I’ve seen Zirin in person. He’s an interesting guy. That said,

1. No doubt, old school sportswriters are stupid. But then, I find that most sports bloggers are stupid too. The democratic flow of information doesn’t really do much to improve quality, I’m afraid. There are smart young sportswriters who work for dead tree publications, and dumb people online. It’s just easier to ignore the idiots who are on the web than it is to ignore the idiots who have dedicated column-inches in the paper of record. A medium is just a medium.

2. Deadspin is mostly a humor/gossip site. Comparing it to, say, Bill Conlin is apples and oranges. It’s like comparing Perez Hilton to the Washington Post. To whatever extent sports blogs are filled with new innovative thinking and analysis, Deadspin isn’t exactly the #1 example that you’d cite.

3. I doubt that Zirin, left wing maven that he is, would approve of much of the content of Deadspin if he ever read it. He’s just using it as a stalking horse for his own purposes.