UPDATED- Blog Eat Blog: ESPN And Deadspin Go To War

Being a small part of the large fabric that makes up the blogosphere (and one of the flag bearers for all that is lacrosse online), we keep an eye on the big boys of the industry and yesterday proved to be a hurricane of activity for us basement dwelling blog nerds.

At LaxAllStars we’ve had our share of run ins with more established entities and while they are never fun, they do help solidify the relationships on more solid ground. For good and for bad.

Well yesterday things got nuttier than squirrel s***, because the biggest blog on the internet decided they had enough when the NYPost confirmed some scandalous rumors about an ESPN personality.  This was deemed the final straw because Deadspin had been hearing the same rumors for years and had asked the Worldwide Leader for comment only to be told that the story was a fabrication. Fool me once, ESPN…

Sounds soap opera-ish but as major media outlets are forced to contend with the wild west of new media, these blow ups will help shape the future of how sports are reported by everyone.

What kicked off the real maelstrom? Deadspin and Editor AJ Daulerio went through all the ESPN related rumors they’ve held back from posting and unleashed in a tidal wave of outrageousness.

Multiple secondary sources have written up re-caps of what went down and what it means:

The stormy relationship between ESPN and Deadspin is, I think, illustrative of the simultaneous attraction and revulsion that large media feel with more independent blog sites in today’s Internet age. In the four years that Deadspin has existed, ESPN has moved from blacklisting the site as a source for all news to hosting the site on the network’s campus in Bristol, Conn., and inviting writers and editors to corporate events….

ESPN even sponsored a gathering of bloggers in Las Vegas, Deadspin included.

–  Deadspin’s Barrage on ESPN Raises Legal Questions

As one review on Amazon for the 2000 ESPN book suggested, what else would you expect from a company full of pent up “sports experts” and women colleagues with no social outlets in a sleepy little town in central Connecticut?
– ESPN — Worldwide Leader in Sex

Check out the full articles for more of the story or just take a peak at all the posts yesterday on Deadspin titled “ESPN Horndog Dossier“.

ESPN issued a response to this story:

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Sometimes love don’t feel like it should…

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