Despite the very cozy “you link me, I’ll quote you” relationship between the NY Times’ Warren St. John and Deadspin’s Will Leitch —- a mutual masturbation session that should at the very least, prove troubling to the former’s editors (the latter having already shown no conscience to speak of) — the Gray Lady is at it again, throwing more plaudits in Leitch’s direction in tomorrow’s Sunday edition courtesy of Vincent M. Mallozzi. (thanks to Repoz for the link)

Will Leitch, a lifelong Cardinals fan, took a job in 1996 covering his favorite baseball team for The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Keep dreaming.

“I learned that there is no place in the world less joyful than a press box,” said Leitch, 30.

Yeah, tell those sorry ass motherfuckers in Rwanda to stop their sobbing.

“If ESPN gets a story that they don’t consider news or might not be in their best interest to run, well, it’s no longer a story and we never hear about it,” said Leitch, who worked briefly for New York Times Digital in 2000. “But if I get a really good scoop from one of my sources or something really interesting from a fan, I have the freedom to post it without having to deal with any political pressure.”

“One of my sources” = old issues of USA Today Baseball Weekly or RSS feeds from other blogs. Really, where’s the Paper Of Record’s love for On The DL?

“Basically, the site allows me to be a reporter, and it allows sports fans to serve as my fellow reporters and editors,” Leitch said. “I think a lot of people out there were waiting for something like this. It puts a lot of fun back into sports.”

Yes, people were waiting on pins and needles for a well-financed, less idiosyncratic ripoff of Sports Frog.


(take it from me, pal, you won’t see 35, never mind be able to perform in the sack, if you don’t improve that blogging-while-watching TV posture).

Mallozzi, who most recently penned a questionable profile of an Illinois-obsessed chap (besides Will, I mean), seems to be of the opinion that Leitch’s chronic ethical lapses and predilection for easy targets are unworthy of examination. No point in killing a great American success story.