Deliberating over Deadspin...

Our own Andrew Bucholtz has raised some questions about what the goings-on at Gawker Media might mean for a certain site that rhymes with eadspin.

Andrew is acknowledging it's straight-up speculative, but he has done a thorough job.

This seems to come back to something good friend Pete Toms pointed out in conversation a while ago: Sports blogs are pretty small fry compared to those dedicated to politics, entertainment and technology -- just do a check at Technorati. Those who have read Drew Curtis' It's Not News, It's Fark will recall the argument is being driven by advertisers being able to figure out how much bang they get for the advertising buck.

Gawker within the past few days scored a major advertising deal, meaning it is possible that all of its member sites are out of the woods, but you know how media conglomerates are about being leaner and meaner. At the same time, the press release doesn't mention Deadspin, make of that what you will. It could just be that in the big wide Gawker world, it's not at the front of the line.

This is not about getting into the merits of Deadspin. It is a known commodity and as Bucholtz pointed out, it could very well end up being snapped by a major media outlet and being homogenized. It has name awarness, it's readable and it's still good enough, like The Simpsons on most Sunday nights. It's just that nothing seems safe in the media.

All of this is hairy, scary stuff for writers both bona fide and imagined, although it has never been easy. Please, go ahead and free-associate with the Huff Post piece Erika Heller wrote about her father getting $1,500 for Catch-22 in 1961, in the wake of a certain Alaskan governor getting a $7-million advance for a book she won't write, maybe not even read.

Now, if you'll excuse us, there's an application to be prepared for The TypePad Journalist Bailout Program.

Related:
Is Deadspin next on the Gawker chopping block? (Andrew Bucholtz, Sporting Madness)