Twitter Wars: Vice Sports vs The Cauldron

It’s rare that you see two Editors-In-Chief of competing publications go toe-to-toe on Twitter in a public scrap, but that’s exactly what happened on Friday with the heads of two start-up sports endeavors.  Editors-In-Chief Jamie O’Grady (The Cauldron) and Tomas Rios (Vice Sports) squared off in a heated Last Man Standing Twitter War that got real personal real fast.  It included some unique insults, publishing of private e-mail conversations, and the sense that the rivalry between the two outlets is just beginning.

It all started when O’Grady fired a shot on behalf of The Cauldron at Vice.  His beef with Vice originated with the fact that the two companies posted similar columns about the Islanders saying goodbye to Nassau Coliseum on Friday.

Here’s O’Grady’s first shot…

https://twitter.com/JamieOGrady/status/591673289698836480

O’Grady’s issue seems to go back to this subtweet from Rios last year that’s linked later on in the feud, intimating that others’ work was inferior.  And yet here the two outlets are posting the same basic story, whether that’s classified as storytelling or not.  Obviously, there’s more than one person allowed to write about a professional sports team moving out of its longtime home, whatever label you want to put on it.  Grantland did it back in January, but that thankfully didn’t start any bloodfeuds.

Rios did not take kindly to O’Grady’s editorial advice.  First he tried the “Mike Francesa dismissive handwave route” by trying to big-time O’Grady and then stood up for Wendy Thurm, who wrote the Vice piece.

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591678327963934720

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591680083074621442

That seemed to backfire when O’Grady claimed that Rios had e-mailed O’Grady for work at The Caludron.

https://twitter.com/JamieOGrady/status/591680708210470913

And yet, THAT backfired when Rios published a fuller exchange where it appears that O’Grady reached out to Rios first.

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591681490980855808

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591682787289210880

By then it was a little late for O’Grady to save face, although he did follow through on publishing Rios’ e-mail response.

https://twitter.com/JamieOGrady/status/591684348786638848

First of all – $400 per column?!?!  Holy crap.  What kind of freelance sports blogger makes that kind of coin?  No wonder Sports on Earth had to go through a dramatic overhaul.  Good grief.

Second – it’s a bit stunning to see Rios work “Yakubian pig-dog” into an argument about sports columns.  Never thought I’d see that.

And then, the finale.  More insults and more e-mails made public..

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591683013982978049

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591684300317274112

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591686250567962624

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591686481695121410

https://twitter.com/JamieOGrady/status/591686337130078210

https://twitter.com/JamieOGrady/status/591686774176522240

https://twitter.com/TheTomasRios/status/591688686598762496

I don’t think we’re going to see Vice and The Cauldron team up to help their comscore rankings anytime soon.

That was a vicious Twitter War.  Resorting to the publishing of private conversations is the equivalent of pulling the brass knuckles out of the trunks.  Both men went down that road, here.

I’m not sure there’s really a “winner” given these are two editors-in-chiefs representing startup sports websites having a personal vendetta spill out onto Twitter for the world to see with cheap shots aplenty.  However, if I’d lean one way, it might be to Rios because he seemed to be telling a more complete story with the e-mail exchange made public.

But the decisive blow?  The premature mic drop by O’Grady.  That’s a card you play ONLY if you know you’ve got your special move ready to go and the opponent is in the red.  That clearly was not the case here.  Winner: Tomas Rios, Vice Sports by split decision.