My favorite day at Deadspin

I get all misty when I think about 5/9/19, which was my point of no return, spiritually and professionally.

I spent an early chunk of 2019 assembling a profile of the YouTube auteur slash tennis genius Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 20-year-old bought lifelong rights to my attention the week he beat Roger Federer and told a rapt stadium, “Guys, if you haven’t subscribed, please subscribe.” I had to understand how one mind could do both. I pitched the piece, flew west, coped with the scheduling whims of a flighty and highly online young king, sat down with his nemesis, walked a holy hallway with Roger, and left the desert with all the notes I needed. Samer directed my reporting, Ley performed surgery on the draft, Megan snipped the stitches, art Cooked up the perfect gag, and around lunchtime on 5/9/19 I hauled it onto the site. It was my proudest moment as a writer and it was a labor I wanted everyone I loved to see.

A few hours later I conceived, defended, and burped up a blog titled Joel Embiid Has Diarrhea, then slunk out into Times Square without telling a soul.

They are both blogs. “Blog” is the great equalizer. And neither was any more or less of a Deadspin blog. That day it was as clear in my mind as it is today, and will be in 30 years: We’ll all wander onto pleasant pastures, but Home is where those two blogs may coexist in peace. Way out in the Doo Doo Valley, where the castle now stands empty.