If there's one noticeable thing about the reaction to ESPN ending Grantland, it's the way writers and media personnel across the Internet reacted as strongly as the site's fans.
What's clear is Grantland earned respect from the vast majority of people who work in media, presumably because of the largely non-cynical way the site approached its writing.
So it wasn't a shock when writers began to vent their frustrations after ESPN announced the sports and pop culture site would be no more.
And while some were sad, others decided to specifically direct their anger toward ESPN.
They killed Grantland? Because who needs excellent, long-form sports writing anyway? — Remo Zaccagna (@RemoZaccagna) October 30, 2015
ESPN shut down Grantland today, 9 days after announcing it would lay off 300 employees https://t.co/hEduUsQ0cI — The New York Times (@nytimes) October 30, 2015
RIP Grantland. Sad day for journalism. — David V. Johnson (@contrarianp) October 30, 2015
This is bullshit, @grantland is great — Ike Barinholtz (@ikebarinholtz) October 30, 2015
Sorry about Grantland but I’m happy watching ESPN wither and die so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ — Sean O'Kane (@sokane1) October 30, 2015
DRAFTKINGS: "Before we give you this check, what's this Grantland thing?" FANDUEL: "Yeah, we don't get it." ESPN: "Uh, it's just a typo." — RUSS BENGT$ON (@russbengtson) October 30, 2015
Wasn't Skipper just saying Grantland had his full support this week? — Will Carroll (@injuryexpert) October 30, 2015
.@ESPN spent a ton of money to launch & fund Grantland but never gave it any real promotion. Now they're closing it & kissing those $$ bye. — Comedian Sean Kent (@seankent) October 30, 2015
ESPN batting 1,000 this month. First 30/30, now Grantland. At least they're showing WWE on the Bottom Line tho https://t.co/Pr5w1ez1au — Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave) October 30, 2015
@espn screwed up! @Grantland33 was one of the best media sites out there… Sad to hear this, so many terrific writers out of jobs. — Cameron Teague (@cj_teague) October 30, 2015
If a media company as big/successful as ESPN can't make a prestige project like @Grantland33 work, then what hope is there? So sad. — Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) October 30, 2015
.@espn From all the Grantland readers out there. pic.twitter.com/YsG3mrQJUO — Joe Giglio (@JoeGiglioSports) October 30, 2015
RIP Grantland. You were fantastic and you all deserved better than this horseshit. — Tom Mantzouranis (@themantz) October 30, 2015
Honestly I do think Grantland was diluting the purity of ESPN's brand.* *brand pictured below pic.twitter.com/THmfwEkBbd — Mark Little (@markmarklittle) October 30, 2015
.@espn killed Grantland today. Someone fucked up. — David Williams (@dwpoker) October 30, 2015
ESPN's handling of @Grantland33 and its staff post-Simmons has been, to be blunt, a train wreck. That staff deserved much better. — Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) October 30, 2015
But few people feel worse than the Grantland staffers themselves.
Went for a walk and I'm crying reading my mentions. Thanks so much, everybody. — Fear Itself (@runofplay) October 30, 2015
angry fists, proud tears. — Rembert Browne (@rembert) October 30, 2015
Well that's the first time I've ever found out I was laid off via Twitter — Michael Baumann (@MJ_Baumann) October 30, 2015
