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Mar 11, 2009 03:45 PM
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So a mini-spat has taken root in the world of Fantasy sports blogging. Baseball-centric site Razzball interviewed ESPN's Matthew Berry last week, but he wasn't too pleased with the results.
In Berry's marathon ESPN chat, he was asked by a reader about the interview and he offered a long response as to why he was upset with Razzball's style of questioning.
Here's some what Berry said in his response:
I was disappointed in the final printed interview as he edited a lot of answers to shine a light on me a certain way and, more importantly, he didn't mention ESPN fantasy baseball at all - the whole reason for the interview. So not really grouchy but definitely didn't engage with him... [J]ust thought it was a little minor league and the kind of thing that gives blogs a bad name. ...The fact that we over four hours in and this is the first question of 10,000 I got about it tells me not a lot of folks read it, either... I was expecting a lot more questions on it.
Razzball was a little taken aback by the slight — especially since ESPN reached out to them to conduct the interview in the first place. They're just little squirrels trying to get a nut in an over-crowded marketplace. So they wondered why Berry was so touchy about some non-softball questions?
Berry responded to an email request to comment on the mini dust-up and reiterated his point:
"I have nothing against them. I checked out the site for the first time after the interview to see how it turned out and they are clearly smart guys who know fantasy baseball. But as I said in the chat, just thought that the way it was conducted - general tone, certain questions - were a little minor league. Not every interview is going to turn out how I would like, and I get that. But since I was asked about it, I felt like I should just be honest about the fact that I was disappointed by it when it happened. I try to be as honest as possible when asked about anything. I also wasn't thrilled with the comments made by Grey after the interview was posted. We spent a little time just talking...not for the interview, but just talking about his site. I shared a few of my experiences and things I did and learned back when I was a small site trying to get noticed. So, I was just surprised by some of what he said. Especially the part about me defending Jeter! I've had Jeter on every fantasy "hate" list I can remember... That was a low blow, saying I liked Jeter. But overall, as I said, it's not a big deal. Part of the gig. I've been called much worse and will be again in the future. (Probably by Deadspin commenters next time there's a photo of me out at a bar)
As someone who has been there with a "mom and pop" site before I got lucky with ESPN I get what they go through. I wish them well. Especially since they have set up a bunch of leagues at ESPN.com. (By the way...did I mention...that this year ESPN Fantasy Baseball - free live scoring, free to play, fully customizable, auction drafts for free, free draft kits - only on ESPN.com? Because if I didn't, I'd like to.)"
Who knew the world of professional fantasy baseball prophecising was so damn catty? It's like the modeling world, only less pretty and more obese.
UPDATE: Razzball responds:
We, like many sports fans and bloggers, have a love/hate relationship with ESPN but Matthew Berry is a good guy. We share his love for fantasy baseball and booze. We don't envy the task of having to write for such a broad audience as ESPN and we're sure he doesn't envy us writing for our comparably niche audience. Glad to see he's not holding a grudge and just said we were a 'little minor league.' Could have been worse - he could've compared us to Skip Bayless or Jay Mariotti. Plus, the 'little minor league' doesn't ring true, as neither Rudy or I are Taiwanese.
Interview With Matthew Berry [Razzball]
Send an email to A.J. Daulerio, the author of this post, at ajd@deadspin.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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