A note from Ted

When I started this website I wanted to give a place for the voiceless. When people say to “stick to sports,” what they are doing is attempting to take away the voice of the under represented. We have been doing this website for a little over three years, and whenever we need something written it always seems like our newest voice speaks the best for us. I am proud of every damn member of TGS, and no we will not go quietly into the dark. No we will not stay in our lane. We will continue to thrive. And with that being said, Levi is an amazing person so you all need to read what he wrote.

I have what I consider to be a fairly wide set of interests. I imagine most of us like to think we do. We like to read, listen to music, work out, watch movies, and write stories we hope entertain, inform, or inspire thought to a group of people we’ve likely never met. When you look through the archives of The Tailgate Society you’ll see posts about food and drink that help you plan your tailgate and movie reviews. You’ll find links to podcasts about politics from both sides of the aisle and getting drunk with your closest 10,000 friends and celebrating your team’s win. You’ll see stories about family vacations and columns about being uncomfortable. You’ll even see sports and gambling right beside a blog from someone letting you know who they really are. Everyone at The Tailgate Society is different and yet there is a very common theme; we can’t just stick to sports.

I can only speculate that when dozens of writers accepted jobs with Deadspin they had likely spent time looking at the site and knowing what they were getting in to. They’d likely be allowed to write about sports for sure (after all it is tagged as “Sports News Without Access, Favor, or Discretion), but they would also seemingly be able to write what they felt. They might write about cooking (thanks for many a great idea Albert Burneko) or answer mailbag questions or even criticize people in power. They worked to do real reporting on issues that were valuable both to the people that wrote them and the loyal following they had built over the years. Now circumstances have changed for them under new ownership and we’ve watched many talented people choose or be forced to go in new directions. The main circumstance that seemed to change? The new money said “stick to sports.”

I’m not going to tackle everything that is happening at a major media corporation in a few paragraphs and I’m probably not qualified to attempt to if I tried. I write the gambling stuff here and tweet about the day I ate two pieces of fruit. I have however, learned in my brief time with The Tailgate Society how amazing this group of people are. Everyone brings unique perspectives to my day to day life through their podcasts, articles, tweets, and group messages. We’re all very lucky to have a platform to express those thoughts and we appreciate everyone who reads, listens, and follows and shares our social media. We are exceptionally blessed to have a fantastic, supportive sponsor in DeadEyeBBQ. We can do a multitude of things together but there is one thing we just can’t seem to do: stick to sports.