A Brief Tribute

Today is Will Leitch's last day at Deadspin. If you don't know who Leitch is, he's not only a sheepish Midwesterner who shamelessly imposes his love of the St. Louis Cardinals on all of Blogfrica, but he also happens to be a pioneer and an articulate and gracious defender of my chosen medium. He is a thoughtful and genuinely humorous writer (two characteristics which are actually quite difficult to muster on a consistent basis), and will be missed. He is becoming a contributing editor at New York Magazine and I'll be interested to see how his unassuming style meshes with the kind of gossipy and occasionally insightful writing the magazine produces. If you haven't had an opportunity, read/listen to Bill Simmons' and Scott Van Pelt's messages to Will. Will has a rather bristly relationship with mainstream sports media, and it was both touching and absolutely hilarious to see Simmons and Van Pelt cross the proverbial aisle and make a gesture of good will. Leitch's style and sensibilities are very distinct from mine, but one cannot help but rally around the immediacy of why he writes about sports: the enduring belief that this should all be fun. Will wasn't the first sports blogger, but he changed the game, so to speak. I have never met Leitch, and my writing has never been linked on Deadspin, but as a young sportswriter I cannot help but look up to him. This has been really sentimental and in order to balance it out it would be a fitting tribute to insert a dick joke right about now, but its just not my style.

On an additionally sober note, I haven't been writing as often now that the season is over, and probably won't write daily again until the fall. It was really exciting to watch the draft and I have a lot to talk about now that so much new talent has been injected into the league, so hopefully this weekend I'll get an opportunity to write about what I think are some of the more intriguing post draft developments (expect reflections on the Bobcats, the T-Wolves/Griz trade, the Knicks, Trailblazers, and of course, the Spurs). I'll also be keeping up with the Olympic team, as well as publishing some longer pieces on class, race and, the NBA (prepare for pretentiousness). Its been a great season, and thank you to everyone who has been supportive of my efforts here. As I have a real job, which takes up a lot of my time, its hard to find the energy to write on a consistent basis, but a subtle combination of your enthusiasm and my ego has driven me to keep writing. Go Spurs.