Jason Whitlock leaving ESPN

[Neutral Corner]

ESPN, Commentator Jason Whitlock Part Ways

 

[studthug12]

Wait, Whitlock was at ESPN?

 

[da man]

I thought this happened years ago.

 

[SnarkShark]

Shocking

 

[Ace]

I guess Jason was spending the past few months helping to make distinctive and compelling content on ESPN by not appearing.

 

[TyWebb]

I guess Jason was spending the past few months helping to make distinctive and compelling content on ESPN by not appearing.

In that case, they should have extended his contract.

 

[Lugnuts]

Chin up, everybody. Maybe this means he starts posting here again.

 

[studthug12]

Whitlock: Back to calling everyone sellouts, even though he may be the biggest of 'em all.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Chin up, everybody. Maybe this means he starts posting here again.

Oh, stop bojangling.

 

[lcjjdnh]

Whitlock has been tweeting about how he will soon provide "The Explanation 2.0." For those that don't remember the first version:

http://deadspin.com/5618083/jason-whitlocks-explanation-interview-open-thread

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Ninety percent of the population don't give a ****.
The other 10 percent are or were in media.

 

[Brian]

Can you imagine tying your entire personality to a television show? Framing every interaction, every motive, every occurrence to a piece of fiction?

 

[Songbird]

 

[studthug12]

That's the most he has written in months.

 

[Webster]

The Explanation 2.0 begins. And kids, you might be shocked that it contains a reference to "The Wire".

http://j.school/post/131134873540/the-explanation-20-still-undefeated

 

[TigerVols]

This is one of the most head-smack-inducing passages I've read of late:

My critics will likely allege The Explanation 2.0 (Wednesday’s radio/TV interview and this blog) is self-indulgent defensiveness. I disagree.

 

[Alma]

This will be interesting. Very interesting.

A couple grafs:

Journalism is being abandoned and used to censor independent thought, demonize people who speak imprecisely and/or violate our constantly moving line of political correctness. Social-media-driven faux outrage dominates today’s journalism. Unseasoned, untrained, instant-gratification-seeking children are beginning to set our journalistic agenda.

Deadspin is the Worldwide Leader in sports journalism ombudsmanship. This is sad. An organization that occasionally stumbles upon journalism but mostly sensationalizes and bullies with its lack of journalistic standards, ethics and maturity exercises unprecedented influence over the profession of sportswriting.
​

and

There’s a competing new project targeting African-Americans. It’s a loose confederation of mostly social media groupthinkers/activists and left-wing advocacy journalists. They’re orchestrating the Black Lives Matter movement and working in intellectual alliance with white hipsters. They’re generally atheist and using allegiance to liberal ideology as a litmus test for blackness and fairness.

Hopeless cynicism is their doctrine. The celebrated, talented and atheist writer/thinker Ta-Nehisi Coates is their symbolic Gawd. Gawker’s Denton hailed Coates as the ideal editor to run his business – the ultimate insult intended as a compliment.
​

 

[Webster]

I thought that the white hipsters lived in Brooklyn and mostly focused on rooting for the US Women's soccer team.

 

[heyabbott]

This will be interesting. Very interesting.

A couple grafs:

Journalism is being abandoned and used to censor independent thought, demonize people who speak imprecisely and/or violate our constantly moving line of political correctness.
​

Precision in language, written or verbal, is the touchstone of journalism. Sports journalism is still journalism. It is not impressionism or abstract expression, but a reflection of facts. Yes, political correctness is a sour crutch but Whitlock owes much of his success as a benficary of political correctness. The angry black man morphs into the angry black man of counter factualism to the angry black man performing as Don Quixote.

Maybe he has integrity and ran into ESPN as sports partner and promoter, not sports news network and didn't like what he saw. Doesn't Simmons make the same argument without resort to racial politics?

 

[Songbird]

The angry black man morphs into the angry black man of counter factualism to the angry black man performing as Don Quixote.

I like that.