ON THE DL

Dan Shanoff Talks Media, Tebow and Matzos Ball Soup On the DL

Dan Shanoff joins the show to talk about , ESPN, social media and Murray Chass with a purple mohawk. And if that’s not enough, Dan Steinberg hops on the line at the end of the show to talk about our Passover plans and sing a little Dayenu.

Yep, three Jews named Dan talking on Passover eve. But first...

I talk with Shanoff about the Sporting Blog’s and wonder after he is done that, what does he do all day? It turns out, he’s a VP at Associated Content, which leads to a discussion about how you can actually earn money on the internet for things you write. And yes, I obviously take this as an opportunity to beg for a job.

We talk about Shanoff’s time at ESPN and specifically his sting doing the Morning Quickie for Page 2. He talks quite lovingly about his time at ESPN, which is in contrast to most people who leave the WWL. So does he actually have fond memories of his time there or is he just playing nice? And does he know where the bodies are buried?

In Will Leitch’s book he talks about Around the Horn and brings up the example of when Shanoff was on the show, how he felt pressure to put on a good TV show, even if it meant going against something he believed. When host Tony Reali was on the show I asked him about those claims. Reali didn’t see it the same way Leitch portrayed it, so I get the story from the guy who would know. Shanoff talks about feeling personal pressure to be good on TV and makes it clear that nobody at ATH asked him to go against any of his beliefs. That said, as he brings up, we all do that every single day.

Those who listen all the time know that we talk a lot about the newspaper-blog disconnect on this show and discuss where the future of the industry is. Shanoff is uniquely qualified to talk about this as he’s basically worked for every major player in the industry (well, many of them at least).

We discuss Shanoff’s post yesterday about the importance of a beat writer and how there is a shift of what the beat writer can do to cover a team, including writing blogs and notebooks every day. And we wonder if the traditional columnist role has become obsolete when the entire internet -- this site included -- is rife with people who can give opinions. That’s not to say the columnists aren’t great writers or don’t have a wealth of knowledge on sports I’ll never come close to having. But you get what you pay for, and maybe those people are getting a little too much of that pay.

We talk a great deal about the change in metrics for newspapers and how that change has turned the industry upside-down more than perhaps anything else. For example, back before the internet, a newspaper was printed and delivered to your doorstep. You read the parts of the paper you liked. Writers were paid based on their popularity and acclaim, but there was no real way to tell how many people were buying the paper because of those specific writers, or even reading those specific columns.

Now, online, everything is trackable. Sure, placement has to do with some of it, but ultimately people can tell who is getting read and who isn’t. This technology has taken the decision making power out of the publisher’s hand and into the reader’s.

One last thing before we talk about actual sports... when did blogs become cool? Just six month ago blogs were the devil, but now every major news person has a blog or a Twitter account and has completely jumped on board with the new technology they hated a few months ago. I liken it to growing up listening to punk music and having kids in my school picking fights with me because my hair was blue. Then, everyone had dyed hair and it was cool to be punk. That’s blogs. First it was counter-culture. Now Murray Chass is walking around with the online-equivalent of a purple mohawk.

On to some actual sports. We talk Tebow. If Shanoff had to save one person from a burning building, his wife or Tebow, who would he choose? He skirts the issue by claiming that Tebow wouldn’t need saving. I’m sure his wife is thrilled.

We also talk about the shrine Florida has erected for Tebow and get the story of how Shanoff really did want Tebow to c ome to his son’s bris.

Tebow moves to Tyler Hansbrough and we discuss his career and wonder if he’s one of the greatest college players of all time, or he’s the beneficiary of playing with four guys headed to the NBA. Shanoff brings up the fact that you can be a great college player and not be a great pro...and that’s okay. It doesn’t make you a failure.

Before we get to our passover plans, we call Dan Steinberg. Levy, Shanoff and Steinberg. Three Dans talking about Matzos. We talk about the Facebook Haggadah. And of course, mostly because Steinberg is involved, the conversation devolves into seders with lesbians, non Jews (that’s just called dinner) and a chorus of Dayenu.

A zissen Pesach to you all.

Link to this:

| |

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

The link above is the entire show. At the bottom, or by clicking the header, you can link to subscribe to the show.

The best way to download is to get it at itunes

Buy the new On the DL merchandise for 2009! While supplies last (which means forever).

Why does a Jew from Maryland, who lives in Brooklyn, love this man so much?

The rendition of Dayenu was completely and utterly stolen from this woman. Click the image to listen and buy it.

The Facebook Haggadah.

When it gets on Twitter, I’ll use it.

DISCLAIMER: The photo to the left is Murray Chass. It is in fact not Murray Chass’ hair. That is what we in the business call an “artist rendering.” If you’d like your favorite old columnist turned blogger and ‘social media expert’ artistically rendered in any way, let me know and we’ll happily oblige.

next >

< previous