Pearlman on sportsjournalist.com: "long-faded turf"

[ondeadline]

From his Substack post:

"I am the king of dumb, and if you want proof head on over to the long-faded turf that is sportsjournalists.com, a once-thriving writer/reporter gossip hub that now has the feel of a faded shopping mall six minutes after closing. That’s no insult or dig at the site. Simply the state of message boards and chat rooms in the modern era.

"Back in the day, however, sportsjournalists.com was the location for media gossip. It was talked about a lot—in press boxes, in newsrooms, over beers. What was being written? Who was dogging who? A solid 99.9 percent of the posters were anonymous, which only added to the heat and innuendo."

The Yang Slinger: Vol. XVIII

 

[Michael_ Gee]

From his Substack post:

"I am the king of dumb, and if you want proof head on over to the long-faded turf that is sportsjournalists.com, a once-thriving writer/reporter gossip hub that now has the feel of a faded shopping mall six minutes after closing. That’s no insult or dig at the site. Simply the state of message boards and chat rooms in the modern era.

"Back in the day, however, sportsjournalists.com was the location for media gossip. It was talked about a lot—in press boxes, in newsrooms, over beers. What was being written? Who was dogging who? A solid 99.9 percent of the posters were anonymous, which only added to the heat and innuendo."

The Yang Slinger: Vol. XVIII

People on a lifeboat far from shore are probably not big on insider gossip about their boatmates either. Has Perlstein noticed how many EX-journalists populate the board compared to 10-15 years ago?

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

I think Pearlman is a good guy, and I will forever be jealous of his ability to carve out a niche as a well-paid, high-profile sports biographer. He IS the niche. But jumping Jesus, posts like that prove he just cannot help himself. How many times do we have to read about his ****ups even as he's continuing to **** up? One of his Tweets yesterday is a quote Tweet of Kevin McCarthy running from a reporter w/Jeff Tweeting "It's another way to call a cat a kitten." YESTERDAY! And surrounding that was a bunch of RTs and anti-Republican Tweets. Which is fine with me but goes directly against the whole idea of learning from your mistakes and no longer engaging in politics on Twitter b/c all it does is rile up the blood without changing anyone's mind. It's not that hard to not RT stuff for the base and make fun of the idiots on the other side. Most of us manage to clear that low bar!

And later in the newsletter in which he makes very salient points about what to do and not do on social media? In his Quaz Q&A, he asks a recent college grad to rank from favorite to least favorite a list that includes Ron DeSantis, whom she ranks last behind, in her words, "(50 feet of **** and then)." AGAIN, IN A NEWSLETTER IN WHICH HE JUST YOUNG WRITERS TO STEER CLEAR OF POLITICS IN THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA:

This especially applies to college students who want to enter the field. You have no idea whether your future bosses will be Democrat or Republican or independent. No remote idea. The last thing you want is your Biden-loving (potential) employer checking out your old Tweets (and your old Tweets will most certainly be read) and seeing, BIDEN CAN KISS MY ASS. You’re fired before you’re hired.

Now he might have just gotten this recent college grad in future hot water. I'm sure it'll make for a good self-reflective, self-deprecating blog post down the road.

 

[wicked]

Like Gee said, a plurality if not a majority of us are out of the biz.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

This is the first time in probably 4 years that I’ve thought about Jeff Pearlman.

 

[Alma]

He can help himself. And quite frankly, he is helping himself to any opinion he damn well pleases.

 

[Col. Nathan R. Jessup]

Most Pearlman threads on here take a negative turn, quickly. But, I just want to say, his podcast, “Two Writers Slinging Yang,” is damn good. He has a strange style of interviewing — not unlike many of us print reporters (I’m sure my interviews do not sound like podcast interviews) — but the guests are usually very good. Pearlman is very interested in “the process” of writing and reporting, which I appreciate. There’s really nothing like this podcast and he never takes a week off. I’d recommend it to anyone here.

 

[WriteThinking]

I've never met Pearlman, and nothing in that link/entry -- I could've done without the whole first half of it, at least -- made me particularly want to meet him.

Chris Sheridan should feel better, though.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Most Pearlman threads on here take a negative turn, quickly. But, I just want to say, his podcast, “Two Writers Slinging Yang,” is damn good. He has a strange style of interviewing — not unlike many of us print reporters (I’m sure my interviews do not sound like podcast interviews) — but the guests are usually very good. Pearlman is very interested in “the process” of writing and reporting, which I appreciate. There’s really nothing like this podcast and he never takes a week off. I’d recommend it to anyone here.

This is all true (well, I assume so about the podcast...I barely have enough time to keep up with one or two podcasts). Pearlman is uniquely talented and prolific. I admire how he is able to work on books 24/7/365 yet still find the time to do a Q&A/podcast/newsletter/some combo thereof per week. I just wish he wouldn't step on so many damn rakes.

 

[Songbird]

Pearlman is uniquely talented and prolific.

In his first podcast 5 years ago, Pearlman praised Howard Bryant for being the most prolific all-around writer when you combine all platforms.

At the time, Pearlman was the most prolific and he's only increased his lead.

 

[OscarMadison]

Bless his heart.

 

[mpcincal]

I want to be mad at that comment about this site, but ... he's not wrong. However, I still enjoy it here, and when a big story breaks, I always have to come in here to see what all of you are thinking about it.
And although I roll my eyes at some of his comments, I still enjoy his writing. He did a great job on that USFL book.

 

[DanOregon]

He's probably right - most of us aren't "insiders" anymore - we're "outsiders" with a decent perspective on the craft, seeing the industry as many other "outsiders" do - no longer with the natural gut instinct to defend or justify less than professional work or behavior. I guess this is only a "great" site when a certain writer is praised?
I think Pearlman IS great at cutting through the BS. His piece on Rocker is still genius. His book on Payton WAS uncomfortable to read - which made Payton's greatness seem more real and less like a hagiography.
I can only imagine how tough it has been within the industry to navigate the field in the last 10 years, while remaining focused on the "mission" of the work. Entertain? Inform? Engage? Excite? Sell?

 

[Songbird]

Nobody's gone anywhere from here.

It's still the place regardless of where the industry is.

Jeff ain't never left here either. He exerted alotta Jeff Juice to post about this joint.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Social media didn't exist when this site was founded. A lot of the pithy observational discourse of those early days has moved there.

 

[Azrael]

eh

 

[Cosmo]

There was some interesting stuff in that post, actually. As others have pointed out, I think there's a huge majority of people left on this site who have left the biz. I've been posting here since the old sportspages days, so it's just part of my daily routine, and I've met some pretty cool people through this site. The discourse here is clearly a lot more tame than it was back in the days...

 

[playthrough]

It's a LOT more tame and I don't look back at the old days with complete fondness. I used to work right next to one of the young female journalists who was absolutely destroyed here on a regular basis, and it was wrong. (Go figure, she was trashed in part because she caught a few small breaks for young reporter, and now plenty of young'uns jump right into major beats.) And we moderators spent a lot more time dealing with clowns who just could not stop stirring ****. I'll take a quieter, less-popular board over that any time.

I understand people drifting away from here, for professional reasons or just because after a while you find new regular haunts on the 'net. But I appreciate those who are still here and the occasional newbies (beers, please!), and the nostalgia -- but also the honest discussions. I still barely know anyone's real identities but have a sense of how many good people there are, with a lot of insight into the past and present in sports and journalism. I too still come here first if there's a major story, death, etc.

As for Pearlman, I'm looking forward to his Bo Jackson book. I also love his podcast. Starting to sour on the Yang Slinger for much of what others have said. Plus it's a lot to keep up with every week from one dude.

 

[Alma]

I want to be mad at that comment about this site, but ... he's not wrong.

Well, times have changed.

*Many left the business.

*A lot of young writers/journalists never found the board or made it to it, nor is an outlet for expression needed. Twitter exists for that. Podcasts do.

*The place has become a place of catharsis to the point where mourning what's been lost trumps where the business has gone/is going.

*Over time, the hall monitor mindset of Deadspin/Defector and Twitter has drifted here, too. Which often isn't a bad thing. But it's had a chilling effect.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I say this without rancor or even sadness. I cherish this board and its oft-inspired lunacy. You are all among my favorite Internet acquaintances, even the ones I argue with most. That said, what earthly reason would a newer journalist have for participating here? I've been out of the business a long long time and if somehow was put back into it (much against my will) wouldn't even recognize it, let alone share the concerns, frustrations, joys that its current participants find. At bottom, Pearlman is noting an inevitable fact of life. The core participants of sj.com have gotten older, and this has changed their perspectives on well, everything.