ESPN v. Deadspin?

This, from Can’t Stop the Bleeding:

“With apologies to Sports Illustrated, here?s a real sign the apocalypse is upon us : guy decides to trim his blogroll to only include sites he?d recommend on a regular basis?and there?s actual debate over whether he did so of his own volition.“

CSTB links to the new TrueHoop page on ESPN.com. The blogroll on the site, once immensely large and including links to a myriad of blogs, now features only twelve links.

“The big time! ESPN! And I still had that same old blogroll that was so in need of work.

So I hatched a plan. Just take it back to its roots. Make it a dozen sites I love. Totally manageable, and useful to readers because this dozen? I endorse them all.

It will rise again. I will build it from scratch, with a better scheme. I’ll be stricter about who makes it, and I will take my time. Every site that was on the old blogroll? I’m still reading. I have all the same RSS feeds I ever had. I’ll be linking when they have good stuff. And if they have good stuff again and again? They’ll go back in the blogroll.“

Why is this important? Left out are links to sports blogs Deadspin, YAYSports!, With Leather, each one an ESPN-unfriendly site. And considering that ESPN has policies against Deadspin, and has had to refute reports that have come from the site, it is easy to conclude that any move was likely caused by prodding from higher-ups at the network.

Now it is possible that the decision was made independent of ESPN influence. However, this certainly looks fishy — and if this was instigated by elements at the network, it goes a long way in showing just how fearful traditional media is of the anti-establishment.