ESPN finally
for the quality-sportswriting project that columnist/impresario Bill Simmons has been
: it is ”
.” God bless anyone who goes on an aggressive editor-and-writer hiring spree, and good luck to all involved, but really. “Grantland.” As in
What, was ErnestHemingway.com taken? (Yes, apparently, by
, of High Prairie, Alberta.) In other news, Simmons’ podcasts will henceforth be known as ”
” and his football gambling-picks columns will be retitled ”
.”
Who is Simmons trying to win over with this? This is an actual mystery. Are the romantics who still worship Rice as the founder-saint of modern Quality Sportswriting going to appreciate the tribute, coming from a guy who carved out a niche writing about Teen Wolf and porn stars? Is the wised-up generation that sees Rice as a
, a huckster with a purple ribbon in his typewriter, supposed to be impressed?
Outlined against a yellow-white June sky, the Three Consulting Editors rode again. In dramatic lore they are glibness, naivete, and ironic lowbrowism. Their real names are: Gladwell, Eggers, and Klosterman…
