By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

BRISTOL, Conn. - Well, we’ve been here three hours and we’ve successfully been able to bring up the name of Deadspin without being booted from Campus ESPN.

In the course of the 45 minute “State of Sportswriting and Commentary” discussion with Jemele Hill, LZ Granderson, Buster Olney and John Walsh the name of Will Leitch’s baby was brought up several times, first by Hill.

Asked by Shots how Deadspin and its ilk have affected what the ESPNers do and how they do it, Walsh was first to answer with the whimsical: “From a management standpoint I guess we publish less memos internally.”

Walsh also said he looks at Deadspin as an organization that is out to “get” ESPN and anyone that works here. “You live with that,” said Walsh. “It probably affects our PR people most who have to correct some of the (misinformation) that gets put out there.”

Said Hill on the topic of Deadspin: “I read Deadspin and the Big Lead, the Starting Five and all of them. I think Deadspin has a terrific sense of humor. I don’t think bloggers have to be thought of as adversaries.”

Hill did unequivocally say that the the Big Lead’s salary report upon her hiring was “incorrect. That was downright hysterical to me. If Mr. Walsh would like to pay me what they were saying, maybe we can talk after this,” Hill laughed. “This is a different age of journalism. There are sites that cover the journalists which is bizarre to me.

“But the blogs like Deadspin and the Big Lead help in another way for people like (us) who work from home,” said Hill. “Reading the really good blogs can be like being at the water cooler in an office or at the barber shop.”

Both Granderson and Hill said that the blogs have helped them stay sharper as a journalist because of the scrutiny so many of the bloggers put the writers under.

Said Olney - who admits to being very late to the Internet of the blogs, “It is what it is.”

. . . In case you were wondering, Deadspin.com is not blocked through my ESPN wireless access. But I do notice that each time I try to type Will Leitch’s name it gets struck through mysteriously. Will Leitch. Leitch, Will. W. Leitch. See? Creepy.

. . . We’re in the midst of a SportsCenter overview now with Steve Levy, Mark Gross (SVP & Managing Editor, Studio Production) and a via-speakerphone-from-Saratoga Vince Doria the SVP & Director of News. We’ll have more from that session shortly.