As expected, Robert Lipsyte weighed in quickly on the controversial Dr. V story in Grantland. Also as expected, he wasn’t a fan of the piece. And that was before the firestorm hit.
A young golfer’s obsession with an oddly shaped putter invented by a mysterious scientist and endorsed on YouTube? I will give that kind of story no more than a few paragraphs to grab my interest before I bail out, even if it is featured on a site known for compelling storytelling.
Just a few moments into reading that very story recently on Grantland, it was shaping up as another one of those bloated selfies that clog the arteries of sports-lit these days.
Four graphs and I was gone.
As for the flaws in the story:
Much of the criticism was generically true, although I don’t think this piece was a conscious persecution of a transgender person as much as it was an example of unawareness and arrogance. It was a rare breakdown in one of ESPN’s best and brightest places, and an understandable but inexcusable instance of how the conditioned drive to get to the core of a story can block the better angels of a journalist’s nature and possibly lead to tragic consequences.
The story lacked understanding, empathy and introspection — no small ingredients. More reporting would have helped. It was a story worth telling, if told right. And aside from its humane shortcomings, I still don’t like it as a piece of writing.
And more:
Hannan never meets Vanderbilt in person, but in his due diligence he discovers that she has probably lied about her scientific and government credentials — at least he is unable to verify her degrees and work record. He finds out toward the end of his reporting that Vanderbilt is transgender, with two ex-wives and three children. Almost accidentally, he later learns that she has committed suicide. His reaction seems careless, even callous.
Because he knows little about the besieged transgender community, he conflates all her personal lies and apparently comes to believe — if he really thought about it — that as a presumed con artist she was fair game and had no right to privacy.
The story itself is structurally clumsy and flabbily edited. Yet Grantland’s gatekeepers – including Bill Simmons, the site’s founder and editor-in-chief, and more than a dozen editors in all — waved the story on through seven months of meetings and drafts and tweaks. They may have been blinded by the idea that had captivated them in the first place, the self-absorbed young man looking for his quick fix, a metaphor for the times and perhaps Grantland’s demographic. But that was not the story any more. The twists and turns were the story, the possible lack of resolution and some serious reflections on responsibility and death.
There’s more, as Lipsyte spreads around the blame to all.
One last point: Obviously, we had to hear from Lipsyte, but this seems like the 90th in-house ESPN piece bashing the story. Name me another media outlet that opens itself up to such introspection from within. You can’t.
Will Lipsyte’s post be the final word on the Dr. V story. Or do Dickie V or Mike Ditka have anything to add?