Will Leitch
Will Leitch was another speaker in the IUSMA Speaker Series. Leitch met with students on March 9th, and talked about his career in the sports industry, most as founding editor of Deadspin.com
The passion for sports has always been there said Leitch. While attending the University of Illinois, he believed he wanted a profession in sports but had some hesitations. He felt sports were emotional and a diversion from real life. His fear was that if he got caught up in his job covering teams, he would lose that joy. Leitch didn’t liked the fact that you couldn’t cheer in press box or wear team attire.
Many jobs later however, he found his fit. A typical hard-working story, Will Leitch began working as a film critic in Los Angeles following graduation. Then he took a job at Sporting News, working from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Then he went through a tough part of his life - still unsettled. He worked phones at a doctors office in New York for three years.
His talk was very informative and straight forward. He did not color-coat anything and told students straight up the hard work, passion and connections it takes to make it in the sports industry.
Finally one day, he decided to start a blog, which were rare at the time, and write about stuff that you wouldn’t get in your ordinary paper. Leitch testified that it wasn’t so much a sports drama and TMZ-like as it is today. Initially he was going to call it Benchwriter although after talking to those about him, they decided on deadspin because it was short, two syllables and after a couple of weeks people would accept it and move on.
Students asked Leitch hard-hitting questions about sports writing and what deadspin.com is doing now. As for Leitch, he is a freelance writer with articles published in the New York Times, GQ, Slate and he has four books!
Recap by Scott Agness
The passion for sports has always been there said Leitch. While attending the University of Illinois, he believed he wanted a profession in sports but had some hesitations. He felt sports were emotional and a diversion from real life. His fear was that if he got caught up in his job covering teams, he would lose that joy. Leitch didn’t liked the fact that you couldn’t cheer in press box or wear team attire.
Many jobs later however, he found his fit. A typical hard-working story, Will Leitch began working as a film critic in Los Angeles following graduation. Then he took a job at Sporting News, working from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Then he went through a tough part of his life - still unsettled. He worked phones at a doctors office in New York for three years.
His talk was very informative and straight forward. He did not color-coat anything and told students straight up the hard work, passion and connections it takes to make it in the sports industry.
Finally one day, he decided to start a blog, which were rare at the time, and write about stuff that you wouldn’t get in your ordinary paper. Leitch testified that it wasn’t so much a sports drama and TMZ-like as it is today. Initially he was going to call it Benchwriter although after talking to those about him, they decided on deadspin because it was short, two syllables and after a couple of weeks people would accept it and move on.
Students asked Leitch hard-hitting questions about sports writing and what deadspin.com is doing now. As for Leitch, he is a freelance writer with articles published in the New York Times, GQ, Slate and he has four books!
Recap by Scott Agness
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