Will Leitch (right) says photos like this wouldn't sell on our site. We disagree.

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SI.com: Would you print a photo of a beheaded athlete?

Leitch: To be honest, it depends on the circumstances. I suppose if I found an athlete from 30 years ago, uh, gross, no. I think that would be a question SI.com would have as well. And there would be discretion where I would say, After the jump, if you really do want to look, here it is.

SI.com: If Sports Illustrated had photos of Will Leitch drunk, should we post that on SI.com?

Leitch: Well, I don't know if that would sell that much on your site. But it would be hypocritical of me to be upset about that, and they are already on the Web anyway. It's not hard to find. Certainly, I'm not sure you would find much success posting them, but you have every right to that.

Here's the key thing about the drunk photo: I had two big ones when people were first being introduced to the site with Roethlisberger and Kyle Orton. I think because of that, people thought that it was the site that had drunk pictures of athletes. I think I've had six or seven in the two-and-a-half years I have been doing the site.

There is a chapter in the book about the Roethlisberger photos. My larger point about that is I can't see someone who looks at the photos and says, "You know, I always cheered for Ben Roethlisberger before now but now I can't root for this kid anymore." In fact, Kyle Orton famously said, "Hey, it's kind of funny. Someone took a picture of me and put it on the Web. I didn't drive home that night. I didn't have a game the next day. I have nothing to be ashamed of." That's a healthy attitude.

The people who are upset about it are not necessarily the athletes but the people that have money to be made off of the athletes. I mean, is there really an idea that because Roethlisberger is a great football player, he spends all of his nights praying, saluting the flag and helping poor children? He's a normal human being and there is a humanity aspect to it, a demythologizing aspect of it. But I don't want to over intellectualize it. The photos are also funny.

SI.com: Why has Deadspin gained cultural currency?

Leitch: I don't think it is because of my brilliance. I think I was just fortunate enough to have gotten there first. But I think there was a desire for something like this. People are smarter. At a certain level, the average sports fan has so much more access than they used to. I think people are no longer just believing everything. I remember loving Chris Berman. I remember loving Dick Vitale. It was like, 'Wow, they are so enthusiastic, that's great.' I realized that part of the reason of that is that they are pitched at very, very young people. I mean, I also used to like Sesame Street.

The fans are now smarter, they have a lot more access and savvy. I feel like if you work in the world of sports, whether you are a player, a coach, or a media member, you tend to think of sports as being more important than sports actually is. And I say that as someone obsessed with sports and who watches sports all the time. But I think the average person recognizes at the end of the day: I will step away from sports now. I think the average fan does not get into the morality plays. The thing I have tried to do with the site is say, 'We all love sports, we are obsessed by it, but it is still just sports.' Which is why when people ask, "Well, how are Ben Roethlisberger [drinking] photos newsworthy? Well, they are as newsworthy as a football game is.

SI.com: The story you want the most for Deadspin?

Leitch: A major athlete coming out. But I don't know how much joy I would get out of someone finding a photo of Athlete X making out with some guy.

SI.com: Would you post it?

Leitch: I probably would, yes. But I also would not jump out of the bushes to take it, which I think is another common thing that people miss sometimes. I remember the [ESPN anchor] Scott Van Pelt post. Of all the things I have done on the site, that was one that freaked out media people the most. Just to make it clear: That was on the Internet already. That was not sent to me by the woman who recorded it. I didn't tap his phone. It was out there and somebody said to me, here is the link to this thing.

SI.com: Fine. But you have to admit that even if you were not the one who initially posted the message, given Deadspin's reach and audience, you changed the equation in terms of public consumption once you posted it?

Leitch: I think that is definitely true. I'm not saying I would not do it otherwise because I did not post it first. It would be weird for someone in the media to say: Well, we found this story and it might be embarrassing to Pacman Jones so I probably should not write anything about it. It is disingenuous a lot of times for people in that position, Chris Berman, for example, to say, why do people care about this? I'm just trying to cover the games. Please. More people know who Chris Berman is than almost every player in major league baseball.

One of the exciting things about Deadspin, and what I tried to capture in the book, is that kind of wall used to be there. Now we (fans) decide what we want to know. We don't always need that wall anymore. I'm not saying down with the mainstream media. I just think there is an adjustment that had to be made regarding what is off the field stays off the field and let's just talk about the glory of the game. That is not how people react to sports. People react to sports as entertainment because that's what it is. Whatever fans find entertaining is what counts.

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