The Classical was a sports website featuring long-form sports articles. Described as the sports equivalent of
The Awl
''The Awl'' was a website about "news, ideas and obscure Internet minutiae of the day" based in New York City. Its motto was "Be Less Stupid."
History
Founded in April 2009 by David Cho and former ''Gawker'' editors Choire Sicha and Alex Balk ...
, the site was launched in December 2011 by several members of the basketball blog ''FreeDarko'', including Bethlehem Shoals and Eric Freeman, and features other writers such as David Roth, Eric Nusbaum,
Tom Scharpling
Thomas John Giuliano II (born February 9, 1969), known professionally as Tom Scharpling, is an American comedian, television writer, producer, music video director, voice actor, and radio host. He is best known for hosting the weekly Internet r ...
, Tim Marchman and
Lang Whitaker
Lang Whitaker is an American author and sportswriter who works for the Memphis Grizzlies as the General Manager of Grizz Gaming, and a contributor to Grind City Media, as well as a contributor to GQ Magazine.
Career
From 2000–2013, Whitaker ...
.
History
In August 2011, it was announced that Shoals and others would be launching a sports website featuring a prominent collection of writers that had written for Sports Illustrated, ESPN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Slate, Deadspin, GQ and other publications.
A
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
page was established by the site's founders, and $50,000 were raised to help maintain the site for its first year.
The Classical launched in December 2011.
The site's approach to long-form sports writing instantly drew comparisons to Grantland,
the ESPN-funded website that had been launched by
Bill Simmons the year before.
On the site's Kickstarter page,
the founders of The Classical wrote that the intention of the site was to create something completely original, stating: "We will make no attempt to be comprehensive, or even to offer a reliable guide to the world of sport at a given moment. We will not try to be a smarter version of what you can find elsewhere. Instead, The Classical will be a running, wide-ranging conversation between us and our readers about baseball, basketball, soccer, football and fighting, and about things that aren't sports, too. Our model in this regard is The Awl, a site for which many of us have written and which all of us love."
The website is currently inactive; the last Facebook post by The Classical was in 2018.
Name
The name of the site is in reference to the first track of the 1982 album
Hex Enduction Hour
''Hex Enduction Hour'' is the fourth studio album by the English post-punk group the Fall. Released on 8March 1982, it builds on the low-fidelity production values and caustic lyrical content of their earlier recordings, and features a two-dr ...
, by the English post-punk band
The Fall.
Pete Beatty, one of the site's founders, said the name was appropriate since "it is probably fair to describe The Classical as post-punk sports journalism."
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Classical
American sport websites
Internet properties established in 2011
2011 establishments in the United States