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Two weeks after Mallory Rubin’s graduation from Syracuse University in 2008, she started working at Sports Illustrated. With the Great Recession looming over the economy, Rubin felt fortunate she got her job just before the print publication froze hiring.

Along with a hiring freeze, Sports Illustrated went through multiple rounds of layoffs. Rubin worried every day if she would be the next to leave, but she felt determined to make herself essential.

“I’m not going to give anybody the opportunity to kick me out,” Rubin said. “I’m gonna make sure that I’m working on something here every day that feels impactful.”

The Newhouse School of Public Communications virtually hosted Rubin, the editor-in-chief of The Ringer — an online sports and pop culture publication — for a discussion about her career on Wednesday evening. Newhouse graduate students Samantha Croston and Matthew Nerber asked Rubin about persevering in sports media as a woman, navigating toxic fandom on Twitter and creating content for The Ringer during the pandemic.

Rubin dove into the topic of the “hot take economy,” a sport experts’ analysis with a clickbait aspect. Even in the workplace, Rubin said her coworkers make fun of her for being a Lamar Jackson fan and joke that he should be a running back — despite Jackson winning the 2019 NFL MVP award as the Baltimore Ravens’ franchise quarterback.

Rubin admitted that dissidence is part of life and while The Ringer is known for dropping hot takes in their articles and podcasts, the publication likes to “lean into parody” in a fun and lighthearted manner.

The discussion transitioned to navigating the Internet, specifically Twitter, where a lot of toxic fandom exists.

“I certainly would never imply that every day on Twitter is a pleasant experience,” Rubin said.

The line between impassioned discussion and toxicity is thin, but she’s not sure what the tipping point is yet, she said. Nerber referenced a positive instance of Twitter badgering, Zack Snyder’s Justice League leak, and a negative instance, Kelly Marie Tran being bullied off of Twitter.

Rubin said she doesn’t want to discourage dialogue on Twitter because while it has its flaws, it’s also allowed for people around the world to connect and share their ideas with each other. What she thinks is unfortunate is when toxicity influences the product and how it’s enjoyed.

Croston asked Rubin if she sees a crossover between sports fandom and pop culture fandom, and Rubin noted that The Ringer treats the preparation for both content mediums similarly. The Ringer staff plans podcast or article coverage for a Marvel or Star Wars movie with similar techniques to sports coverage: with a lot of research, she said.

“Our editorial sensibility is anchored in obsession and fandom,” Rubin said.

The Ringer has an “expert but approachable ethos,” and they want to foster a spirit of community so the podcast listener or reader feels like they’re hanging out with friends, Rubin said. This is part of what keeps listeners coming back to The Ringer’s podcasts because its hosts are genuinely interested in the topics they cover.

“You can’t manufacture passion,” she said.

Rubin also briefly touched on being a woman in the sports media industry. She recalled walking into the Sports Illustrated office for the first time as a 20 year old and feeling terrified because she was walking into the “old boys club,” she said.

The Sports Illustrated team welcomed her, and she had a great experience working there, but she is mindful that women face challenges in the industry. She thinks about being the editor-in-chief of a sports website as a woman very seriously.

“I think about that all the time,” she said. “I want to be a good role model for people and I want to do whatever I can to set a good example.”

DISCLAIMER: Matthew Nerber is a staff writer for The Daily Orange’s Culture section. He was not involved in the writing or editing process for this article.

Published on April 29, 2021 at 12:19 am

Contact Louis: [email protected] | @JBL__98