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If scandalous photos of Matt Leinart partying never surfaced on Deadspin, would he have remained Arizona's starting quarterback?

JW: What’s that all about? It won a Golden Globe.

Will: I know. Right? He should do that song at halftime. I can’t think of a venue less appropriate for that song, which is why it would be so great. They could actually set up a three-legged dog on the side of the stage.

Bill Simmons nailed this entire scenario a couple weeks ago. Does the NFL really think Springsteen is only going to play three songs? That he won’t do two encores and tell at least one biographical story?

JW: You loved “The Wrestler”.

Will: So many things I loved about it. The idea of Kurt Cobain being cast as a generational villain. And I wonder if anyone is going to address the issue of steroids with Mickey Rourke. And I’m amused that people think it’s so violent. OK, that one scene was violent but otherwise it was a character piece.

JW: The scene that had the match with the staple gun.

Will: Yeah, that was like, well, the only thing missing from that scene was a bear.

JW: Your book, “God Save the Fan,” is coming out in paperback in February. And since you’ve already gone out on a date with A.J., what else can you do to promote it?

Will: I put in a few new essays at the end. The first one is on the phenomenon of Erin Andrews. When you think about it, she’s been very smart. In the beginning, when she’d be asked if she liked this Internet thing, she said that Deadspin and The Big Lead were her favorite sites. It was as if she realized, "Yeah, this Internet thing might work for me."

JW: You still contribute occasionally to Deadspin. Since Deadspin launched in 2005, a lot of sites have tried to emulate you. But, as you told Bob Costas last April, “it’s hard goddamned work writing a blog.” No one else quite has your voice.

Will: It’s funny. Back when I was doing Deadspin I’d email Bill Simmons and we’d talk about criticism. Whenever I’d write something from a personal perspective, someone would hammer me about trying to sound like Simmons. And whenever he’d write something from a pop-culture perspective, he’d get hammered for trying to sound like Chuck Klosterman. And if Chuck Klosterman tried to write about his childhood in North Dakota, they’d hammer him for trying to sound like Garrison Keillor. It never ends.

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JW: I believe Mark was hammered for trying to sound like Matthew and Luke.

Will: Probably. We’re all incorporating others’ voices, but hopefully we are individuals, too. I’m still developing my voice. Still a young man. I’m still hitting people across the face with cookie sheets, after all.

JW: Let me ask you the Columbo question. Last weekend Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times wrote a story on Matt Leinart. In the piece it was strongly implied that the photos of Leinart serving young girls via beer funnel in his backyard, photos that ran on Deadspin and created a furor, had a lot to do with his losing the starting job to Kurt Warner. As a lifelong fan of the Buzzsaw, have you thought about the fact that you may have played a role in who started at QB for them this season and whether that had an impact on them reaching the Super Bowl?

Will: Well, I haven’t read the Plaschke piece, but I certainly hope not. It’s like that moment in “Zodiac” where they ask the killer to phone in and he says, “Look, I made the people on the TV move.” Well, you don’t deserve that much credit — or blame.

I’ll tell you what is more responsible for Leinart losing the starting job. He played a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders where, if you were watching, you wanted to ask, “Matt, are you sure that you’re not right-handed?” (Note: Leinart finished 4-for-12 for 24 yards with three interceptions in a game that the Buzzsaw actually won, 24-0).

I think that game had a lot more to do with Matt becoming the backup, don’t you?

Read Part 1 of John Walters' interview with Deadspin founder Will Leitch.