Dr. V's magical putter

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Helluva of a story about a golf club designer.

http://grantland.com/features/a-mysterious-physicist-golf-club-dr-v/










SPOILERS BELOW






































I want to know how Dr. V was able to have those 4-star generals vouch for her, as well as speak with Dan Quayle? I assume Gary McCord was duped too, but that really doesn't explain how those guys vouched for her?

 

[old_tony]

Just finished reading this story and came here looking to see if there might be a thread about it. Incredibly fascinating.

 

[Big Circus]

I had thought about starting one, too, but didn't for whatever reason. That was one of the most bizarre things I've read in a while.

 

[MeanGreenATO]

I thoroughly enjoyed it and while I'm typically against the use of first person, I thought it worked fine here. It was a really good piece written by really good guy.

 

[YankeeFan]

Not everyone is a fan: https://twitter.com/laurenarankin

I guess Disney/ESPN/Grantland is ok with outing under the right circumstances.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

There will be some serious consequences from this for the writer and for Grantland.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

The author and his editor have been getting eviscerated on Twitter the last few hours.

 

[joe king]

Not everyone is a fan: https://twitter.com/laurenarankin

I guess Disney/ESPN/Grantland is ok with outing under the right circumstances.

Person in question is dead, right? Don't think she's going to care.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Not everyone is a fan: https://twitter.com/laurenarankin

I guess Disney/ESPN/Grantland is ok with outing under the right circumstances.

Person in question is dead, right? Don't think she's going to care.

She killed herself because the writer told her he was going to out her.

 

[joe king]

Not everyone is a fan: https://twitter.com/laurenarankin

I guess Disney/ESPN/Grantland is ok with outing under the right circumstances.

Person in question is dead, right? Don't think she's going to care.

She killed herself because the writer told her he was going to out her.

I meant now that this story is out there.

BTW, I've read the end of that thing three times now and I'm still not sure he ever says he was going to actually write the story before her death. Obviously, she thought he was going to, but I can't really tell. There's a part where he wonders if any of the inconsistencies in her story matter, and I'm not sure he ever answered that.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

From what I understand, he outed her to people who knew jer during his reporting.

 

[playthrough]

I was just impressed that Grantland/espn.com had a big takeout on golf and it wasn't about Tiger.

And the author pulled off a rare feat in rendering McCord speechless.

 

[H.L. Mencken]

It would be hard not to feel some measure of guilt as the author. I mean, she was conning people. She was a liar and clearly unstable/paranoid. All the angry twitterites throwing flames at the author seem to leave out the part where she was ripping people off (like the investor she bilked out of $60,000) when they act like this woman was just minding her own business and he came along and outed her.

 

[YankeeFan]

Shocking that you're defending ESPN.

 

[H.L. Mencken]

I don't follow.

 

[joe king]

It would be hard not to feel some measure of guilt as the author. I mean, she was conning people. She was a liar and clearly unstable/paranoid. All the angry twitterites throwing flames at the author seem to leave out the part where she was ripping people off (like the investor she bilked out of $60,000) when they act like this woman was just minding her own business and he came along and outed her.

Did she really bilk anyone? In the story, the investor the writer talked to didn't seem to think so.

“She could have took my money and ran,” he said. “But she didn’t. She took it and built a great product.”

The closest she came to a crime of any sort was using a false story to help convince people to invest in her product. But she actually created the product, and by all accounts (including the investor's), it was a terrific product. So who got bilked here?

 

[joe king]

From what I understand, he outed her to people who knew jer during his reporting.

For certain, he did that with the investor guy. Not sure about anyone else, but it seems likely.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Your implication is that it is OK to out her because she conned people.

 

[joe king]

Your implication is that it is OK to out her because she conned people.

Are you talking to me? I never said it was OK -- until after she was dead, in which case she doesn't care (which was mostly just kind of an inappropriately flip line, anyway). And as I just wrote, I don't think her "con" hurt anyone. I didn't see anyone in that story claiming they were hurt by what she did.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

Not everyone is a fan: https://twitter.com/laurenarankin

I guess Disney/ESPN/Grantland is ok with outing under the right circumstances.

Person in question is dead, right? Don't think she's going to care.

She killed herself because the writer told her he was going to out her.

No.
She/he had tried previously attempted suicide. So, no it wasn't because they were "outed" in this article.