Maybe this abbreviated review of Will Leitch's God Save the Fan -- a tome which is not exactly nice to ESPN -- will get Gilbert Arenas on the Worldwide Leader's blacklist. Thank you Will Leitch! Got to give a shout out to Will Leitch and Deadspin for coming out with the book God Save the Fan. I'm just going to tell you guys to go get the book, because I'm in Chapter 2. I mean, the title might be a little hard for some of you to read, especially since me and LeBron James are best friends. It's about me and LeBron and it's somewhere along the lines of "Why Gilbert is Better for the Game than LeBron" ... it's somewhere along those lines.Leitch's argument is that characters are more important for the leagues than milquetoast icons (as much as LeBron can ever be considered boring). Gil, of course, is the perfect example of this: He's a superstar in the media precisely because he's on no message, his words aren't carefully chosen or minced.
And in some odd meta fashion, this one-paragraph 'review' is proof the Deadspin generation Leitch advocates for isn't bottled up in some genie's lamp: The National Basketball Association lets its outspoken stars free reign on its own website to talk about (almost) whatever they want. This is a victory, one which predates the book and shows the NBA knows it's doing with new media.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. Well Tom, I'd agree Gil is a win for the league -- but I wouldn't go so far as to say it "shows the NBA knows it's doing with new media". Their lack of any sort of solid strategy, much less execution, as far as online video goes, shows they still have a ways to go.
From where I'm sitting, they're down 3-1 in the new media series...but yes, Gil is definitely a nice moral victory.
Posted at 10:58PM on Jan 28th 2008 by Kyle Bunch
2. Kyle -
You're absolutely correct in saying the NBA still has a loooong way to go vis-à-vis embracing the "new media". But they're doing a LOT better job than the NFL or MLB. Availability of online video isn't that significant to me.
And Zero's positive review means more peronally than one by Jonathan Yardley.
Posted at 9:30AM on Jan 29th 2008 by JohnS