Grantland was my favorite website (aside from this one, obviously). It was the only website I checked daily, often times I’d check it multiple times a day. I currently have four tabs open with Grantland features on them, I was hoping to digest them throughout the day, or check them out on the train later.
Grantland introduced me to so many wonderful writers that became part of my everyday life not just through their writing but through their podcasts as well. Andy Greenwald, Wesley Morris, Rembert Browne, Alex Pappademas, Amos Barshad, Shea Serrano, Jason Concepcion, Zach Lowe so many more that I can’t remember right now. You may have known them before Grantland, heck, Wesley Morris has a Pulitzer, but for me as a 23 year old kid with a lot of time on his hand to read the internet, Grantland was a revelation. It was the cool older brother that introduced you to weirdo bands that MTV/MuchMusic/the radio wasn’t playing.
Grantland also got me really into The Bachelor, and Basketball, to the annoyance of Lucas.
Grantland was also the website that really made me want to write. It was a secret personal dream of mine to someday have something in Grantland. A goal that seemed a little less likely when Bill Simmons, Grantland’s founder was unceremoniously ejected by his overlords at ESPN. I suppose the writting has been on the wall since then. The past Year saw an exodus of talent from Grantland, Emily Yoshida, Wesley Morris, Chris Ryan, Juliet LItman, Rembert, and of course Bill Simmons himself, among others I’m sure I’ve missed (sorry, no disrespect).
Grantland was too beautiful to last, I guess. You had a solid run, about four years.
Some of my favourite Grantland Memories:
Listening to Wesley, Alex and Rembert talk about Purple Rain while napping in a car in Banff, while I waited for a girl I really liked and her sister to drink some fancy ass tea. I mean, it didn’t work out between us but it was still a good memory.
The annual Bachelor and Bachelorette contestant bio breakdowns from David Jacoby and Juliet Litman. The Right Reasons became appointment listening for me. I think I was the only guy on the construction sites listening to a reality TV podcast, and I’m proud of it.
Listening to Hollywood Prospectus for the first time on my way home at 6am from the night shift at Weatherford. You guys kept me sane through so many graveyard shifts.
The Game of Thrones coverage was the best in the business, I loved listening to Andy and Chris talk about it Monday mornings, and I loved reading Andy’s recaps during my lunch break at work. Sometimes it was tough to find WiFi when I was working out in the middle of nowhere, but I had to get that Greenwald 'Thrones recap.
I should stop now before I get misty. I’ll be following these people on to their next projects, whatever they may be. I’ll still be reading Emily Yoshida at The Verge, Rembert in New York Magazine, and Wesley Morris at the New York TImes, I’ll buy Andy Greenwald’s upcoming book as soon as it’s out. I’ll look for whatever Pappademas gets up to next, I’ll watch Bill Simmons new show on HBO. The people that made Grantland so great aren’t dead, they’re around, and they’re brilliant, so I think they’ll be around for a long time.
Pouring one out for Grantland today.
The Premier League is having a style crisis. Adidas, Nike, and the rest are phoning it in.