We were really hoping that, here on our last day, we'd have the opportunity to announce our successor at this here site. It is our pleasure - after quite a bit of back-and-forth and more qualified applicants that we could have possibly imagined - to say, yes, this here site is going to be in fine hands. And hopefully those tiny hands will let us keep writing for the site from time to time.
First off, the top editor position. That is being filled by none other than A.J. Daulerio, current Senior Writer for the site. Previously, Daulerio was a staff writer at Philadelphia magazine, founding editor of The Black Table, editor of the former Gawker Media blog Oddjack and an editor at Health Care Finance magazine. He lives in Philadelphia and is the son of Al and Pat Daulerio. His name is pronounced Dah-LUR-io and can be reached at ajd@deadspin.com. And, as longtime Deadspin readers all know: He's going to be freaking awesome. Not only does he understand Deadspin's place in the world better than anyone we know (including us), he's also a kickass writer and a much better journalist than most people realize. We can't wait to see where he takes this place.
Also, we are adding a staffer. Coming on as an associate editor is Clay Travis, author of Dixieland Delight: A Football Season on the Road in the Southeastern Conference and Man: The Book. Travis has written the ClayNation column for CBS Sportsline for nearly three years now. He famously challenged Pat Robertson's claim to have leg-pressed 2,000 pounds, to the point that Robertson had to give a quote to the Associated Press about it. He has also interviewed Kige Ramsey. (In three parts!) He will start sometime after July 4.
Rick Chandler will be staying on as associate editor as well, and thank God for that. Brian Powell from Awful Announcing will continue to provide daily (at least!) videos for the site. Oh, and we almost forgot: Drew Magary is taking a position as Editor-At-Large. (Whatever that means!) And we're sure other folk will be added as well, down the line. All in all, a rather impressive dream team, if you ask us, at least until we do our "hey, can we still write occasionally? Please?" act that will lower the site's IQ considerably. But you knew that.
So congratulations, AJ, and welcome, Clay. We can't wait to see what you guys come up with.