Grantland was not privileged with a swan song. She did not receive the honor of a farewell tour. She went out not with a bang but a whimper. And truth be told, even whimper exaggerates the dignity of her demise. Because Grantland went out with a picture posted and a tweet sent.

On Oct. 30, 2015, ESPN released a statement reading “Effective immediately we are suspending the publication of Grantland.” Of course, the quoted portion was then followed by reflective, proto-nostalgic drivel that discussed the true greatness of the late sports and pop culture blog.

While Grantland may have officially just been a “sports and pop culture blog,” those words do not her justice. The site, divided into The Triangle and Hollywood Prospectus, served as a nexus for high-level thought in those respective areas and managed to elevate their discussion above the triviality oft-associated with entertainment and sports media.

The writers were no less noble than the site herself. Zach Lowe is respected by many as the NBA’s preeminent writer, Grantland’s NHL, NFL and MLB staff were second to none in their fields and, at various stages in her history, Grantland featured Pulitzer Prize winners and best-selling authors.

Even though the talent at the site was undeniable, the death was entirely foreseeable. ESPN is a corporation, and its prime directive is to turn a profit. We don’t know the details of ESPN’s financials, but it’s safe to assume that a website like Grantland wasn’t the moneymaker they needed.

But ESPN did not kill Grantland. We did.

We killed her when we glorified the Stephen A’s and Lil B’s. We killed her when we decided that shouting matches are sports coverage and that carnival-barking is the same as debate. We killed her when we decided that volume was a substitute for reason. We killed her when we let curses and innuendo dominate the sports world.

The entertainment, sports, and media landscapes are all darker now, and we need look no further than the mirror when asking who cut the lights.