Quote, "Two months ago, just after the end of a long holiday weekend, Jason Whitlock convened a morning meeting at the Los Angeles offices of his ESPN-backed black-interest site, The Undefeated, which is slated to go live this summer. Five days before, to coincide with the NBA All-Star Game, the site had introduced itself with a feature story on Charles Barkley and race written by former AP entertainment editor Jesse Washington. It was the first published proof—a year and a half after the site had been announced as a black-led, black-culture-themed counterpart to ESPN’s prestige outlet, Grantland, built around the personality of sportwriting’s preeminent controversialist—that The Undefeated existed.

Now Whitlock was taking stock of how the preview had gone and laying out plans for the future. He welcomed the site’s East Coast contingent, comprising Washington and two other veteran journalists who were joining the meeting by phone. He began by telling the team that he was proud of what everyone had done so far, and that his patron, ESPN president John Skipper, was excited too. A 12 on a 1-to-10 scale, Whitlock said.

This was in line with what he had told the staff by email a few days before, expressing his “pride and joy” at establishing “a name and a reputation.” Then the meeting took a turn. The most powerful black sportswriter in America launched into a long, strange monologue covering his favorite subjects: himself, his many enemies, and the unfair standards to which he believes he is held.

Complete article (long, 10,000 words) here: http://deadspin.com/how-jason-whitlock-is-poisoning-espns-black-grantland-1698683962"