Fire Joe Morgan was a

sports journalism Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the ...

criticism

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

which focused primarily on

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. It was updated regularly from 2005 through 2008. Although the late sports commentator

Joe Morgan Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, ...

was often criticized, the site did not target him exclusively, but rather criticized anything the writers considered to be ignorant journalism as a whole. The blog's slogan was "Where Bad Sports Journalism Comes to Die." The blog usually used a format known as

fisking Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stanc ...

. The website officially announced its discontinuation in November 2008. Although the website is no longer updated, its archives are still available a
firejoemorgan.com
The blog had what was to be a one-day reprise on September 16, 2009, when

Deadspin ''Deadspin'' is a sports blog founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and based in Chicago. Previously owned by Gawker Media and Univision Communications, it is currently owned by G/O Media. ''Deadspin'' posted daily previews, recaps, and commentaries of ...

invited the authors to guest post. The authors guest posted again on Deadspin on September 22, 2010. In 2016, ''Fire Joe Morgan'' was assessed as being "on the right side of history" and "very, very funny" by ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

''. Upon Joe Morgan's passing in 2020, the authors noted their regret about the blog's name. That same year, the authors held a reunion.

Background

The website was founded by a group of friends in April 2005. Its sole purpose, according to

Michael Schur Michael Herbert Schur (born 1975) is an American television producer, writer, director and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series ''The Office'', and co-created ''Parks and Recreation'' with ''Office'' producer Greg Daniels. ...

, one of the founders, was to "make each other laugh." The website championed the statistical analysis of baseball in the tradition of

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. ...

, often using

sabermetrics Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific ques ...

to support its arguments. Sports writers who published works misstating the concepts of the book '' Moneyball'' were a common target. The blog quickly grew in popularity, and was featured in an

SI.com ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

piece within its first year of existence. The site's authors initially kept their identities hidden using the pseudonyms Ken Tremendous, Junior, and dak, but in February 2008 revealed themselves to be TV writers

Alan Yang Alan Michael Yang (born August 22, 1983) is an American screenwriter, producer, director and actor. He was a writer and producer for the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received his first Emmy nomination. With Aziz Ansari, Yang ...

, and Dave King respectively. The three met as staff members of the ''

Harvard Lampoon ''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Overview The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates ...

'' and Schur and Yang both wrote for the television show ''

Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...

''. As of season 4, King also worked for ''Parks and Recreation''. King is also a writer for Comedy Central's ''

Workaholics ''Workaholics'' is an American sitcom created and predominantly written by Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck, all of whom star in the series. ''Workaholics'' originally ran on Comedy Central from April 6, 2011, to Marc ...

''.

Mainstream recognition

From 2006 on, the website grew in popularity to the point where its name could be seen in newspaper sports sections and heard on the air during sports radio broadcasts. In 2007, users of the site bustedcoverage.com voted Fire Joe Morgan the best sports blog of the year, beating sites including

and MetsBlog in the contest. Former Deadspin editor

Will Leitch William F. Leitch (born October 10, 1975 in Mattoon, Illinois) is an American writer and the founding editor of the Gawker Media former sports blog '' Deadspin''. Leitch is a national correspondent for MLB.com, a contributing editor at ''New Yor ...

called Schur "one of our favorite sports bloggers." Several major newspapers and magazines, including ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', and ''New York'' magazine reported on the site's closing. ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' named Fire Joe Morgan one of the five most influential sports blogs of the decade in December 2009."2000s: The Decade in Sports"
SI.com

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.firejoemorgan.com Sports blogs Internet properties established in 2005