Will Leitch

Will Leitch (born October 10, 1975 in Mattoon, Illinois) is a writer based in New York City and the founding editor of the Gawker Media sports blog Deadspin. Leitch is a contributor to "The New York Times", "New York" and "Slate", and has published three books, "Catch", a novel, "Life as a Loser", a memoir and "God Save The Fan", a book of sports essays.

Editorial career

In January 2003, Leitch became a founding editor of "The Black Table", with Eric Gillin, A.J. Daulerio and Aileen Gallagher. His "Life As A Loser" column ran online for five years and was ultimately compiled into a book of the same title, with a foreword written by Tom Perrotta.

In September 2005, Leitch became the founding editor of Deadspin. Deadspin is the most popular independent sports blog on the web [ [http://ballhype.com/blogs/ BallHype - Sports Blog Rankings] ] Failed verification|date=May 2008 and has been profiled in "Sports Illustrated" [ [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1114877/index.htm In the age of the acerbic Deadspin, sports sites go beyond - 12.19.05 - SI Vault ] ] [ [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1110302/index.htm The Internet is changing sports coverage. Columnists who - 03.27.06 - SI Vault ] ] [ [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1109679/index.htm Book Watch - 02.25.08 - SI Vault ] ] and "The New York Times" [ [http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?query=will+leitch&srchst=nyt The New York Times: Search for 'will leitch' ] ] .

Leitch grew up in Mattoon, Illinois, which is also the setting of "Catch". He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While there, he was an editor at the University's paper, the "Daily Illini". He now lives in Brooklyn.

One of Leitch's first glances with fame came when he appeared on one of the early episodes of Win Ben Stein's Money. In an excerpt from "Life as a Loser", published on Blacktable.com, Leitch describes the experience of taping this episode within hours of being dumped by his fiancee (a fact that co-host Jimmy Kimmel included in Leitch's introduction).

During the 2007 NCAA Tournament, Leitch wrote a daily column for TimesSelect, the paid section of The New York Times. [ [http://outofbounds.blogs.nytimes.com/ N.C.A.A. - College Basketball - Opinion - Out of Bounds Blog - NYTimes.com ] ] During the 2007 baseball playoffs, Leitch wrote a daily column for The New York Times' Web site. [ [http://fairandfoul.blogs.nytimes.com/ Fair and Foul - Baseball - Opinion - New York Times Blog ] ]

Leitch was featured in the February issue of Penthouse Magazine. He also was famously accosted by Pulitzer-Prize winning author Buzz Bissinger on an April 2008 episode of Costas Now.

Leitch announced on June 5, 2008 that he would be leaving Deadspin at the end of the month to become a contributing editor at New York Magazine.

Books authored

*cite book
title = Life As A Loser
publisher = Arriviste Press, Inc.
year = 2004
isbn = 0-9746270-0-3
*cite book
title = Catch
publisher = Razorbill
year = 2005
isbn = 978-1-59514-069-2
*cite book
title = God Save The Fan
publisher = HarperCollins
year = 2008
isbn = 978-0061351785

ee also

*Deadspin

Footnotes

External links

*cite news
url=http://www.newsday.com/sports/ny-spbest095086832feb09,0,6333775.column?coll=ny-sports-mezz
title=Cynical sports blog is a hit
publisher=Newsday
first=Neil
last=Best
date=February 9, 2007
* [http://deadspin.com// Deadspin]
* [http://www.blacktable.com/archive/loser/loser.htm life as a loser column]
* [http://www.armchairgm.com/index.php?title=No_Softballs:_Will_Leitch Interview with Will Leitch]
* [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18442541 NPR's Scott Simon interviews Will Leitch]