Warning: if you read ESPN-The Magazine, you're in for a delightfully awful column from Rick Reilly this week. This revelation shouldn't surprise if you've read him in the past, but unfortunately his inaugural column augurs bad ju-ju for ESPN and their "new" writer.
Let's start off with the assumption that sportswriting is integral to the following of sports. In order to fully appreciate, analyze, and dissect sports, you oftentimes have to rely on ESPN or SI to fill in the gaps. Basically you are saying to ESPN: I trust that you know more about sports than I do, and that I can rely on you for interesting and stimulating information when I demand it. Another way to state this idea is the following: sportswriting should enhance and compliment your enjoyment of sports, in total.
Along the same lines, when I pick up a sportsmag, I generally do it in order to read about something awesome or something that annoys me so I can write about it on the RoomofZen. Subjects such as the Cowboys, drugs in sports, and Congress generally come to mind. In the grand scheme of things, however, I keep in mind that sports are really just meaningless and pure entertainment. While sports do entertain me, I tend to compartmentalize them into the awesome or analytical categories in the back of my feeble mind. Sports are here to please and tickle thy brain, said Moses.
I don't read sportsmags in order to get depressed or feel bad for other people. While sports stories may oftentimes have that unintentional effect on me, I generally avoid stories that intend to elicit pain or suffering. If I want some depression, I can always start reading about Myanmar, China or Darfur. I can even read the Metro Section of the Washington which is depressing as hell.
So when I read about Rick Reilly's dad and how he was an alcoholic, my first impression is to just stop reading and throw the magazine away. Alcoholism sucks and I really don't feel like reading about it in a sports-magazine. But the tone of the article really bothered me here: Reilly basically uses sports to whine about his father and discuss his journey towards reconciliation.
At the risk of sounding like a cold-hearted neanderthal, I will go ahead and say that Reilly needs to stop writing about his pain and suffering. No one gives a shit. Everyone suffers, but the public doesn't need to hear about it, ESPECIALLY if you are fortunate enough to have a sports column with wide distribution. Even worse, ESPN-The Magazine readers don't need to pay good money to hear some pussy whine about his problems growing up.
Sports are supposed to be about epic badasses and the only way sportswriters are cool is if they elaborate on why these athletes kick so much ass. Reilly should use his literary talents elsewhere, possibly discussing why Kobe's father didn't play the same was as his son, or why Tiger Woods' father made such an impression on the golfer. Those would be cool father's stories, and not the type of crap that's rolled off ESPN's printer.
Reilly is basically pimping out ESPN for his own version of Oprah or Dr. Phil. I resent that. If I wanted self-help or an example of self-pity, I can always change the channel to daytime TV.
100 push-ups and a story on Lawrence Taylor is in short order! Anything less is a damn shame!
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2 comments:
Man, I support you 100 percent on this. What bothers me the most about Reilly is his self-righteousness. The whole episode with Sammy Sosa really pissed me off. As it all ended up, we're pretty sure now that Sammy Sosa took sterroids, so people give Reilly a pass. But, Reilly knows damn well (or should know damn well, given his profession) that you don't go against the players union in baseball. Players that do are blackballed. For example, there were several players (I think Junior Spivey was one) who didn't have their names on the Arizona Diamondbacks t-shirts after they won the world series because they went against the union during the strike. If the union was against drug testing, why would Sosa voluntarily take a test? Reilly was setting Sosa up to look like an asshole, and Sosa knew it, which is why he got so pissed.
Reilly has a few good pieces every now and then. The only one that really comes to mind at the moment is the one about the mentally handicapped Middlebury football fan/manager. But, overall they generally come off as very arrogant. I haven't read this one that you're talking about, and I probably never will.
He's an ass, but I hate to be so negative. it's bad for everyone's zen.
that said, people should avoid this article and others to keep their feelings about sports positive
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