Washington Redskins owner David Brent

Update: Dan Snyder is maybe not the nicest and coolest guy to ever run a football team.

In his latest public relations masterstroke, the Redskins owner (who may as well be Mr. Potter from “It’s a Wonderful Life” at this point) has ordered The Washington Post to change the name of its “Redskins Insider” blog because they don’t have a contract or pay the organization to use the name.  The famous blog that covers the Redskins will be refferred to as “Football Insider,” at least until The Insider sues them and they end up as “Sport Blog.”

Yesterday, The Post’s Paul Farhi provided an explanation:  The Redskins, who have been at the forefront in creating their own multimedia operations, have been aggressive in policing the use and misuse of their “brand” by others.  How do you solve this problem?  By Googling “Wasington+Redskins+fans” and emasculating all four of the links that pop up.  This is especially tough news for Native Americans, who will now have to co-opt “honky” as their racial epithet of choice.

Ask fans of any sports team that has ever existed, and they will tell you invariably that their owner is crazy and the worst, and that they will never win a championship until said person is fired.  I’m as guilty of this as the next guy, but at least I can rest comfortably knowing Larry Dolan will never barge in on me in the middle of dinner and sue me for wearing an Indians hat without the expressed written consent of Major League Baseball.

“Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” will be profiling Deadspin, along with steroid guru Victor Conte, Mike Tyson, and NASCAR champ Jimmie Johnson, in an upcoming episode. I wonder if they’ll talk about that 17-year-old girl that Mark Sanchez kept texting.

*Deadspin. The gossip column in the daily newspaper used to be the most dreaded place for major sports figures to see their names in bold – until Deadspin.com emerged with the motto “Without access, discretion, or favor.” [sic]

By adhering to its mission, the site has carved out a unique niche in the digital media landscape. Enormously popular, Deadspin has become a significant newsmaker by demonstrating a willingness to post the most personal material about sports headliners.

–All Headline News, via Blogs With Balls.

Some people are bent out of shape about the style of news that A.J. Daulerio and Co. are publishing these days, even going as far to call it “non-news.” Obviously, I’m biased, and obviously I disagree. It can’t be any worse than Mary Carillo getting Twitter lessons from Peter King. That was like watching paint dry.

GQ did a profile on Deadspin editor AJ Daulerio, titled “The Worldwide Leader In Dong Shots” and it’s a pretty interesting look at the guy who took over the mother of all sports blogs (certainly this one, at least) back in 2008. I have no shot at being unbiased about this one: I’m totally gay for Daulerio and would take any chance I could to turn down doing recreational drugs with him, having worked as a Deadspin contributor and posted a dong shot or two of my own. It’s not your father’s journalism, but I believe Daulerio’s success helps blogs on the whole, despite what a certain champion of blandness at “MGo” might have to say about it.

Here’s a snippet regarding the Brett Favre sexting scandal, a story which Daulerio broke and seems to perfectly symbolize the sort of news that is define Deadspin’s sports coverage and, to some extent, everyone else’s.

“I did like nine television shows in two days,” Daulerio recalls. “The Today show called me on a Sunday at two thirty. It was brunch time with my girlfriend and a friend, and I was half in the bag. A couple of hours and two bong hits later, I’m doing an interview on the porch. Everyone is jamming Adderall to clean the place as quickly as possible. I was trying to find pants.”

The story has generated 5 million page views to date—and plenty of debate about the TMZ-ization of sports journalism. “It isn’t a question of whether or not he should have done the story. It’s a story,” says Frank Deford, who’s been writing for Sports Illustrated since 1962. “But aren’t there better stories to do? Do we really want to know about Brett Favre trying to get laid? Wouldn’t you rather spend your time delving into the evils of college athletics, or drugs and sports?”

The whole piece is worth a read; it delves into the Sean Salisbury thing, that girl that had sex in the restroom of a Bloomington bar, and Will Leitch’s takes on how his successor has managed the site that he created. Be warned, though–it’s a multi-page post! Those greedy bastards in the publishing industry would sell their mothers’ souls for just extra pageview. If I could have it my way, I’d tell those sons of bitches to Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, beacon of Internet gossip blogging integrity TheDirty.com featured a post about Sarah Jones, a cheerleader for the Cincinnati Bengals. One of The Dirty’s readers valiantly exposed Sarah as a less-than-reputable lady of class, basically saying that she was a jock-chasing disease trap, and she took her fight to court to clear her good name. Sarah, who also spends her days working as a high school teacher, was awarded $11 million in damages in a triumphant decision in the face of careless slander. The only problem is that she’ll probably never get to deposit it.

You see, Sarah’s lawyer filed the lawsuit against the wrong company. Instead of suing Hooman “Nik Ritchie” Karamian and TheDirty.com, the lawsuit instead targeted TheDirt.com and Dirty World Entertainment Recordings. Whoops. Dirty World Entertainment is a Dublin, Georgia outfit dedicated to underground rap artists, like Trae Duice, according to their MySpace profile, which I checked after traveling back to 2005. TheDirty.com belongs to Dirty World LLC. Simple mistake. Simple $11 million mistake.

This whole blogosphere is out of order, The Last Angry Fan:

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The former and current faces of Deadspin are guest-hosting The Dan Patrick Show today, I can only assume Dan Patrick is bound and gagged in the back of somebody’s truck while Will Leitch and A.J. Daulerio interview other media types and pimp their poll question.

You can listen here, but be warned. If you’ve ever heard live audio of Leitch, it’s rather painful. The King Of Aw, Shucks sounds like the lovechild of Nathan Lane and Porky Pig, whereas Daulerio seems to be bringing a sort of casual levity to the show in a way that only they can. Here’s their guest roster:

Tim Cowlishaw on Josh Hamilton
Richard Deitsch, SI on bucket list
Dan Patrick from the set of the Sandler movie shoot.
Michael Schur aka Ken Tremendous, maybe?

Possibly, hopefully, others (ahem, WHITLOCK) will be there to bail us out as well. via.

Lock up your daughters. It really is history in the making. But then, I said that after junior prom, and it turns out that was a little overblown. I guess people manage to drive home with a 0.32 BAC all the time.

Martellus Bennett has just been handed a blog at the Dallas Morning News, and just one day of reading it has already blown me away. The backup tight end for the Cowboys has plenty of insight to bestow upon us. For example, Bennett answers the timeless question, is it appropriate for a lady to pass gas?

I guess women have to let go at times too but it just doesn’t seem right, but if they do then it shouldn’t smell or make a sound. I mean come on if you were on a date with Angelina Jolie a lunch date eating spaghetti and pancakes or whatever it is people eat in Hollywood and as she’s feeding you she farts.

Is there intelligent life on other planets?

I believe in aliens. I’ve actually seen four or five of them in my lifetime. Although they aren’t as smart as everyone seems to think. I played one in monopoly, checkers, and chess and I destroy him/her couldn’t really tell which it was so I’m just going to call it It….I mean it could have just been a dumb alien, I mean there are dumb people and I’m probably one of them. LOL. Thanks Texas A&M LOL.

Part of the reason Bennett was tapped for the blog was Marty B TV (thanks to R. Queso at Pyle of List for the heads-up on that), Bennett’s collection of YouTubes permeating through the series of tubes since he was at Texas A&M (I think). See our favorites of Marty B TV after the jump.
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