The Classical

Last updated
The Classical
The Classical logo.jpg
Site logo, designed by Jacob Weinstein. [1]
Type of site
 Sports, current events, longform
Available in English
Created byBethlehem Shoals, Eric Freeman, David Roth [2]
URL theclassical.org
Launched2011 [3]
Current statusInactive

The Classical was a sports website featuring long-form sports articles. Described as the sports equivalent of The Awl, [4] the site was launched in December 2011 by several members of the basketball blog FreeDarko, including Bethlehem Shoals and Eric Freeman, and features other writers such as David Roth, Eric Nusbaum, Tom Scharpling, Tim Marchman and Lang Whitaker. [5]

Contents

History

In August 2011, it was announced that Shoals and others would be launching a sports website featuring a prominent collection of writers that had written for Sports Illustrated, ESPN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Slate, Deadspin, GQ and other publications. [5] A Kickstarter page was established by the site's founders, and $50,000 were raised to help maintain the site for its first year. [5] The Classical launched in December 2011. [3]

The site's approach to long-form sports writing instantly drew comparisons to Grantland, [3] [6] the ESPN-funded website that had been launched by Bill Simmons the year before.

On the site's Kickstarter page, [5] the founders of The Classical wrote that the intention of the site was to create something completely original, stating: "We will make no attempt to be comprehensive, or even to offer a reliable guide to the world of sport at a given moment. We will not try to be a smarter version of what you can find elsewhere. Instead, The Classical will be a running, wide-ranging conversation between us and our readers about baseball, basketball, soccer, football and fighting, and about things that aren't sports, too. Our model in this regard is The Awl, a site for which many of us have written and which all of us love."

The website is currently inactive; the last Facebook post by The Classical was in 2018.

Name

The name of the site is in reference to the first track of the 1982 album Hex Enduction Hour, by the English post-punk band The Fall. [1] Pete Beatty, one of the site's founders, said the name was appropriate since "it is probably fair to describe The Classical as post-punk sports journalism." [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Simmons</span> American sports writer (born 1969)

William John Simmons III is an American podcaster, sportswriter, and cultural critic who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website The Ringer. Simmons first gained attention with his website as "The Boston Sports Guy" and was recruited by ESPN in 2001, where he eventually operated the website Grantland and worked until 2015. At ESPN, he wrote for ESPN.com, hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com titled The B.S. Report and was an analyst for two years on NBA Countdown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Nichols (journalist)</span> American sports journalist

Rachel Michele Nichols is an American journalist and sportscaster. She has covered the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), professional tennis, college sports, the Olympics and is most notable for her work with the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 2014, Sports Illustrated called Nichols "the country's most impactful and prominent female sports journalist".

<i>The National Sports Daily</i> Defunct American newspaper

The National Sports Daily, often referred to simply as The National, was a sports-centered newspaper published in the United States beginning on January 31, 1990. The newspaper was based in New York City, was printed in a tabloid format, and was published Monday through Friday. It ceased publication in June 1991.

Lang Whitaker is an American author and sportswriter who works for the Memphis Grizzlies as the General Manager of Grizz Gaming, and a contributor to Grind City Media, as well as a contributor to GQ Magazine.

Deadspin is a sports blog founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and based in Chicago. Previously owned by Gawker Media, Univision Communications and G/O Media, it was sold to Lineup Publishing in March 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MountainWest Sports Network</span> Former American regional sports network

The MountainWest Sports Network, also known as The Mtn., was an American college sports television channel. Launched on September 1, 2006, it was dedicated to the Mountain West Conference (MWC), including studio programs following the conference, live events, and documentary-style programs profiling the conference's members. It was the first such network of its kind in the United States. The network was a joint venture between the conference's two rightsholders, CBS Corporation and NBCUniversal.

<i>The Starters</i> Sports podcast and television series

The Starters was a podcast, blog, and television program that analyzed, and often satirized, the National Basketball Association (NBA). The show was written and hosted by Canadians Tas Melas and Phil Elder, Australian Leigh Ellis and American Trey Kerby. It was shot, edited, and produced by Canadians Jason Doyle and Matt Osten.

FanGraphs.com is a website run by Fangraphs Inc., located in Arlington, Virginia, and created and owned by David Appelman that provides statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history.

<i>30 for 30</i> Series of documentary films airing on ESPN from 2009

30 for 30 is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series under the ESPN Films Presents title in 2011–2012, and a series of 30 for 30 Shorts shown through the ESPN.com website. The series has also expanded to include Soccer Stories, which aired in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and audio podcasts.

The Big Lead is an American news blog. The website mainly covers sports news, although it also touches on a varying degree of other news topics ranging from politics to pop culture. Launched on February 24, 2006, it was co-founded by former sportswriter Jason McIntyre and his college friend David Lessa. In June 2010, McIntyre sold the site to Fantasy Sports Ventures for "low seven figures." Gannett purchased Fantasy Sports Ventures on January 24, 2012, integrating the site into the digital network of USA Today.

Bleacher Report is a website that focuses on sport and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London.

The Awl was a website about "news, ideas and obscure Internet minutiae of the day" based in New York City. Its motto was "Be Less Stupid."

<i>Grantland</i> Sports and pop culture website owned by ESPN

Grantland was a sports and pop-culture blog owned and operated by ESPN. The blog was started in 2011 by veteran writer and sports journalist Bill Simmons, who remained as editor-in-chief until May 2015. Grantland was named after famed early-20th-century sportswriter Grantland Rice (1880–1954).

Ryan Duffy is a journalist and correspondent best known for his work with Vice Media, including accompanying Dennis Rodman and the Harlem Globetrotters on a visit to North Korea in 2013. Duffy began his career at Vice as an intern while studying journalism at New York University. In 2012, Duffy appeared on Forbes' 30 under 30 list. In 2015, he started a series of short documentary reports with The Huffington Post titled Now What with Ryan Duffy.

Zachary Curtis Lowe is an American sportswriter, journalist, and podcaster. After starting his journalistic career covering the criminal justice system in his home state of Connecticut, Lowe transitioned to basketball reporting and is today considered one of the premier columnists covering the NBA.

William Jerome Barnwell Jr. is an American sportswriter and staff writer for ESPN.com. He has written about a wide range of sports including football, basketball, baseball, soccer, golf and mixed martial arts.

<i>The Ringer</i> (website) American sports and pop culture website

The Ringer is a sports and pop culture website and podcast network, founded by sportswriter Bill Simmons in 2016 and owned by Spotify since 2020.

Andscape, formerly The Undefeated, is a sports and pop culture website owned and operated by ESPN. Launched May 17, 2016, the site describes itself as “the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture.”

The Athletic is a subscription-based sports journalism website, and the sports department of The New York Times.

David Roth is an American journalist, essayist, podcast host and editor. He has written about sports, politics, and culture in Deadspin, The New Republic, SB Nation, New York Magazine, New York Daily News, and other publications. Roth was a senior editor for Deadspin prior to his October 31, 2019 resignation. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and has written about the organization extensively.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Kat Stoeffel (2011-08-16). "The Classical Will Publish Post-Punk Sports Journalism... If We Kickstart Them". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  2. ↑ Noah Davis (2011-08-15). "The Anti-Grantland: The Rest Of The Best In Sportswriting Are Starting A New Site". Business Insider. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  3. 1 2 3 Bethlehem Shoals (2011-12-05). "A DIY Version of a Large-Scale Project". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  4. ↑ Dylan Stableford (2011-08-16). "The Classical looks to kickstart Awl-inspired sports site". Yahoo. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "The Classical by The Classical". Kickstarter. 2011-08-15. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
  6. ↑ Jack Dickey (2011-08-15). "A Gaggle Of Clever Sportswriters Is Starting A Long-Form Web Concern". Deadspin. Retrieved 2013-01-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.