitlock is right when he calls Deadpsin angry white hipsters. I wish he weren't right, but that's how Deadspin comes off even when they're doing good work.

But it's also the kind of piece that makes Whitlock seem possesed with a lawyer's zeal for interrogation on some issues, only to apparently show no sense of awareness that this guy he claims had no integrity might seriously burn him in Deadspin. Which Howard did. The terms used anonymously to describe Whitlock are awful. I'm sure the story destabilized quite a bit for Whitlock.

 

Dude went on Cowherd's show on Wednesday and his fat ass bragged about living with a 26 year old woman with whom he smoked weed. No other prominent media person would ever dare do that. Whitlock doesn't give a f... I find that entertaining.

Yeah he has an ego, but he regularly brought his "management playbook" on the broadcast of PTI for self-ridicule.

He can be spectacularly wrong (Imus), but to portray him as an "Uncle Tom", as Deadspin has attempted, is either lazy, malicious or incompetent.

 

I'd rather he jump in and write about what he wants to write about.

The Explanation is just a wad of DNA on the page. My god, just fucking do it and stop talking about how you're going to do it.

Stop being so fucking dramatic, Jason.

 

How self-absorbed are you to believe anyone outside of media nerds want to sit and read your bullshit about you and your website and why your website didn't take off? Get back to work. Report on sports. Stop talking about you. Nobody cares.

 

This.

If he wants to put this crap behind him, he needs to shut up about it, let it die, and write good solid entertaining pieces that remind people that sometimes he actually has something to say.

 

For me, the best hot take talking heads don't take themselves too seriously on most topics and let the viewer in on the fact that they are often taking a side on an issue just to have something to say -- Kornheiser, Wilbon, LeBatard and Bob Ryan are perfect examples. That's not to say that they don't go deeper on certain topics, but a lot is done with tongue in cheek.

It seems to me that Whitlock thinks that he's on the front lines in Tikrit all of the time and it he takes a contrary view often just so people will pay attention to him. He's a bright dude, a witty writer and I agree with him often, but he's just so self-indulgent.