Days after feigning a somewhat contrite tone over his televised mugging of Will Leitch, Buzz Bissinger takes a slightly different tact, telling Vanity Fair’s Marnie Hanel, “My apology is for the manner in which I expressed myself. I still believe what I said.”
Are there any blogs that are getting it right?
There™s a blog called The Big Lead. They cover sports seriously, and not with sophomoric sex jokes. I still believe that, particularly in the world of sports, blogs are dedicated to maliciousness and invective and cruelty.
Do you think that anything you said had an impact on Leitch?
I™m not going to win with the bloggers, but I think it has created something of a dialogue. Like most things in America, it™s going to be replaced very soon by Britney Spears™s latest rehabilitation stint, but for the time being I think it™s created a dialogue as to, œWhat responsibility does a blog really have?
Did you get a response?
Yes. It was very gracious. I™ve even heard from”I guess I called him Balls Deep, but his name is Big Daddy Drew”and we™ve had a great exchange of emails. He™s actually a really fun guy.
I™ve gotten emails from people who work for various well-known sports blogs who say, œYou know what? You™re basically right. A lot of the blogs out there are terrible.
Whether or not Bissinger is capable of telling the difference remains to be seen, but it’s kind of awesome that a few dozen “die, horsefucker” bits of e-mail have convinced the “Three Nights In August” author this controversy had somehow won the entire nation’s rapt attention.