Fire Joe Morgan was a

sports journalism Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism has its roots in coverage of horse racing and boxing in the early 1800s, mainly targeted towards elites, and into t ...

criticism

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

which focused primarily on

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. It was updated regularly from 2005 through 2008. Although sports commentator

Joe Morgan Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Fran ...

was often criticized, the site did not target him exclusively, but rather criticized anything the writers considered to be ignorant journalism as a whole. The blog's slogan was "Where Bad Sports Journalism Comes to Die." The blog usually used a format known as

fisking This is a list of blogging terms. Blogging, like any hobby, has developed something of a specialized vocabulary. The following is an attempt to explain a few of the more common phrases and words, including etymologies when not obvious. Blog- ...

. The website officially announced its discontinuation in November 2008. Although the website is no longer updated, its archives are still available a
firejoemorgan.com
The blog had what was to be a one-day reprise on September 16, 2009, when

Deadspin ''Deadspin'' is a sports blog owned by Lineup Publishing. Founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and originally based in Chicago, it was then sold to Gawker Media, Univision Communications and G/O Media. Lineup Publishing acquired it in March 2024, t ...

invited the authors to guest post. The authors guest posted again on Deadspin on September 22, 2010. In 2016, ''Fire Joe Morgan'' was assessed as being "on the right side of history" and "very, very funny" by ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

''. Upon Joe Morgan's passing in 2020, the authors noted their regret about the blog's name. That same year, the authors held a reunion.

Background

The website was founded by a group of friends in April 2005. Its sole purpose, according to

Michael Schur Michael Herbert Schur (born October 29, 1975) is an American television writer, producer, director, and actor. He started his career as a writer for ''Saturday Night Live'' (1998–2004) before gaining acclaim as a writer and producer of the si ...

, one of the founders, was to "make each other laugh." The website championed the statistical analysis of baseball in the tradition of

Bill James George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books about baseball history and statistics. His a ...

, often using

sabermetrics Sabermetrics (originally SABRmetrics) is the original or blanket term for sports analytics in the US, the empirical analysis of baseball, especially the development of advanced metrics based on baseball statistics that measure in-game activity ...

to support its arguments. Sports writers who published works misstating the concepts of the book ''

Moneyball Moneyball or money ball may refer to: * '' Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game'', 2003 book by Michael Lewis ** ''Moneyball'' (film), 2011 film adaptation of the book * ''Moneyball'' (album), 2025 album by Dutch Interior * Sabermetrics ...

'' were a common target. The blog quickly grew in popularity, and was featured in an

SI.com ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excelle ...

piece within its first year of existence. The site's authors initially kept their identities hidden using the pseudonyms Ken Tremendous, Junior, and dak, but in February 2008 revealed themselves to be TV writers

Alan Yang Alan Michael Yang ( zh, t=楊維榕; born August 22, 1983) is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He was a writer and producer for the NBC sitcom ''Parks and Recreation'', for which he received his first Emmy nomination. With Aziz Ans ...

, and Dave King respectively. The three met as staff members of the ''

Harvard Lampoon ''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Overview The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduate ...

'' and Schur and Yang both wrote for the television show '' Parks and Recreation''. As of season 4, King also worked for ''Parks and Recreation''. King is also a writer for Comedy Central's ''

Workaholics ''Workaholics'' is an American adult television sitcom created and predominantly written by Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck, all of whom star in the series. ''Workaholics'' initially aired on Comedy Central from ...

''.

Mainstream recognition

From 2006 on, the website grew in popularity to the point where its name could be seen in newspaper sports sections and heard on the air during sports radio broadcasts. In 2007, users of the site bustedcoverage.com voted Fire Joe Morgan the best sports blog of the year, beating sites including

and MetsBlog in the contest. Former Deadspin editor

Will Leitch William F. Leitch is an American writer and the founding editor of the Gawker Media sports blog '' Deadspin''. Leitch is a national correspondent for MLB.com, a contributing editor at '' New York'', film critic at ''Grierson & Leitch'', contrib ...

called Schur "one of our favorite sports bloggers." Several major newspapers and magazines, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', and ''New York'' magazine reported on the site's closing. ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' named Fire Joe Morgan one of the five most influential sports blogs of the decade in December 2009."2000s: The Decade in Sports"
SI.com

References

External links

* {{official, http://www.firejoemorgan.com Sports blogs Internet properties established in 2005