There’s an item on Media Bistro today noting that Will Leitch’s forthcoming tome, “The Ballad Of Ron Mexico” is pending publication from Harper Collins.
Harper Collins Executive editor and VP David Hirshey (above) is (naturally) a frequent Deadspin contributor.
Gawker, no doubt loathe to rain on a colleague’s parade, opines, “we’re less inclined to see this as a conflict of interest than a combination of people who already know each other using that relationship to further their respective ambitions, but we can see how a high-profile blogging gig on Deadspin might induce someone to cough up a publishing contract.”
Though it might seem a tad hysterical to suggest that Hirshey’s reputation is enhanced in some fashion by his work for Deadspin, it would not be incorrect to surmise there’s just a bit of that good, old fashioned New York media scenester circle jerkery at play. Whether or not anyone at NewsCorp gives a hoot, I sincerely doubt, but presumably full disclosure will be employed when Will hits the talk show circuit on behalf of his new book.
Though I do like the title very much, there’s something a little funny about appropriating the Ron Mexico theme when the Michael-Vick-has-herpes story hit the fan a good 6 months prior to Deadspin’s launch. And while it might be more fitting for Leitch’s surefire classic to refer to a catchphrase he actually popularized, it would seem as though “With Leather” is already taken.