On Caleb Hannan and his Dr. V. story

A piece went up recently on the ESPN/Bill Simmons site Grantland. Titled "Dr. V's Magical Putter" it was ostensibly a piece about a piece of golf equipment that, while unusual in appearance, seemed to work wonders for those who needed to improve their short game.

The writer, a freelancer from Denver named Caleb Hannan, wrote the long piece that started out as what looked like a personal essay about discovering this putter. Then...it went in a different direction.

As John Stansberry (of Lonely Tailgater) put it:

I don't think Bill Simmons pays a lick of attention to what goes up on Grantland. But if he does, Dr. V’s Magical Putter shoulda been nixed.
— Lonely Tailgater (@LonelyTailgater) January 18, 2014

Hard to argue with him upon further reading.

I want to point you towards a post by author Maria Dahvana Headley. Don't tell me it's too long; didn't read. Read the whole damn thing. Because it is by far one of the best things you're going to read about this situation.

My own thoughts? Well, there's this: Overall, I found the piece to be in desperate need of editing. I felt that the piece was too focused in on the writer and his thoughts/emotions/feelings throughout the duration of the article. It was an exercise in self-indulgence; too inwardly focused.

Now, maybe that inward focus is what led to my biggest issue with the article: the callous disregard of the person who ultimately became the true subject of the piece—Dr. Vanderbilt herself.