An Interview with Joe Posnanski

“It was one of those columns I thought was a complete failure…I just felt so bad…When I finished I just broke down…In the morning I read it and thought…it couldn’t have been better. I don’t know if it was great but it was the best I have…it’s raw and it expresses everything that Buck meant to me and to this community. I guess in the end I didn’t fail – I did the best I could.”

“…I try hard not to get caught up in the cycle. I don’t listen to talk radio. I don’t watch ESPN or SportsCenter other than the event itself. I try to see things with a fresh eye.”

“…I started as an agate clerk and I would go on the wires and read…I decided I wanted to be a columnist. I would write pretend columns for nobody – practice columns. I must have written hundreds of practice columns when I should have been doing the hockey standings.”

“I’m probably more on the positive side – not necessarily soft. I tend to look at sports in a positive way. As a writer you develop a certain reputation and style and that is who you are… the label is in place – it doesn’t bother me.”

Joe Posnanski: Interviewed on February 22, 2007

Position: Columnist, Kansas City Star

Born: 1967, Cleveland

Education: North Carolina-Charlotte, 1989, English

Career: Charlotte Observer 1989-91; Augusta Chronicle 91-94; Cincinnati Post 94-96; KC Star 1996 –

Personal: married, two daughters

Favorite restaurant (home): Arthur Bryant’s, KC “a landmark and still the best barbecue in the world”

Favorite restaurant (road): Skyline Chili, Cincinnati “if I’m in Cincy I have to go to Skyline”

Favorite hotel: Marriott Marquis, New York

Joe Posnanski excerpted from “A KC legend dies; John Jordan ‘Buck’ O’Neil | 1911-2006”, Kansas City Star, October 7, 2006:

…The last time I saw him, he sat in a hospital bed, and he looked thin, his beautiful voice was a rasp. His memory was still sharp, and he grabbed my hand, and he whispered: “You are my friend.” He deteriorated from there. Two weeks later he was gone.

But even though it’s late at night and I can hardly see the keyboard because of the tears, I know Buck would not have wanted any of us to cry. So, instead, I will relive once more his greatest day. I heard him tell it a hundred times. It was Easter Sunday, 1943, Memphis, Tenn. The Monarchs were playing the Memphis Red Sox. First time up, Buck hit a double. Second time, he hit a single. Third time, he hit it over the right-field fence. Fourth time up, he hit the ball to left field, it bounced off the wall, and Buck rounded the bases. He could have had an inside-the-park home run, but he stopped at third.

“You know why?” he always asked.

“You wanted the cycle,” I always said.

That night, he was in his room when a friend called him down to meet some schoolteachers who were in the hotel. Buck went down, saw a pretty young woman, and walked right up to her and said, “My name is Buck O’Neil. What’s yours?” It was Ora. They would be married for 51 years.

“That was my best day,” he said. “I hit for the cycle and I met my Ora.”

“It was a good day,” I said.

“It’s been a good life,” he said

Q. Is it important to be in touch with your feelings when you write?

A. That’s the most important thing. A columnist’s job is to a strike an emotion in every column – if you haven’t you haven’t done your job. It can be anything – you can make people laugh, cry, -get them mad – something beyond the event you’re writing about.

Buck obviously was a different case for me. I was working on the book with him and I had written many columns on him for the paper. He was my friend and he was dying in the last few months we worked on the book – it was very difficult for me.

I remember the day he died. He died at 10 o’clock and they called me and said we need your column for 1-A. It would be the only thing running in the paper that day – they had already set up a special section for the Sunday paper.

We had bought a piano that day, by pure coincidence. I was tinkering with the piano when the phone rang. It rang three times and the third time I picked it up and they told me Buck had gone.

I had to sum up Buck’s life and I had not written a single word because I just couldn’t emotionally prepare for it. Now I had an hour to write it.

I just sat down and started writing. It was one of those columns I thought was a complete failure. I never like a column when I finish – I never feel good about it. At one point I was thinking, “What are you doing, you’re just typing”. They wanted 50 inches and I gave them 50 inches, which was a fluke because I just sent it in without measuring it. When I sent it I thought, “This is a failure.” I just felt so bad.

When I finished I just broke down. That’s the only time I’ve ever been that emotionally involved in a story. I don’t know if I could have written that in an hour unless I had been that emotionally involved and unless I cared about him.

In the morning I read it and thought it wouldn’t have mattered how many days I had – it couldn’t have been better. I don’t know if it was great but it was the best I have. It’s not necessarily beautifully written but it’s raw and it expresses everything that Buck meant to me and to this community. I guess in the end I didn’t fail – I did the best I could.

Q. You wrote this in another column: “His voice was always something close to music, wasn’t it? At the end when the cancer spread, Buck O’Neil lost that beautiful voice, and I think that hurt him more than the pain.”

Lovely phrase – how do you find those words when you write?

A. Good question. I guess I’ve read a lot. And I grew up in a house where both parents were born in the Soviet Union – I’m first-generation American. It was so important to them to use English words precisely. It wasn’t anything they practiced to help me write later on – they wanted me to be an accountant. As they were learning they were teaching me – it was so important to get the precise pronunciation and to use the correct word. They’re both big readers and they read to me growing up. I came to love words and the way they sound.

Buck is a guy – and I wrote this in the book – who spoke in sentences that broke out into little bits of phrase almost like verse. That’s the way he sounded to me. I heard it like a lyric or like a poem – that’s the way I wrote them in the book. That’s what I’m listening for. The phrase you mentioned, I just wrote that as it came to me. It was just how felt about Buck and his voice.

Q. What’s the name of your new book?

A. “Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America”. I saw it in Borders today. It was a thrill seeing my book in a bookstore – quite an experience. I had a collection of columns published, but this was the first book I wrote from scratch.

Q. Did you enjoy writing a book?

A. I loved it. I spent a year with Buck O’Neil – it doesn’t get better than that. Writing was very different than writing the column. I thought it would be like writing a column but longer – it wasn’t like that at all. When I write a column my kids run in and out and my wife comes in and asks me questions. For the column that’s okay. With the book, that drove me insane. I had to leave the house to write it. It was fun to do a different kind of writing – I enjoyed it.

Q. You wrote recently, “ There is something else that drives me crazy, and it’s this: Everybody decides the story before the game even begins. And then, no matter what happens in the game, we won’t let go. Hey, I fall for this too. We go into a game, like Sunday’s Indianapolis-New England championship game, and obviously we have certain things set in our minds…And it sort of makes you wonder whether we’re even watching the games anymore. It makes you wonder if the pre-game hype has so overpowered what we’re seeing that nobody really pays attention.”

Are sportswriters influenced by hype?

A. We’re definitely influenced by hype. I don’t see a way around that. The hype is so overwhelming – it’s just around you all the time.

That was about the Colts-Pats game – you went into that game so barraged by the hype – the genius of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady is the greatest clutch quarterback ever and how Tony Dungy was too nice a guy to win it and Peyton Manning can’t win the big game. Those issues, while viable and true, had no bearing on the game – Belichick didn’t coach a great game and Dungy did, and Brady didn’t play well and Manning did. How do you write that the game had nothing to do with what we talked about? You don’t – you try to twist it into what people expect. It reminds me how pre-season polls affect how we watch a season, and affect how a team will be ranked in three or four months no matter how they play.

Q. You’re describing a sort of tyranny of hype – is it fair to say you don’t like it?

A. It’s so much a part of things I can’t say if I do or don’t. There are times we have to look around and say ‘What are we doing?’ Are we paying attention beyond the hype? Are we seeing the games? I don’t think it’s different than it ever was – sportswriters have always gone into games with some level of expectation. But now with 24 hours of radio, TV and the net we’re hit with a lot more. I do wish we could break out of it a bit.

Q. Are you suggesting the craft is suffering?

A. Yeah. Specific to that column – it was how the announcers handled it on TV. It’s not entirely about writing – it’s how we watch sports. Sure, the craft is suffering. There are a lot of subject lines and topics and issues that go on in sports and yet I’ll read 15 and 20 columns, including my own, that say the same thing. I think we need to work better at breaking out of this shell of expectation we all have about sports. Some writers are very good at bringing counter opinions but I do get the sense that a lot of us are saying the same thing.

I read an interesting Frank Deford column about John Amaechi and gay athletes. He said the reason athletes won’t come out is not because of lockerroom bias, which is the prevailing theory, but because of the fans. They’re the tough ones to overcome with that kind of announcement. His argument is that at no point has a Hollywood actor of any note announced he was gay during his period of success. His argument is that there are plenty of gay actors and yet none have come out because of the reaction they know they would get from America – and it’s that way in sports, too. It struck me that it was completely different than anything we had read. I wish we could do it more – to have the ability to break away from the news cycle and see things differently.

Q. Do you aspire to that?

A. Definitely. Aspire is a good word. I try hard not to get caught up in the cycle. I don’t listen to talk radio. I don’t watch ESPN or SportsCenter other than the event itself. I try to see things with a fresh eye. That’s a lesson I picked up doing talk radio a few years ago – I had a tragic six-week period as a talk radio host, which fans have never forgotten for my awfulness. I hated it – the reason I hated it is I was so caught up in the cycle – it was impossible to think of columns in a fresh way. You’re in there getting barraged with the same opinions over and over and arguing about things not worth arguing about. It really fogged my mind. It became hard to write my column in a fresh way and I quit. I started thinking ‘I have to come at this with a fresh eye and a fresh mind’.

Q. That’s revolutionary – not listening to talk radio or watching SportsCenter.

A. For me. I tell this to my friends in the business. I don’t have a good enough mind to compartmentalize the way other people can. They can listen all day and when the column goes they can shut it out and go onto the next thing. I hear radio voices in my head when I listen to talk radio. I have nothing against it. If people like it – great – I’m not looking down on it. For me as a columnist I can’t do it.

Q. You wrote a column about Frank Deford in which he told you, “I think there are probably more good sportswriters now than there ever were. I think, however, that sportswriters don’t have the same kinds of opportunities and choices … they are not allowed to go off into strange territory. You pretty much have to cover the tried and true.”

Do you agree with that?

A. I do agree to a great extent although the problem is generalizing with a statement like that. Columnists do get to go off into strange territories and newspapers encourage that – my paper does not limit people for the most part. But as a general rule you’ve got to write about T.O. or whatever the topic of the day is. There’s the sense that if you find the high school swimmer in your town that makes a great story it’s not viewed as something a lead columnist in the big cities would write. Frank was talking about a time when Sports Illustrated would put a track guy on the cover, or a swimmer, or the horse of the year even if he didn’t win the Kentucky Derby. It was willing to go off on a tangent and it doesn’t anymore – very few people do. If you find those stories they’re buried in back hidden behind the Tom Brady or Randy Moss story.

Other things are involved. We don’t get the access sportswriters used to get. There’s a much bigger division in the pro ranks between the writer and athlete in terms of exposure and fame and income. But there are elements we can control that Frank was talking about – we don’t take as many chances as we used to. We feel we have to hit the hot-button issue right now. I’m not sure we’re ever going back.

Q. What is driving that – economics?

A. Economics always has driven it. The feeling is that’s what people want. It gets back to culture. If the editor is a sports fan and turns on ESPN and gets hit with PTI and Around the Horn – and they’re all talking about one topic – today it’s Lovie Smith’s contract – that editor wants somebody to weigh in on Lovie’s contract in his paper, even if it’s the Miami Herald or The Star. It’s the big topic and we need to weigh in on it. Culture drives that to an extent. As an industry we’re still struggling for an identity in the time of the Internet and 24-hour everything. We’re still a static thing that shows up on the doorstep at 6 a.m. We want to be relevant and people feel we’re not unless we do the hot issue.

In the end we’re all trying to make the paper better and do our job as well as we can. I do sense there are people out there who want to tell different kinds of stories. But a lot of times we’re getting drowned by the big events and stories of the day.

Q. Where did you grow up?

A. Cleveland. We moved to Charlotte when I was in high school. I was reading Michael Weinreb’s book (“Kings of New York”) on the high school chess team in New York. Several Soviet-Russian immigrants were on the team. My father won the Cleveland Open in chess in the 70s. You grow up that way and you think everybody grew up with thick accents and liked soccer. It was interesting to read about other people who grew up that way.

My parents were born in the Soviet Union during the war. They moved to Poland and Israel and moved here in 1963.

Q. Who were your writing influences growing up?

A. Deford was the first. I had read Hal Leibovitz growing up in Cleveland. I read the Charlotte guys during high school. I had no idea you could become a sportswriter – it was so foreign to the way I grew up – I had no idea it was possible. I remember reading Deford’s collection – the story he wrote about the Louis-Conn fight. There’s one graf I can recite word for word. I put it down and said, “I want to be a sportswriter. I want to write like that.” At the Observer I started as an agate clerk and I would go on the wires and read Mitch Albom and Leigh Montville, (Mike) Lupica and Jim Murray. I decided I wanted to be a columnist. I would write pretend columns for nobody – practice columns. I must have written hundreds of practice columns when I should have been doing the hockey standings. That’s how it began.

There are so many good ones now. My reading has expanded – a small percentage of what I read now is sportswriting. There are so many good writers to learn from and steal from. It’s great – this is something I didn’t know I wanted to go into until I was 18 or 19. Ever since then I’m constantly amazed at how perfect it is for me.

Q. Who do you read?

A. I read a lot of people. I read people for different things. For funny columns I love Ray Ratto (SF Chronicle) and Gary Shelton (St. Petersburg Times). Martin Fennelly (Tampa Tribune). If I want strong opinions, to give me a different spin and get me thinking, Mike Vaccaro (NY Post), one of my best friends. Ian O’Connor (Bergen Record). Adrian Wojnarowski, who is doing the NBA for Yahoo.

If I want to read talented writing Bill Plaschke (LA Times) is as good as they come. S.L. Price (SI) and Steve Rushin, who is leaving SI. I really like Michael Rosenberg (Detroit Free Press) – I think he’s probably overshadowed by the power of Mitch (Albom), but he’s terrific.

Q. Are you a soft columnist?

A. I’m probably more on the positive side – not necessarily soft. I tend to look at sports in a positive way. As a writer you develop a certain reputation and style and that is who you are. With Jason (Whitlock) in KC and me in KC there’s very much this impression that Jason is the bad cop and I’m the good cop. That doesn’t necessarily meet reality – there are plenty of times I write a scathing column and Jason writes a heartwarming column.

But the label is in place – it doesn’t bother me. I would rather be known as a positive guy. Sports are supposed to be fun – there’s plenty of negativity already out there. I don’t go out of my way to be negative. I’ve probably written a dozen times a coach needs to be fired – I’ve fired plenty of people for a soft writer.

Q. Does the KC market define you?

A. Yes – it defines you in the sense that you are the voice in this town. I talk to Mike Vaccaro about this a lot – his column is often very powerful and yet because he’s writing in New York and seven or eight other columnists are writing there’s a lot of noise around. His column is not necessarily overshadowed but it’s not necessarily standing out.

If I write in the seventeenth paragraph something negative about a player or coach it can create a firestorm in town here. You’re not screaming up against a bunch of other people here. You think very hard about everything you write – it’s not going into a wind tunnel. That’s fine – I see that as a good thing. Most people would say KC is a softer market – it’s a Midwest town and it’s smaller. The general impression people coming here have is that it’s pretty good media market to come into. I’ve talked to numerous coaches who come here and they’re surprised how tough it is. Part of it is Jason, who has a strong voice. Part of it is the fans here want to win as much as fans in New York or Chicago.

Q. How have KC fans put up with what’s happened to the Royals?

A. Good question. I don’t know that they are putting up with it – the numbers have dropped significantly. It was this way in Cincinnati when I was there – the Reds were in first place when the strike happened and in many ways that baseball town has never come back, even with a new stadium. KC is a similar story. They had won 14 in a row leading into the strike. This town has never come back from the strike. Some of the anger is pointed toward Arrowhead Stadium, toward the Chiefs, who never can take the final step and get to the Super Bowl.

They’ve just stopped caring about the Royals, which is much worse. They’re tired of hearing things are turning around this year – there’s a new GM and a new direction and commitment. Until they win a few games I don’t think people will care as much as they did in the 70s and 80s.

Q. But how can the Royals compete given MLB economics?

A. I’ve been here 11 years – eight or nine years ago people were angry with baseball. The feeling was that MLB was set up so that the Royals didn’t have a chance to win – they were angry at Bud Selig and the players.

Since then small market teams have won in Oakland and Minneapolis and Florida. They’ve seen it happen while the Royals are banging their heads against the wall. It’s the Royals job to win within the system. It’s no fun to be mad at baseball. The Royals are culpable too. Yes, the deck is stacked and it’s tough, but people are paid good money to figure out how to win games. They’re paying millions to players, too.

Maybe they can’t compete with the Yankees or Red Sox but they’re not significantly below teams in their own division in terms of payroll. Their job is to beat the Twins and Indians. They’re renovating Kaufman Stadium, paying $250 million financed by a sales tax, and fans don’t really want to hear about baseball economics anymore.

Joe Posnanski excerpted from the KC Star, January 7, 2007:

They did step up. And this is where it gets embarrassing for Kansas City — once the Colts stepped up, the Chiefs had absolutely no idea what to do. No idea. They came into this game assuming that they would run over the Colts. When that didn’t happen, well, they still assumed they would run over the Colts. When it still didn’t happen, they shifted their thinking and starting hoping they would run over the Colts. And when that didn’t happen, they adjusted slightly and started praying they would run over the Colts.

And when that didn’t happen, the game was over.

“We acted like we were playing against a bunch of dumdums,” Johnson said.

Q. Did Larry Johnson really use the word “dumdum?

A. He did. I love that word. I was so happy when he used it. Otherwise it would have just sounded like him griping. “Dumdum” added a whole new comic element. I wish more people would use words like that.

(SMG thanks Joe Posnanski for his cooperation)

An Interview with Gary Andrew Poole

“I don’t want to rely on conglomerates, like ESPN, for all of my sports information. I think the death of newspapers and the rise of monopolization in sports media doesn’t bode well for sports journalism.”

“There are a lot of talented writers out there and they are producing some good stuff, but the system is working against them. Everyone knows it. Journalists and readers are disturbed. Journalists want to do good work but they are being hamstrung.”

“Many newspaper leaders have decided to misuse their best writers: in many, but not all cases, they don’t allow them to do what they do best—report, put issues into context, and tell stories. Readers are smart and they realize this lapse in quality and seek out their information elsewhere.”

Gary Andrew Poole: Interviewed on January 15, 2009

Position: Journalist/Author

Born: Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Education: Colorado State, B.A.; Columbia University, M.S.

Career: Writing professionally since 1986, published in a variety of publications, including The New York Times, TIME, GQ, USA Today, Forbes, and Wired.

Personal: Married, two kids.

Favorite restaurant (home): Taco Truck, Temescal Canyon Road, Los Angeles. “Workingman’s food. Great huevos rancheros and fish soups for a few dollars.”

Favorite restaurant (away): Pizzetta 211, San Francisco. “A sentimental favorite. I know the owner, and she named a pizza after my daughter. “

Favorite hotel: Three-way tie: Hacienda Cucin, Ecuador “reminds me of an Agatha Christie novel”; Number 16, London, South Kensington area; Mauna Lani, Hawaii, “relaxing and my kids love it”.

Author of: The Galloping Ghost: Red Grange, an American Football Legend (Houghton Mifflin): www.garyandrewpoole.com

Gary Andrew Poole, Columbia Journalism Review, January 6, 2009:

http://www.cjr.org/essay/back_to_the_future_1.php?page=all

In the 1920s, The New Yorker published a piece that declared sports a “trivial enterprise” involving “second-rate people and their second-rate dreams and emotions.” The magazine went on to concede, however, that “the quality of writing in the sports pages is, in the large, much superior—wittier, more emotional, more dramatic, and more accurate—to the quality of writing that flows through the news columns.” Indeed, many of the greatest writers in journalism—Grantland Rice, W. C. Heinz, Jim Murray, Red Smith, to name but a few—found their home on the sports pages. Sports are big business and they have big themes: physical and intellectual tests, joy and heartbreak, hope and perseverance, teamwork and individual transcendence. The games and characters are ripe for vivid storytelling, and philosophic discourse about human nature and our culture. They are also part of a multibillion-dollar industry in need of dogged watchdog journalism.

But since the mid-1990s, two forces have diminished classic sports writing. First, television coverage in general has expanded, making hype and the sensational aspects of sports dominant. ESPN became a cultural and media juggernaut, sending fans to SportsCenter for highlights and scores, rendering game recaps and box scores in the next day’s newspapers obsolete. Newspapers gradually began reducing the size of game stories, dashing the more literary ambitions of their writers. Many of the more stylish writers migrated toward higher-profile and better-paying radio and television gigs, and the faster news cycle created a sports world in which the best reporting started getting sliced into smaller stories. It used to be that a star writer like Red Smith would cover the games and put all of his reporting into a substantial game story or one of his columns. “Red Smith was my inspiration to get into sports writing,” says Buster Olney, a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine who spent six years at The New York Times. “You read his writing and said, ‘Wow!’ Today, in four-hundred words you can get the basic details of the game story, but you miss the details and the anecdotes. It’s interesting, and important, to know how the players and managers think, why they made certain decisions. That’s the cool stuff, and it’s getting lost.”

The Web, meanwhile, did to sports writing what it has done to journalism more broadly: carved up the audience and exacerbated the more-faster-better mindset that cable TV began. Anyone can go to the Web anytime to get scores, rapid-fire articles about games, and gobs of analysis and statistics. There are generalized sports sites like ESPN.com and CNNSI.com, hyper-focused team news blogs, sites run by the athletes themselves, and irreverent sports sites such as Deadspin.

All this dramatically changed the job of the sports beat writer and columnist, traditionally the bedrock of sports writing. Malcolm Moran, who is the Pennsylvania State University’s Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society, says 2003 marked a sea change in sports writing. In April of that year, autigers.com, an Auburn University fan site, was flooded with posts about sightings of Mike Price, the head football coach at archrival Alabama, at a strip club in Pensacola, Florida. The scandal became a national story, and Price was fired. “We passed a threshold,” says Moran, who spent his reporting career at USA Today, The New York Times, Newsday, and the Chicago Tribune. “The next nine-hundred and ninety-nine pieces of speculation on a fan site have to be checked out, and it could cost you your job if you miss one. It changed the business, and not for the better.”

In addition to covering the games and the teams, beat writers now must chase blog-based rumors—and blog themselves. It’s an untenable situation, and most reporters simply react to the daily torrent of news bites while the bigger stories and issues go wanting. Even columnists are producing more hackneyed items. The last Pulitzer for a sports column went to Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times—in 1990. Mark Saxon, a beat writer for the Orange County Register, says today’s sports journalism is good for hardcore fans and fantasy league players looking for an edge, but the quality of the coverage and the overall storytelling have suffered.

These issues came to a head last April when Buzz Bissinger, the author of Friday Night Lights, confronted Will Leitch, then the editor of Deadspin (now with New York Magazine), on HBO’s Costas Now. Bissinger railed against blogs and taunted Leitch, brandishing a folder of vulgar blog posts and asking him if he had ever read the sports writer W. C. Heinz, who was Bissinger’s symbol for a tradition of greatness. “I think blogs are dedicated to cruelty; they’re dedicated to dishonesty; they’re dedicated to speed,” Bissinger said. After the show, Bissinger was ridiculed on the blogosphere and did an about-face, apologizing repeatedly and granting interviews to the blogs he had chastised.

I think Bissinger was on the right track but blaming the wrong medium. It is easy to criticize and stereotype bloggers, but most bloggers and their readers didn’t grow up devouring the latest Red Smith column with their morning coffee. Sports fans under thirty spent their formative years watching shows like ESPN’s Around the Horn, which features newspaper columnists shouting at each other like lunatics.

An interesting thing happened in the wake of the Bissinger-Leitch dustup: Deadspin and other blogs started interviewing older, celebrated sports writers, like Frank Deford. Check out the comments section on these long and fascinating Q&As—the young blog readers loved reading about these guys and seemed to enjoy their long-form narratives. In other words, readers of Deadspin appreciate great writing; it’s the newspapers that have given up on it, feeling as though they have to chase rumors and deliver a ceaseless stream of chicken-nugget news. In marketing parlance, sports sections have degraded their brand.

Like anything, this devolution of sports writing is complicated. People holding AARP cards tell me, “There are no more good sports writers.” That’s just not true. There are excellent writers out there: Buster Olney, Damon Hack, Gary Smith, John Feinstein, and Rick Reilly come immediately to mind, and there are others, some at smaller papers—Terry Pluto, a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, for example—working under the national radar. So far, the magazine industry hasn’t suffered the same kind of economic devastation that has befallen newspapers, and Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Sporting News, and The New Yorker still, on occasion, publish put-down-your-iPhone-and-read-this articles. SI and ESPN are publishing some nice narrative work in the magazine, and on the Web, particularly in The Bonus and E-Ticket sections. Yahoo has hired some ex-newspaper stars and done some good investigative stories. In other words, all is not lost.

But here is a typical scenario that illustrates the problem for newspaper sports sections. Beat writers covering a baseball game see a player strain a hamstring. Immediately they are all on their BlackBerries posting an item about the injury and how the batting order was just changed. Something must be posted! Any writer who misses the tidbit will be called on it by his or her editor. But everyone has the same information; no one “scoops” anyone. So why not wait and weave that tidbit into the game story? The reporter would have the chance to go to the locker room and ask questions, talk to the manager about the change in strategy after the injury—to add context and nuance and narrative. These days, that sort of insight is too often lost. “If I were the editor,” says ESPN’s Buster Olney, who also blogs, “I would say, ‘Don’t worry about beating the seven other papers on the hamstring story; focus on developing your thousand-word game story. Remember the great writing you loved as a kid? Write it up like that.’”

Tim McGuire, a former editor and senior vice president of the Minneapolis Star Tribune who now teaches the business of journalism at Arizona State University, says newspaper management is showing a lack of leadership. “It’s a mission problem. The reporters are doing too much, and they’re confused about their mission,” he says. “We’re pouring the same news on people that they can get anywhere.” What’s needed, McGuire says, is for newspapers to play to their strengths. Make statistical information readily available on newspaper Web sites, of course, but it’s time for narrative storytelling and vividly written game stories to make a comeback—because journalists know how to weave tales, put events in context, and act as intermediaries to the firehose of information on the Web. Most bloggers don’t have that skill or, more important, that mission.

I spent the last few years working on a biography of Red Grange, a football player who played in the 1920s. In my research, I studied a century’s worth of sports writing, from W.C. Heinz and Red Smith to Hunter S. Thompson. As I read through yellowed newspapers, I encountered descriptive writing, clever word play, references to Shakespeare, the Bible, heroic couplets—and a wise eye toward human nature. I could see, smell, and hear these games. And when the stars played poorly, the writers didn’t soften the language leaving their Underwoods. They were not glorified flaks, as they are now often portrayed. Thompson, for instance, would study game film with NFL players to better understand their athletic choices.

Sports journalism has had its failings—homerism, winking at behavior that should have been scrutinized, and turning a blind eye to racial inequality, to name a few. The biggest story of modern sports is performance-enhancing drugs, a story which has been subject to some uneven coverage. While there were whisperings in the press, and Sports Illustrated bravely highlighted the issue in 2002, I wonder if Major League Baseball’s steroid scandal would have gotten past Grantland Rice, Westbrook Pegler, Heinz et al. My bet? Through their dogged reporting and descriptions of the players’ ridiculously bulked-up frames, the juicing would have been exposed early on.

The sports section is called the “toy department” by those who think its mission is more fun than consequential. But go to any major sporting event and you’ll see that the importance of sports to our culture is obvious; they are part of people’s dreams, of how they define themselves. The sports pages used to hold the honor as one of the best-written and best-reported sections in a newspaper. It’s important for sports, for newspapers, and for our society that they recapture that mantle.

Q. Isn’t journalism market-driven? And if so, isn’t the market getting what it wants from sports media?

A. Journalism – like any business – is market-driven, but just because McDonald’s sells a billion chicken McNuggets doesn’t mean it is the most worthwhile food on the planet. It is easy to write-off any industry as not able to make it in the marketplace, but let’s think about our society. We live in an information culture, and there needs to be a premium on education, knowledge, and reason. An ignorant society makes ignorant decisions. Daily journalism plays an important function in our society, and should serve a watchdog role.

In sports media, I enjoy ESPN and SI, and I read a lot of blogs—I like the kaleidoscope of opinions, information, and humor. But I also believe newspapers play a critical role in a well-informed society. I don’t want to rely on conglomerates, like ESPN, for all of my sports information. I think the death of newspapers and the rise of monopolization in sports media doesn’t bode well for sports journalism.

A large part of my essay actually addressed the issue of the market, i.e. readers. I believe the public wants newspapers to serve a watchdog role, give context and tell stories. Newspapers are deluding their strengths. The number of people expressing their frustrations with newspaper content indicates that newspaper managers have mismanaged their strategies and have had a failure of vision by underestimating readers.

Q. You suggest that the quality of storytelling in sports journalism has suffered. But isn’t quality subjective and personal? And if so, doesn’t your essay say more about you than about the state of sports media?

A. I am not suggesting it has suffered: it is suffering. A good indication is the Pulitzer Prize: the last one for sports commentary went to Jim Murray—in 1990. And there are other signs of demise: layoffs and a frustration with the profession have lead to a brain drain–many of the best storytellers are leaving the profession. For example, Washington Post Pulitzer finalist Tony Kornheiser has migrated toward higher-profile and better-paying television gigs, and I could list other talented stars who are writing less and talking more.

Anecdotally, I have had an overwhelmingly positive response to the CJR essay. Newspaper journalists, from writers at the San Jose Mercury News, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, the Associated Press, and many other papers, large and small, have sent me emails thanking me for writing the piece. They are sending it around to colleagues. Bloggers are tracking me down and writing letters of support; bloggers devour sports journalism and they want newspapers to do better. They all recognize the issues. There are a lot of talented writers out there and they are producing some good stuff, but the system is working against them. Everyone knows it. Journalists and readers are disturbed. Journalists want to do good work but they are being hamstrung.

My essay was a plea to editors and newspaper managers: let sports writers do what they do best.

Q. You seem to be saying that technology has bent art – within sports media – to its needs. But is that really a concern – hasn’t art always used technology to re-invent itself?

A. My essay was not intended to say that technology is bad, or blogs are bad, or instant information is bad. I like all three. Yes, technology does change art. New technologies have always changed writing, from Gutenberg’s printing press to the Web. I spent a lot of my career covering technology and I am definitely not Pollyannaish about it; I am not crying into my martini about the good ol’ days.

I was trying to make the rather logical argument that newspaper – online or print – sports editors are mis-allocating their best resources. If you were a football coach and you had the best throwing quarterback, the best receiver, and the best pass rushing line, and you decided to run the ball every play, you would get fired. Well, many newspaper leaders have decided to misuse their best writers: in many, but not all cases, they don’t allow them to do what they do best—report, put issues into context, and tell stories. Readers are smart and they realize this lapse in quality and seek out their information elsewhere.

Some people make the argument that the marketplace is speaking, and they don’t care if newspapers go out of business. I think if you’re a sports fan -or a citizen – you should care.

People need to consider the future. Bloggers tend to write off the news, but think about five years from now when newspaper staffs are greatly reduced. More than 15,000 journalists lost their jobs in 2008, and many papers are in trouble: the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle P-I are the two latest papers on life support. There will be more layoffs and shutdowns this year. While I like the democratization of the media, I also think it is good to have so-called mainstream reporters reporting the news. It is important to have a professional who is steeped in ethics and basic practices of journalism covering the local sports team, and the local school board.

Q. Are you aware that Westbrook Pegler was a notorious anti-Semite?

Yes. I probably should have painted a fuller picture of Pegler, a writer I admire for his sports writing, and whom I deplore for his anti-Semitic views.

In the course of writing my biography of Red Grange, I studied Pegler’s writing because he was a prominent sports columnist in the 1920s. He was an incredibly gifted writer, and he was envied among the press corps for his biting wit and brilliantly composed articles. His sports writing was a counter-point to the so-called gee-whiz school of sports writing popularized by Grantland Rice. In 1933 he turned away from sports and started writing a nationally syndicated political column, which would rail against the New Deal – he felt FDR was too powerful – and labor unions. He won a Pulitzer for his journalism. In the 1950s he started going off the deep end, and, as you point out, he was a notorious anti-Semite. I think the John Birch Society might have kicked him out, if that tells you anything about how much he lost it. Of course, I don’t condone his anti-Semitism, but Pegler has to be part of the discussion when talking about sports writing greats because Pegler was a master of the form. I guess it is akin to Henry Ford in auto making history, Ty Cobb in baseball history, or Bobby Fischer in chess history–for better or worse they are significant figures and can’t be ignored.

Q. You cite Grantland Rice as someone likely to have cracked baseball’s steroid scandal. Yet, Ira Berkow, in his biography of Red Smith, wrote: “Rice was the most notable practitioner of the “Gee Whiz” school of sports journalism….Rice hardly ever attacked anyone and seemed to accept sports virtually without qualm or criticism. He once said that “when a sportswriter stops making heroes out of athletes, it’s time to get out of the business.” Why do you find Rice so admirable?

A. In the context of my article, I am citing Rice’s writing chops, which were also, by the way, praised by The New Yorker magazine. But I must disagree with the characterization of Rice, and other 1920s era writers, as suck-ups. The press box was as varied as it is today. I don’t think Rice would have admired and tolerated cheaters.

I read a lot of the sports journalism of the 1920s, and I came away admiring the writers. Yes, some of the writers in the so-called gee-whiz school piled on the hyperbole – a significant amount of it was tongue ‘n’ check, which seems to be lost by more earnest modern readers of the copy – and people tend to focus on Rice’s story leads, but if you read past the leads there was a lot of depth and excellent reporting in the articles and the story-telling was top-notch. For example, Rice had no trouble criticizing Red Grange—his era’s most popular and largest star of the gridiron—when he played poorly, and when Grange had a child out of wedlock, and was sued, the writers covered it.

I am not saying these guys were without flaws, but my specific point in the essay was that 1920s era writers were masters of description and fond of the absurd so they would have loved pointing out the ridiculous state of athletes’ chemically-enhanced physiques. They would have had a field day with Jose Canseco.

Q. You cite Red Smith as a sportswriting great. Yet, Smith, prior to Jackie Robinson’s arrival, “did not attack the color barrier in print”, according to Ira Berkow. When Connie Mack unleashed a racist tirade against Robinson and Branch Rickey in March 1946, and gave permission to publish it, Smith decided not to write it. Not until a year after Robinson integrated Major League Baseball did Smith devote a full column to blacks in baseball. Why do you find Smith so admirable?

A. Obviously not for his silence on the color barrier and the Robinson incident you described, but given that Red Smith won the Pulitzer – he was cited for “erudition, literary quality, vitality and freshness of viewpoint” -, Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway called Smith “the most important force in American sportswriting,” and he was known as the “Shakespeare of the press box,” it is impossible to write an article about great sports writing and leave out Smith, a stylist of the first order.

Red Smith was a sports writing great. But I am glad you asked this question. It reminds me of Barak Obama’s profound speech about race during the election. He talked about the painful history of race in this country and its complexity, using the lens of his former church, “The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and, yes, the bitterness and biases that make up the black experience in America,” and he went onto talk about his own white grandmother who “helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.”

Our racial history is filled with grief, pain, bravery and cowardice and newspapers have not always been aggressive enough in covering it, a point, I note in the essay. Newspapers have a lot to be proud of and a lot to be ashamed of. It is unfortunate that Smith didn’t attack the color barrier, as it is unfortunate that most writers, athletes, sports fans, and our society didn’t attack it. It is a national shame. When Peggy Noonan endorsed Obama for president she had an interesting line in her column: “A great moment: When the press was hitting hard on the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, he did not respond with a politically shrewd ‘I have no comment,’ or ‘We shouldn’t judge.’ Instead he said, ‘My mother had me when she was 18,’ which shamed the press and others into silence. He showed grace when he didn’t have to.”

Jackie Robinson, a transformational man, did the same thing for the color barrier in baseball: through his grace he shined a light on small-mindedness. Sometimes it takes a brave person to expose our failings. It is a shame that Smith was not more of an advocate for racial justice because he would have carried a lot of influence. Journalists—and athletes–have a lot of responsibility and it is not always used wisely, even to this day.

Q. Congratulations on your new book, “The Galloping Ghost”. Why is Red Grange relevant today?

A. Thanks. His triumphs and struggles provide a pattern still followed, for better or worse, by today’s athletes. There has not been a lot written about Grange, who ESPN named the greatest ever college football player, and so I spent two years traveling across the country researching the book, reading lot of sports journalism but also digging through court records, oral histories, film clips, letters, etc.—the forensics of research—to tell the story of The Galloping Ghost.

Grange, who had his glory years in the 1920s, was the first significant college football star to turn pro, and to make a fortune – and lose it – playing professional football. As William Nack, a great sports writer in his own right and the editor of The Best American Sports Writing 2008, says: “Red Grange was the most important figure in the history of American football.” Grange partnered with the first sports agent who sold Grange into the movies, and other enterprises. He was a national star who rivaled Babe Ruth in popularity.

Sports play a significant role in our culture, and football has become our national game; I wanted to tell the story of football and explore its origins. If you draw a line in the mud of history and go back to the founder of our football culture, you will find Red Grange. He was our first sports commodity, and a significant figure—a transformational figure–in American sports history.

(SMG thanks Gary Andrew Poole for his cooperation)

An Interview with Terry Pluto

“I tried to be as fair as I could – it was very hard. I made it clear I had a personal attachment to the guy. Full disclosure is something we can do as columnists. The only answer was to be honest in describing our relationship so that people could know where I was coming from.”

“Everybody knew what was going on but did we know who? Did you want to start guessing? What if you’re wrong? If you name ten and get eight right it’s not like a test in school where you get a b-minus. You’ve got two libel suits and you’ve implicated two guys who were clean.”

“When you get e-mails from the Ohio National Guard in Kuwait you know the world has changed. Talk about guys who need a break. They write me e-mails about the Browns defensive line. They don’t say much about anything going on there. I get their addresses and send them my books or media guides…”

Terry Pluto: Interviewed on January 8, 2008

Position: Columnist, Cleveland Plain-Dealer

Born: 1955, Cleveland

Education: Cleveland State, 1977, History, Secondary Education, Social Studies

Career: Greensboro News-Record 1977-78, Savannah Morning News 78-79, Baltimore Evening Sun 79, Cleveland Plain-Dealer 79-84, Savannah 84-85, Akron Beacon Journal 85-2007, Cleveland Plain-Dealer 2007 –

Personal: married, (Roberta)

Favorite restaurant (home): The Courtyard Café, Brecksville, Ohio “great seafood, which is hard to find here unless you want walleye”

Favorite restaurant (road): Bertha’s, Fells Point, Baltimore; McCormick’s Fish House, Seattle

Favorite hotel: Hilton Garden Inns

Terry Pluto, from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, October 22, 2007:

Boston – I don’t know why Paul Byrd used Human Growth Hormone (HGH). I don’t know if it was to treat a pituitary gland condition, as the Tribe pitcher has told a few media outlets – or if there was more to it.

I consider the Indians pitcher one of the best people I’ve met in sports. We’ve had some long discussions about life away from sports, about dealing with temptations on the road. We talked about trying to live our faith and not coming across as a phony or being better than anyone else, and how we say we want to follow God and know there are times when we fell so short.

I thought about that as Byrd stood with his back against a wall in the bowels of Fenway Park on Sunday. He was surrounded by about 80 reporters. It was less than two hours before the Indians were to play Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Byrd was having a quick press conference after his name was mentioned in a San Francisco Chronicle story saying he bought nearly $25,000 worth of HGH.

His name is the latest to come out in the last few months. Others mentioned include Baltimore’s Jay Gibbons, Toronto’s Troy Glaus, the Angels’ Gary Matthews Jr., the Rangers’ Jerry Hairston Jr., the Mets’ Scott Schoeneweis and Rick Ankiel of St. Louis. No doubt, there will be more coming as clinics and pharmacies are being raided by authorities across the country. Records are being seized, names are being leaked.

Byrd insisted he never cheated. He said he never took anything without a doctor’s prescription. The newspaper reported Byrd used HGH from 2002 until 2005. Baseball banned it on Jan. 13, 2005, so it’s very possible Byrd did nothing illegal – especially since documents show Byrd’s final HGH order was a week before the ban was announced.

I was relieved when I read that. I so want Byrd to be clean on this issue, but this is a mess.

Byrd did receive HGH from doctors.

But the newspaper reported one of the “doctors” is a dentist who was suspended in 2003 for fraud. He reportedly wrote two prescriptions. On other occasions, Byrd received HGH from the Palm Beach Rejuvenation Center, which was raided by authorities in February. Ten people have pleaded guilty to various charges as the clinic is under investigation for alleged fraudulent sales and prescriptions of drugs, including steroids and HGH.

Byrd was hurting, not sure what to say, and hating the idea that the story came out now. The newspaper contacted him and the Tribe on Friday for a comment, and they said nothing until Sunday.

He did not delve into the details of where he received the HGH – or who wrote the prescriptions. He said he may talk about it later. The newspaper reported that Byrd bought about 1,000 vials of HGH along with hundreds of syringes. They were delivered to the Atlanta Braves’ training facility in Florida, to his house in suburban Atlanta and even to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York when Byrd’s Braves were in town.

I thought about Byrd’s career, how he has come back from arm problems several times. How he had major arm surgery in 2003. How he never was a commanding physical specimen. I thought about how he looks so normal at about 6 foot, 190 pounds – and how his fastball is so unusually slow, often in the 85 mph range.

I thought about how Byrd was using the HGH during the period of his arm trouble. I thought of how former Indian Matt Lawton told Baseball Weekly in 2005 when he tested positive for steroids when he was battling a knee injury with the Yankees, “I wasn’t physically able to do the job . . . I was desperate.”

I put myself in the place of Lawton on a bum knee, of any athlete fighting for his health and his career.

I asked myself, “What would I do?” Would I use a substance that wasn’t “illegal,” something that I knew others were injecting, even if I had to go to strange means to get it? I think most of us would know the answer to that.

I doubt most people will hold much against Byrd. He said he had nothing to hide, that he used a credit card for the purchases. He said he never took more than what was prescribed, and that he knows some people will never believe him – regardless of what he says. I just hope he takes time to pray about this, and explain it a little more. There are a lot of people who still believe in Paul Byrd and want to believe the best about him.

Q. Reflections on your Paul Byrd column?

A. It’s a lot easier to write negatively about Barry Bonds or someone you don’t really know than someone like Paul Byrd who acts like an average Joe and look like one. He wouldn’t be picked out of a lineup as a ballplayer, nor would you guess he was one.

We found out when he had an arm injury he was using HGH. It was very hard for me to imagine. You never would have guessed – it shows how pervasive the stuff is. He’s a guy I e-mail with and am somewhat friendly – he’s like a guy from down the street or from your church or someone you work with. This came from a paper trail from a guy who was a dentist but who no longer is a dentist – not someone likely to be treating a pituitary. I want to believe Paul on the pituitary thing but I couldn’t ignore that.

In the end I could have written it better – I just don’t know how. That night was brutal. They hurriedly threw the press conference together, at the ALCS, against a wall in the corridor, not the interview room. You could hardly hear everything. It was 7:30 and we had 90 minutes to get it done. The Indians were saying nothing. All we had was the San Francisco Chronicle story, and we had to write something. I tried to be as fair as I could – it was very hard. I made it clear I had a personal attachment to the guy. Full disclosure is something we can do as columnists. The only answer was to be honest in describing our relationship so that people could know where I was coming from. You can’t act like a Supreme Court justice writing a legal brief. You’re writing more from the heart than the head.

Q. Did the Byrd story cause you to reflect on what you wrote in the past?

A. Not really. I haven’t been a big screamer like some of the others because I felt it was so pervasive. It was always obvious to me – when people started getting caught, mostly no-name players, and as many pitchers as hitters in the first go-round – that it showed. I didn’t know what to think other than that I didn’t like it and I wished it was 1964 again. I just didn’t like it – it was like a tenet of society was falling down. That’s one thing I hated about the Olympics – I thought of it as a battle of chemists. I felt it was a shame my favorite sports got into that, and will be into it even more, since there’s no urine test that can detect HGH. It’s going to continue. I wish Paul had done what Matt Lawton did when he got caught with the Yankees. He said he knew he was wrong but he was desperate to keep his career going and he did it. People appreciate that kind of honesty more than some of the other stories we’ve heard.

Q. What did you write during the home run race in 1998?

A. I didn’t mention steroids at all. It’s easy now to say you should have been calling these guys out. How? My thing was if I’m not sure I’m not writing it. Yeah, these guys were big, but I didn’t see one affidavit or document – nothing. Everybody knew what was going on but did we know who? Did you want to start guessing? What if you’re wrong? If you name ten and get eight right it’s not like a test in school where you get a b-minus. You’ve got two libel suits and you’ve implicated two guys who were clean.

Q. What have you written about Roger Clemens?

A. I haven’t written about it yet. I’ll probably write that somebody has to produce some paper – nobody has produced paper either way. The stuff came from somewhere – somebody bought it and paid for it. Let’s see what it is. Mitchell had cancelled checks on 10 or 12 players.

We didn’t’ have any of that stuff 10 years ago. Maybe the papers should have looked harder. The San Francisco Chronicle invested huge amounts of money, time and manpower. This was not an easy story to crack – not if you’re going to do it responsibly.

I wrote a lot of steroid columns and nobody cared. Even my last column off the Mitchell Report – I said Bud Selig should go after players where there is a clear paper trail – I got maybe a dozen e-mails, which is hardly anything. They were six and six down the middle.

I think sports fans just don’t care.

Q. Why not?

A. Maybe they’re just jaded. Guys get suspended a lot for steroids in the NFL – they do four games and come back and play and it’s hardly mentioned. Some people don’t understand what steroids are – others feel like they flunked a science class. It’s hard enough raising kids and keeping a job – you’re thinking about those things all the time. When you come to sports you don’t want to go into that big closet of skeletons. You just want to watch the game. Most fans just want to talk about who should be traded or who should be coach. Sport is soap opera for males.

Q. Does that make you an entertainment writer?

A. Sure. You want to get it right, but c’mon. I ain’t covering the city council meeting, and I ain’t writing about crime in the streets. I’m writing about the Cavs and Sonics tonight, about LeBron and Durant. Hopefully it will be a good show.

You can write stuff that makes an impact but for the most part you’re a sportswriter. I love writing and I love sports but I don’t take myself too seriously. I realize I’m giving them popcorn and chocolate sundaes.

When fans get bent out of joint I say ‘don’t let the millionaires ruin your day’. I mean that.

There’s definitely a role for investigative guys – look what they did at the Chronicle. That’s not my job. As a columnist I can comment but I’m not out there breaking a big story. Some columnists take themselves way too seriously. I don’t think our opinion is that much better than anybody’s. Hopefully, we’re more informed. We have access to get information and we should do that and always try to be fair. I once got an e-mail from somebody who challenged whether a high school player should be fair game for the media. I wrote back that everybody is fair game. Fair means you should be fair judging a kid as a 16-year-old, not as a 21-year-old college player.

Q. You write about high school sports?

A. Once or twice a month. That’s two stories a month away from the pros – I love it. I’m a little different than other columnists. My goal is to be read in the community, to be fair, and to write about what people are talking about. Just because a guy makes a dumb trade doesn’t make him an idiot – smart people do stupid things all the time. You don’t hammer someone as an idiot for making one mistake. We’ve gotten to a point where we’re seeing who can out-scream whom.

Q. Is the coverage in Ohio more forgiving that on the coasts?

A. It’s certainly different than the east coat – milder. I’m amused when people say it’s tough here. In New York the tabloid photos with wild headlines can make somebody look like an idiot. They’ve got the Post and Daily News and the Boston Herald – it’s rough business over there.

It’s more fair here – you don’t have to scream as loud to get attention. Part of it is you don’t have four papers in Cleveland vying for attention. That’s good and bad. Competition is good, but competition can lead to cheating and all kinds of shortcuts. In general it’s good but not always.

Q. Who is your competition?

When I was at the Beacon-Journal we viewed the Plain Dealer as competition. I haven’t been at the Plain Dealer long enough to figure it out. You don’t want to get beat by the Beacon-Journal or the Lake County News-Herald. It’s a little different now. You don’t want to get beat by espn.com, or si.com.

Q. Do the websites operate on a lower standard of sourcing and confirmation?

Maybe, but not necessarily. I know those guys at espn.com – Gammons, Pascarelli, Stark, Kurkjian – they all came out of our business, and they’re all ethical guys. When I read their stuff I don’t say ‘Nah, it doesn’t sound right’. I’ve got great respect for them.

Q. Who do you read?

A. Guys on the websites. I tend to check the websites more than columnists from other papers, probably because it’s easier. Also, they tend to write in my backyard more than somebody else. I love to read Bob Ryan (Boston Globe) – he’s a friend. He writes like he talks, which is cool. Mitch Albom (Detroit Free Press) writes so well people are jealous of him. Joe Posnanski (KC Star) is terrific. I check espn.com first thing in the morning. Their reach must be staggering.

Q. Who were your influences?

A. Hal Lebovitz at the Plain-Dealer – he was my favorite writer as a kid. He was the voice of Cleveland – a clever guy. I also liked reading Bob Sudyk, who covered the Indians for the Cleveland Press. He was a classic PM writer with offbeat angles. I loved Tom Boswell when he was doing features for the (Washington) Post. It was harder to read people back then because you didn’t have the Internet. You read guys in your hometown. Now kids can read almost anybody.

Q. Is everybody a national writer now?

A. A good number of my e-mails come from out of the Plain-Dealer circulation area. When you get e-mails from the Ohio National Guard in Kuwait you know the world has changed. Talk about guys who need a break. They write me e-mails about the Browns defensive line. They don’t say much about anything going on there. I get their addresses and send them my books or media guides – it takes about eight days to get there. It seems like the Ohio guys always accompany the convoys out of Kuwait to Iraq – I hear from the base in Kuwait. Blind people read me – talk about feeling good. I don’t know how they do it, but it makes me feel great. Shut-ins tend to be the biggest fans.

The Internet makes you more accountable. If you write something about somebody that person will see it. You better be right because if you screw up the facts somebody will catch it. Yes, the blogs are irresponsible. But the flip side is that it holds the mainstream media to be all the more accountable. You have so many more eyes looking at you and they can check things quicker too.

Q. Are standards higher now than when you broke in?

A. Yes. I’m not one who looks back with great romantic eyes. I’m not sure the writing is always better. But in terms of accountability, certainly, because papers are pressured more to get it right, and when they’re wrong, they’re pressured more to correct it.

(SMG thanks Terry Pluto for his cooperation)

An Interview with Bill Plaschke

“My whole theory of writing is I try to find people in the shadows…They’re really stories about us.”

“I once wrote a column in which I condoned several lawbreaking acts…I tend to get too excited and write with my heart on my sleeve and my foot in my mouth.”

“I never criticize anybody else for their sentence structure or choice of words. There’s room for all of us. I talk fast with little bullets and emphasis and that’s how I hear stories and how I write.”

“If columnists become bloggers we’re dead…I always look to see how much a column was reported. Or did they write from the couch. I hate couch columns.”

Bill Plaschke: Interviewed on May 15, 2007

Position: columnist, LA Times

Born: 1958, Louisville, Kentucky

Career: South Florida Sun-Sentinel 1980-83, Seattle Post-Intelligencer 83-87, LA Times 87-

Education: SIU Edwardsville, 1980, communications

Favorite restaurant (home): Denny’s, Eagle Rock, LA, “I go for my chicken fried steak and eggs at midnight after Dodgers games”

Favorite restaurant (road): Bill Johnson’s Big Apple, Phoenix, “plastic cow on the roof, sawdust on the floor, great apple pie and ice cream”

Favorite hotel: (place and comment) ‘anhyplace that will eave a light on for me, any Marriott courtrayd, internet access and HBO are only two things I want in a hotel”

Bill Plaschke excerpted from the LA Times, May 4, 2007:

LAS VEGAS — When the star Dodger routinely showed up for day games still drunk from the previous night, the clubhouse guy knew his role.

“It was my job to protect the team,” Dave Dickenson said. “That’s what I did.”

Dickenson said he would pour a cup of beer and place it in the dugout bathroom. The star player would sneak there between innings for a drink, and continue drinking throughout the game.

“The guy couldn’t play with a hangover, so we had to keep him going,” Dickenson said. “Hey, he played great, and nobody complained.”

Such is the motto of baseball’s minimum-wage, major-impact clubhouse attendants.

Keep them going, and nobody will complain.

Make the players look good, and management will look the other way.

Wash their cars. Walk their dogs. Bring them women.

And, in at least one case in New York, give them drugs.

Amid news that former Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski pleaded guilty to distributing steroids, Major League Baseball is considering examining the unusual relationship between players and the handful of guys in every clubhouse who ostensibly only order their bats and wash their jocks.

“It’s not about doing the laundry, it’s about keeping the player happy,” said Dickenson, a former longtime beloved Dodgers clubhouse attendant and manager. “And you’ll do anything to keep the player happy.”

Known throughout baseball as “Bonesy,” the wiry 38-year-old was fired last year after 14 seasons in Dodgers clubhouses for, sources say, drinking and partying too much with the players.

He thought the alleged reasoning was interesting, because he considered it his job to be close to players.

“Teams want their clubhouses to work smoothly,” he said. “But they don’t always want to understand how that happens.”

On Thursday near his Las Vegas home, where he is working in a country club golf shop and studying to becoming a teaching pro, Dickenson talked about those sometimes ugly inner workings that, until now, baseball executives have chose to ignore.

He said he never saw a steroid at Dodger Stadium. However, he did say that before baseball’s amphetamine ban, he would commonly vacuum “greenies” off the floor after games.

Q. What was the background to the Dave Dickenson story? Why did you go after it?

A. My whole theory of writing is I try to find people in the shadows. Stories in the shadows, I think, grab the reader. To me anybody can do a column on Tiger Woods. What separates newspapers from other media is we can take the time to find people who live and operate in shadows and bring to light stories that really seem to move people. They’re really stories about us.

Who can’t relate to a guy who has to kiss somebody’s butt to make a living – that’s what a clubhouse guy does. The bigger the athlete these days the more they’re like a movie star or rock star – we just can’t relate to their lives. Hopefully we can relate to Dave Dickenson because we have all been in that position before. Those are the folks I try to talk to all the time. While they’re working there they can never talk to the media, but later on down the road maybe they can. With the clubhouse thing in New York I was in our office and (Times SE) Randy Harvey said “What about Bonesy?” I said, “Yeah, we’re old friends.” I had talked to him a couple of times after he got fired but at the time we didn’t think there was enough of a hook for the reader. Now there was.

Q. Your column came off as sympathetic to Dickenson. Would you feel the same way if Dickenson were found to have sold steroids to players?

A. I’ll never condone breaking the law, but I am very sympathetic to the guys who have to scrape by. I would not condone him selling steroids – at that point I would say ‘wait a minute’ and back off. But I’m sympathetic to the guys who have to get by with their wits and hands – because I was one of those guys.

I once wrote a column in which I condoned several lawbreaking acts. That was when John Rocker took the mound at Dodger Stadium and fans pelted him and one ran on the field and mooned him. I wrote that the fans see him as the world sees him. I was impassioned in applauding LA fans for razzing this guy. But there was the matter of assault with a deadly weapon – throwing a water bottle – and mooning, which is indecent exposure. I tend to get too excited and write with my heart on my sleeve and my foot in my mouth. One of our beat writers was looking over my shoulder and said ‘You can’t do that’. I had to rewrite it for the second edition.

Q. Jim Sterkel, Dave Dickenson, Roy Gleason, the people at Jackie Robinson Field. Shawn Crews. Some of your best columns are about ‘little guys’. Why?

A. That’s who I am. I’m just writing about myself. I went to college at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. I lived in a church basement. We had limited sports at my college. I ended up having to write about people. People there don’t care about games and scores – they care about people. I learned to write from that. When I was a junior in college I applied for 50 internships and got one letter back. When I was a senior I applied for 50 more internships and got one letter back. So I was that guy.

Some of these small guys are everyday heroes – people who triumph over circumstances or who have made their mark on the landscape despite not having money or fame or power. That’s what defines us as people. Not by our strongest or most famous members of society but by our smallest and how they deal with their lives. That’s what I love writing about.

Q. What did your parents do?

A. My dad worked at a printing factory in Louisville. My mom worked as a data processor for Ford Motor Company. My dad got transferred to southern Illinois when I got out of high school. I got in a car with my little brother and we drove until we found a college. That’s how I ended up at Edwardsville.

My parents told me you’re one step away from the gutter no matter how high the sidewalk is. That’s what drives a lot of us in this business – fear of failure. It could be gone tomorrow.

Q. How important is reporting to a column?

A. The whole thing. Too many columnists are writing a talk radio script. That’s wrong. Readers can get that somewhere else. We have to give them something they can’t get anywhere else. I look for a well-reported column.

If columnists become bloggers we’re dead. We have to go out and report and use our access and credibility. We have to do that. I always look to see how much a column was reported. Or did they write from the couch. I hate couch columns.

I love to read a columnist who reports. Right now I’m going to a high school baseball game. A kid out here has tied the single season California high school home run record. No steroids – it’s a pure thing. Earlier this year he broke the career record. Some 13-year-old caught the ball and the principal made him give it back. And the kid who hit it felt so bad he gave it back to the other kid. Chatsworth High School. Mike Moustakas. Today is his last regular season game and he wants to break the record. No matter what happens I’ll get a column. This is what a home run chase should feel like. Nobody booing.

Q. How does one become a good writer?

A. I don’t know. I’m still trying, brother. I read whatever I can – all the other writers all the time – and I get things in my head and try new things. I don’t think I’m a great writer yet but I’m still trying. To borrow a baseball analogy, you go in the batting cage and look at a bunch of pitches and then you go to the plate and freaking swing for the fences. Some you hit out and some you don’t but how are you going to know unless you try it? That kills more writers than anything – they try to write like a SportsCenter script, or they do the clichéd game thing: fancy lead, quote, graf, quote, graf.

I was so bothered and bored by the Lakers during their second championship run that when they swept Sacramento I wrote a column from the vantage point of a broom. I was the broom. It was the worst piece of writing in history – somebody should have stopped me. I walked into the locker room the next day and Shaq said, “There he is – the broom.” I swung and missed, and I still do.

You have to study up on writers and take your best swing. Another baseball analogy: your writing style is your swing but your vantage point, or tone, is like pitching. You need four pitches – make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em think, and make ‘em mad. I think I’ve got three pitches okay. The hardest thing is to make ‘em laugh. Part of my problem is following Jim Murray, who was probably the funniest columnist ever. Also Scott Ostler (SF Chronicle) and Mike Downey (Chicago Tribune) – they were at our paper, too. It’s very daunting to follow in their footsteps. Humor is hard for me. I’m still working on my four pitches.

Q. Who does humor well?

A. Ray Ratto (SF Chronicle) is really funny. Laugh-out-loud funny.

Q. Who do you read?

A. Gary Shelton (St. Petersburg Times) Ian O’Connor (The Record), Joe Posnanski (KC Star), Martin Fennelly (Tampa Tribune), Geoff Calkins (Memphis Commercial Appeal), Rick Morrissey (Chicago Tribune), Mike Downey, Art Thiel (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) and Steve Kelley (Seattle Times). Gene Wojciechowski (espn.com) Selena Roberts (NY Times) and Sally Jenkins (Washington Post). Dave Kindred (Golf Digest), anywhere anytime. He needs to open up a school and invite young writers. If I was a sports editor I’d send my young writers to Dave. Dave Hyde (Sun-Sentinel) – he wrote a terrific piece on Jake Scott.

Q. Does some of your work blur the line between a column and a feature?

A. I try to put my voice in. I do have an opinion. Maybe it’s just one sentence, but I always try to have the reader know it’s my tone or opinion. You can do that even in the story about a kid overcoming obstacles. You can say good for him, or good for the school, or too bad for his parents.

Q. You use a lot of one-sentence grafs. Why is that?

A. I write like I talk and like I listen. I don’t think as writers we can get on high horses and expect people to read us because we’re writing flowery prose or six-sentence grafs. I’m just a regular dude telling my stories and that’s how I do it. People chide me for it sometimes. There are many ways to skin this job. I never criticize anybody else for their sentence structure or choice of words. There’s room for all of us. I talk fast with little bullets and emphasis and that’s how I hear stories and how I write. Some people hear differently than me. I am disappointed when we criticize others to make ourselves feel better. There’s no need for that.

Q. Do you have an opinion about everything? Is indifference permitted a general sports columnist?

A. Good question. I recently had that debate with another columnist. Sometimes there are gray areas, but I’m not paid for gray areas. I’m passionate about everything. It gets me in trouble. I try to present both sides, but I don’t see gray, and I don’t think gray. Ask the people who know me – I see everything as good or bad.

Q. Is there anything unique about writing in the LA market? Would your style work in New York?

A. I think fans here are very sophisticated and very smart. They don’t love their team at all costs. If a team screws up they will be the first to admit it. They don’t hate their team at all costs. They see sports as entertainment. My style works here. I will write that the Dodgers and Lakers stink, but readers like regular stories, too. Dodger fans are famous for leaving the game early. This is an entertainment-minded populace – if the drama is done you leave the movie. To them the movie is over. So I think people are sophisticated here and appreciate these kind of stories. Hopefully if I was in New York – they have great columnists and don’t need anybody else – writing about human beings works anywhere. It’s not just about shouting, and I’m not implying that’s what New York columnists do.

The LA you hear about is Hollywood, but ninety percent of LA is not like that. It’s a wonderful melting pot and many cultures and people, and it’s very much made up of working class people who have big dreams and immigrants trying to grab their little piece of our world. I screw it up a lot of times, but I do my best to portray LA as a small town of regular folks, which is what we are. Even within the entertainment industry there are a lot of regular folks. One percent are actors. I know a lot of sound engineers. We’re not all Paris Hiltons.

(SMG thanks Bill Plaschke for his cooperation)

An Interview with David Pinto

“I read The Hardball Times, Baseball Prospectus, Sabernomics, MVN blogs, Baseball Toaster blogs, 6-4-2, Athletics Nation, Lookout Landing, The Soxaholic, Rays Index, Metsblog.com, Detroit Tigers Weblog, WasWatching, River Ave. Blues, The Baseball Analysts. And many others.”

“I got up one morning and logged onto Icon Sports Media to download a picture for a post and saw the picture of Dana drinking vodka out of a bottle. I knew Deadspin was following this story closely, so I wrote Will Leitch and asked if he would link to my site if I posted the picture. He was very appreciative, and now I’m a minor celebrity on Deadspin.”

David Pinto: Interviewed on February 18, 2008

Position: founder of Baseball Musings (baseballmusings.com)

Born: 1960, Bridgeport, Ct.

Education: Harvard, 1982

Career: Harvard Medical School, 1982-1984; Dragon System, 84-90; Stats Inc., 90-2000; University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2000-04; Baseball Info Solutions 2004-05; Bay Path College 2005-

Personal: Married, one daughter

Favorite restaurant (home): Grapevine, Longmeadow, Ma. “great burgers”

Favorite restaurant (away): Legal Seafood, Cambridge and Boston, “best fish”

Favorite hotel: Waldorf Astoria, New York

Posted by Dave Pinto, Feb. 15, 2008, 8:55 PM

The Reds made Brandon Phillips a rich man as they avoid arbitration by signing him to a four-year contract with an option for a fifth season. He’ll make $27 million over the first four years:

The 26-year-old infielder had a breakout season last year, when he joined Alfonso Soriano as the only second basemen in major league history to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases.

Agents Sam and Seth Levinson negotiated the deal for Phillips, who wants to stay with the team that gave him a second chance by getting him from Cleveland in a trade. Phillips had asked for $4.2 million in arbitration, and the Reds had offered $2.7 million.

Phillips over his career isn’t a great offensive player, but he led second basemen in PMR in 2007
. His level of offense for a great defensive second baseman is just fine.

Q. How does Brandon Phillips’ PMR (Probabilistic Model of Range) compare to a couple of Hall of Famers: Bill Mazeroski and Joe Morgan?

A. No idea. We didn’t keep detailed stats back then. However, those two were top defensive players for a long time, and Phillips is still very young.

Q. If you were stranded on a desert island with one stat projection system, which would you choose: PECOTA, ZIPS or Marcel?

A. Marcel. It doesn’t try to do anything fancy, and it’s not dependent on ballparks.

Q. Is there a profile of a Baseball Musings reader?

A. Mostly intelligent baseball fans. They understand sabermetrics and contribute good ideas to the discussions.

Q. How much traffic does your site get?

A. About 4000 unique visits a day. In a good month about 120,000.

Q. Who advertises on Baseball Musings?

A. Mostly ticket resellers and people selling baseball books and fantasy games.

Q. What is your work routine?

A. I get up early, blog for about two hours, then work from 10 to 2 at Bay Path college as a programmer. After I get home, it’s back to blogging and watching games during the season.

Q. What are the roots of your fascination with baseball?

A. I started watching baseball when I was nine years old. I think that was the year Mantle retired. I remember seeing the five-minute standing ovation for him and being really impressed. I started following the game closely after that.

Q. Which sports websites do you read?

A. All the major news sites and many, many blogs.

I read The Hardball Times, Baseball Prospectus, Sabernomics, MVN blogs, Baseball Toaster blogs, 6-4-2, Athletics Nation, Lookout Landing, The Soxaholic, Rays Index, Metsblog.com, Detroit Tigers Weblog, WasWatching, River Ave. Blues, The Baseball Analysts. And many others.

Q. What is the future direction of baseball stat analysis?

A. I think we’ll keep collecting finer and finer data. The pitch f/x is the latest, and we’re starting to learn about release points and how a pitch really moves.

Q. Tell us the story behind Deadspin’s photo of Dana Jacobson.

A. I got up one morning and logged onto Icon Sports Media to download a picture for a post and saw the picture of Dana drinking vodka out of a bottle. I knew Deadspin was following this story closely, so I wrote Will Leitch and asked if he would link to my site if I posted the picture. He was very appreciative, and now I’m a minor celebrity on Deadspin.

Posted by Dave Pinto, Feb. 18, 2008, 4:58 PM:

Why do players always do this?

Eric Gagne, identified as a user of human growth hormone in the Mitchell Report, apologized today to his new Milwaukee Brewers teammates for “a distraction that shouldn’t be taking place.”

Pettitte took his time apologizing for taking HGH, starting off with an apology for the embarrassment. Tell these people no one is embarrassed but them. No one is distracted but them. Apologize for what you did wrong.

(SMG thanks Dave Pinto for his cooperation)

An Interview with Jeff Pearlman

“I think, when it comes to PR, the general mantra is “Don’t be afraid to be a whore” or, better put, “Leave your embarrassment at home.” I’ve had four books, and for every one I’ve had postcards printed out, and I’ve gone car to car in stadium lots handing them out, putting them on windshields… Also, you have to hit up every blog, every site, every Yahoo or AOL group that deals with your subject. Tell them you’ll gladly do interviews, send review copies, etc.”

“The main thing with books is the research. For a biography to work, you have to make the calls…I never brag about my own writing, because I hate most everything I write. But I’m very proud of the research I put in. Now, when I’m reading a book, I can tell whether the author did his homework, or whether he’s trying to cover up with airy writing.”

Jeff Pearlman: Interviewed on May 17, 2009

Position: author, si.com
columnist

Born: 1972; Mahopac, NY

Education: University of Delaware, ’94, BA, history major, sociology minor

Career: The (Nashville) Tennessean 1994-96; Sports Illustrated 1996-2003; Newsday2003-05; ESPN.com: 2007-08; si.com
: 2009 –

Personal: married, two kids

Favorite restaurant (home): Stanz, Larchmont, N.Y, “The best sandwiches I have ever, ever, ever tasted, by far.”

Favorite restaurant (away): Captain Charlie’s Reef Grill, Juno Beach, Fl. “Small off-the-road find. The conch chowder is to die for.”

Favorite hotel: Renaissance Vinoy, St. Pete, Florida, “Not a huge fan of the city, but the hotel is just spectacular. Love the rocking chairs.”

Author of: The Bad Guys Won; Love Me, Hate Me; Boys Will Be Boys; The Rocket That Fell to Earth

Posted on JeffPearlman.com, May 14, 2009:

http://jeffpearlman.com/?page_id=7

A brief entry to appreciate writer’s block.

I have an SI.com column due in the morning. But I also have strep throat
. Which sucks. I try drinking tea and tea and more tea, mixed with some honey. But then, in between cups, my throat gets even sorer. So I dry sucking on a throat drop, but after three or four sucks I just end up chewing the thing. And that doesn’t help me so much.

Then, when I’m supposed to be writing. I Google. Or go to YouTube. Or look up random people like him
. And him
. And her
. Or I sit here and blog about blogging. Which sure is lame. Or I try and plan my 20-year high school reunion for 2010. Which only reminds me that I’m older than much of the world, and certainly older than, oh, 95% of the people who also enjoy the Real World on MTV.

OK, back to writing.

Q. You seem passionate about writing. Why?

A. Well, it started when I was in high school, but for the wrong reason. There was this girl named Terea McClure who I had an enormous crush on. She was in the school rock band, and I wanted to meet her. So I told my editor I was going to profile her. We sat down in the library: This beautiful, untouchable high school rock goddess, and the schlub with the Marshall’s wardrobe. I thought, “Wow, look what this is doing for me!” Then I asked her out, and she hung up on me.

Truth is, I love the combination of the reporting and the writing: The reporting, in that you dig into the lives of others; you literally bounce week to week or project to project being in someone else’s shoes, be it a high school track star, a crack addict, a horse trainer, a war vet. That’s very unusual, and priceless. And the writing, well, I enjoy the experimentation. Trying to find a new way to say something; never wasting a word; not settling for cliche. It’s so torturous, but also invigorating—very similar to marathon running.

When I was a young asshole at The Tennessean, I’d say to a friend, “Give me a word,” and they’d say “Pineapple.” Then I’d find a way to work the word into my lede–just to see if I could. It was cocky and stupid and unprofessional, but it also sorta touches on the challenge I enjoy in writing. Finding new ways to say things and to convey.

Q. You recently wrote: “with the economic downturn and the media implosion, it’s getting increasingly hard to survive, and the author who doesn’t serve as his own hype man (a la Flavor Flav: the Sane Years) is the author who doesn’t last.” Give us a general primer for self-promotion in the era of sports media implosion, blogosphere infinity, and multi-platforming. Please include your opinion of Twitter.

A. Well, I just jumped on the Twitter train a few weeks ago, and, uh, I’m sorta underwhelmed. Am I missing something? What’s the big deal?

I think, when it comes to PR, the general mantra is “Don’t be afraid to be a whore” or, better put, “Leave your embarrassment at home.” I’ve had four books, and for every one I’ve had postcards printed out, and I’ve gone car to car in stadium lots handing them out, putting them on windshields. Occasionally I’m asked by someone, “This isn’t you, is it?” I used to be awkward about it, but no more, “Yeah, it’s me. Why should I pay a kid $100 when I can do this myself?” Plus, the act in and of itself is great PR: The best-selling author who still hands out postcards in a lot. It’s gotten my books good PR.

Also, you have to hit up every blog, every site, every Yahoo or AOL group that deals with your subject. Tell them you’ll gladly do interviews, send review copies, etc. Used to be, the goal was an excerpt in some big magazine, or a newspaper. For me, while that’s still great, it’s not vital. You need excerpts and reviews and author Q&As on sites that will directly link to your Amazon page.

Q. What lessons – from a commercial perspective – have you learned from your four books?

A. Hmm … tough question. First, I’d say people are in love with nostalgia. My two best-sellers, the ’86 Mets and ’90s Cowboys, were based on nostalgia; on remembering where you were when so-and-so happened. My two mediocre sellers, Bonds and Clemens, had little to do with nostalgia. People perceived them as dolts. Which leads to answer No. 2: Don’t write about dolts if you want to sell millions of books.

Q. How about from an artistic perspective?

A. Well, Jon Wertheim told me early on that the key to surviving a book is to think of every chapter as a magazine story. And he’s right. Editors screw up books when they try and link the chapters together, like one big, flowing blob. You don’t need that. A chapter can end with a dramatic hanger, and the next one can begin in a completely different way. They’re separate entities.

The main thing with books is the research. For a biography to work, you have to make the calls. I’ve been mocked before for talking so much about the number of people I interview for a book. Well, to hell with that. If I’ve spent my year interviewing 500 of Barry Bonds’ associates, tracking them down, hunting them out, I deserve to brag. I never brag about my own writing, because I hate most everything I write. But I’m very proud of the research I put in. Now, when I’m reading a book, I can tell whether the author did his homework, or whether he’s trying to cover up with airy writing. When I was at The Tennessean, I didn’t know what research was. I was a shit reporter, and I tried covering everything up with what I thought was the world’s greatest pen. So what happened? Everything I wrote was crap, and I got demoted to the overnight cops beat. Great lesson.

Final thought, and I apologize for the ramble: I think when you write books you have to be prepared for people to rip you and rip the writing. It’s 300 pages of exposure—you’re gonna have some bad analogies, some errors, some stupid lines. It happens, because there’s … just … so … much … material. So whenever a book’s about to come out, I take a deep breath and urge myself not to Google my name. Then the book comes out and I Google my name 500 times a day.

Q. You wrote on Facebook that you “hate SportsCenter with a passion”. Can you imagine a sports media without ESPN? What would it be like?

A. Hell yeah, I can. It’d be joy. ESPN provides a service, and I truly enjoyed my time writing for Page 2, because I had two terrific editors and it was an honor to work alongside Jemele Hill.

But when it comes to sports journalism, ESPN is often acid to the brain. Look, for example, at that show E:60. I mean, they load that program with these insanely talented people … and then they start it with a fake news meeting. It’s like a bad SNL skit. Decide what you are: News, or show biz?

Also, one thing that really, really, really bothered me at espn.com
was their measure of a successful story. I consider myself an SI guy—I started there 13 years ago, loved my time there, respect the judgment of editors and the skills of the writers. Well, I get to ESPN.com and how do they measure a story’s success? Quality of the writing? No. Depth of the reporting? No. Effort? No. By friggin’ how many people click on a story. That’s their measure. So if you’re writing for ESPN.com, and it’s 2009, and jobs are being cut, are you pursuing the one-legged high school wrestler with an artificial heart? Or will you just mail in the mindless LeBron/Jeter/T.O. column? Hey, you wanna eat—you go with LeBron/Jeter/T.O.

That said, I met Linda Cohn recently, and she was very nice.

Q. Was there a golden age of sports media?

A. I’d say the 1970s. Writers weren’t homers anymore, but they still fostered relationships with the athletes. Writers were hard-core and crusty and determined to break a story first. There were rivalries that ran deep, and you busted your ass not to get beat. I’m not so certain, writing-wise, it was the best era. There are loads of talented writers right now. But I love the swagger of the 70s sportswriters. The grittiness of the scene.

Q. Who and what do you read and watch in sports media?

A. Well, I still get Sports Illustrated, and I’ll go to si.com
and Deadspin. I’m not a huge day-to-day sports fan anymore—the job has kind of beat it out of me. But there are authors I really enjoy in the genre: Howard Bryant, Jon Wertheim, Jonathan Eig, Leigh Montville, Mark Kriegel. I’m a political junkie these days.

Q. Who did you have – Leonard or Hagler? And how the hell did you end up there?

A. I had Leonard. One of my greatest boyhood nights, actually. I used to listen to a sports radio show on WVIP in Putnam County, N.Y. And they always had phone-in contests. So I called in and won two tickets to watch Leonard-Hagler on big screen pay-per-view at Westchester Community College. I went with my dad, who wouldn’t have recognized either man had they been wearing “I’M LEONARD’ and ‘I’M HAGLER’ signs. But we had a blast.

Oh, and I picked Leonard because he had a cool nickname and was in 7-Up commercials.

Q. Next book project?

A. Have one, but can’t say just yet. Sorry.

Posted on JeffPearlman.com, May 12, 2009:

http://jeffpearlman.com/?page_id=7

So this morning Roger Clemens decided to celebrate the release
of the new book, American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime
, by breaking his lengthy silence to appear on Mike & Mike, ESPN’s wildly popular morning radio show (that also airs on ESPN2).

A dumber decision has rarely been made.

Before today, American Icon
was languishing on Amazon, hovering from anywhere between 1,000 to 4,000, looking like yet another steroid-related book that would come and go without much thought (Now it’s No. 98). That’s what’s starting to happen in the world of books and, to a lesser extent, newspapers and magazine—people are tired of steroids; of the disappointments and the finger pointing. It’s a topic that no longer seems to interest people. They need to be given a reason to read such a book. A reason to pay attention.

Thank you, Roger.

In case you missed it, this morning Clemens was a joke. Blathering, babbling, inane, nonsensical. He is perhaps the worst interview in the history of organized sports—and that’s in the context of postgame quotes on the Tiger-Yankees game. Here, with PHDs, he’s just outclassed. Whatever he utters sounds foolish and contrived. He backs himself up by repeatedly mentioning his foundation
(As in, how could I have used? I have a foundation!). He seems to think by resorting to the ol’ ballplayer trick of calling media folks by their nicknames (”Well, Greenie …”) he’s forging a bond. That might have worked 20 years ago in the Red Sox clubhouse.

It ain’t working anymore.

** PS: For more on my take of Clemens, check this out.

(SMG thanks Jeff Pearlman for his cooperation)

An Interview with Jody Murphy

“She needed to make one to win and she missed all three and collapsed in tears….I was writing the story and debating whether to mention her name. I decided to keep her name out of it. Later, I got a letter from her father thanking me. At the college level that would have been our lead. But in the community you’re out and about and people see you and talk to you and you have to be more tender with things.”

“I remember Steve Keenan (Fayette Tribune) said to me, “Just once I’d like to watch the game like one of those fans without having to take notes.” And I said to him, “Most would them would like to get paid just once to watch a game.””

“The news side reporters, including the Executive Editor, treat election night as if it is Super Bowl Sunday. The reporters get pizza and a shitload of “Attaboys” the next day. There is no such kudos for the sports boys come Saturday morning, after cranking out an eight-page Friday night football section. Sports has election night coverage twice a week (Fridays and Saturdays) in the fall. And there are no “Attaboys.” No free pizza. No big deal.”

Jody Murphy: Interviewed on July 10, 2007

Position: City Hall reporter, former assistant sports editor, Parkersburg (W.Va.) News and Sentinel

Born: 1972, Johnstown, Pa.

Education: Concord College, Athens, W.Va., 1996, history, political science

Career: Beckley Register-Herald, 1997-2000; Parkersburg News and Sentinel 2000 –

Personal: married, two children “and one on the way”

Favorite restaurant (home): Crystal Café, Parkersburg “great club sandwich”

Favorite restaurant (road): McAdoo’s, Beckley, W.Va., “Brooklyn bridge sandwich – all your white meats, ham, turkey maybe salami with lettuce tomato, onion and McAdoo sauce, 18 inches long, with chips – goes good with apitcher of beer”

Favorite hotel: Rimfire Lodge, Snowshoe Mountain, W.Va., “I remember sitting outside in a hot tub, snow on the ground, the door to my room open and the TV turned up, watching a Nascar race from Richmond, drinking beer on top of this mountain with incredible views, and calling my wife at home to tell her about it – I said, ‘guess where I’m at’- she didn’t think it was funny.”

Jody Murphy, excerpted from the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, September 30, 2006:

ST. MARYS — St. Marys girls basketball team is an up-and-coming program, but the Blue Devils aren’t there just yet.

Williamstown, one of the perennial powers in Class A, showed St. Marys just how far they have to climb.

Despite scoring just five points in the fourth quarter – all inside the last two minutes – the 8th-ranked Yellowjackets battled to overtime where they pushed over the teetering Blue Devils 58-49 in a wild Class A Little Kanawha Conference battle.

Larissa McGrew led the Yellowjackets (12-6) with a game-high 18 points. Ann Seufer tallied 12, including a cold-as-ice game-tying trey to help send the game to overtime.

Williamstown took a 38-31 lead into the fourth quarter and appeared to have the game firmly in hand after cracking a 31-31 tie with a 9-0 run.

The Yellowjackets, paced by McGrew, forced the Blue Devils into five turnovers on six possessions – including three straight – to build a seven-point lead. Williamstown scored seven points in the run in less than 30 seconds.

Although stunned by the flurry, St. Marys hung tough.

Five different players scored for the Blue Devils (12-5). A tenacious defense kept Williamstown from scoring for much of the fourth quarter as the Blue Devils edged out to a 42-38 lead with 2:25 left in the fourth.

McGrew picked up a steal and laid it in to cut the lead to two. The Yellowjackets fouled St. Marys to make up ground and the ploy worked as the Blue Devils sank only one of three attempts.

St. Marys Morgan Thomas sank the first of two free throws to put the Devils up three, 43-40, with 32 seconds left. The game might have been sealed there had Williamstown’s Carlie Ebra not stolen the ball from St. Marys Kayla Ennis, who collected the rebound from Thomas’ missed shot.

Ebra picked Ennis cleanly and got the ball down court. Williamstown worked through its options and eventually found Seufer open on the left wing for a game-tying 3-pointer. The sure-fire senior coolly sank the ball to knot the game with less than five seconds left.

St. Marys rushed to inbound the ball and managed to squeeze off a half-court shot as time expired. A referee’s shrill whistle pierced the air. Rather than OT, St. Marys was headed to the line for three shots and a chance to win as Williamstown was whistled for a pushing foul.

St. Marys, with no time on the clock, missed all three attempts sending the game to the extra frame.

Williamstown, now given a second chance, made the most of it. The Yellowjackets forced five St. Marys’ turnovers and picked up two crucial offensive rebounds on missed free throws to outscore the Blue Devils 15-6 in overtime.

Meghan Wiseman led the Blue Devils with 13 points. Ennis had nine, while Rachel Sandy scored eight.

Q. What was your approach to covering preps?

A. One thing I worry about is becoming a homer. My first boss was big on stressing that. Don’t be a homer. Sit there, keep your mouth shut, write down plays, and don’t be rooting for guys. Report the story. I think we try to do that here. We try to be head-on in situations where it’s delicate.

I covered a girls basketball game last year, Williamstown was playing St. Marys. St. Marys hadn’t beaten them in seven years. A girl from St. Marys was fouled at the final buzzer and had three foul shots. She needed to make one to win and she missed all three and collapsed in tears. They went to overtime and St. Marys lost. I was writing the story and debating whether to mention her name. I decided to keep her name out of it. Later, I got a letter from her father thanking me. At the college level that would have been our lead. But in the community you’re out and about and people see you and talk to you and you have to be more tender with things.

I had a similar situation in football. I covered a game last fall where a team scored twice right off the bat, but its defense was awful and the other team scored every time. I wrote that the opposing defense surrendered quicker than the French army. I didn’t name any players but I felt I was accurately describing the defense. I got a letter from a lady saying the kids will be crushed and how could I do this and what about the morale of the team.

Most writers who cover preps can relate to what I’m talking about.

I learned a lesson in Beckley when I covered the golf team. Golf is one of my favorite things. One of the best players was a girl. She was on the 17^th hole which had a huge water hazard in front of the green. She put her first ball in the water. She dropped a ball and could have laid up but she went for the green again. The ball went in the water again and she carded a quadruple bogey and her team lost by two strokes and didn’t go to the state tournament. The coach was trying so hard not to say anything or blame the girl. I went back and asked the assistant SE if I should mention this. He said ‘yeah, I think you have to.’ I ended up writing about her and what happened and mentioned her shortfalls but I didn’t say that was the reason they didn’t make state. The next day I got a call from her mother, which I missed. I called back and got the answering machine. I always felt bad about writing that. The girl is playing for Marshall now.

Q. What were your duties as assistant sports editor?

A. What weren’t my duties? My primary job was laying out the Sentinel, Monday through Friday, about five to eight pages a day. That’s the afternoon paper, with a circulation of 3,200 daily. The News is the morning paper with a circulation of 32,000 on Sundays.

I covered high school football and Marshall University football. Huntington is two hours away from us – everything is. We cover 27 high schools in a 12-county region in Ohio and West Virginia.

Q. How does your paper cover high school football?

A. We have about a six-man staff and cover every game in Wood County. We staff six to seven games every Friday night plus we get a dozen call-ins from other games. We’d be on a rotating schedule. Every month and a half I’d sit in the office and take the games. My SE (Dave Poe) is not a typical SE – he prefers to sit in the office while other editors are out covering things. I had the luxury of going out almost every night and had a lot of free rein. Almost every Friday night I was out. One guy would be in to help Dave.

We had a veteran staff. I was the least tenured with seven years. The next youngest had eight or nine years. Three guys probably had 15 years.

There’s a lot of good guys around the state – it’s like a fraternity. We’ll swap stories – we might have a Beckley or Morgantown byline in our paper. Everybody in the state is good about sharing stories. We have a lot of events here in Parkersburg and we send out a lot of photos – we operate on the give-and-take. If we have to pay $30 for a story we will, but most of the writers know it all comes out in the wash. It’s not an every day thing. But if Morgantown is trying to get the Preston-Parkersburg South game we’ll send them the story and next year they’ll send us the story.

Q. How did you end up in newspapers?

A. Out of college I was in the job-of-the-month club. I sold cars for a month, then I was in the restaurant business. I wasn’t finding what I wanted to do. I had grown up reading newspapers forever, since I was 9 or 10 years old. I was thumbing through the newspaper sports section and it hit me that I could write. I called Dave Morrison, the SE in Beckley and said if you have an opening I think I can help you out. He called me the next night and offered me a part-time job. I did that for a year-and-a-half – the pay was awful but I enjoyed it.

Q. What was the pay?

A. Minimum wage. Little did I realize that’s pretty much the scale in the newspaper industry. Then I went to work at 84 Lumber and after a winter of working in a building with no heat and walking around on cold concrete floors I went back to Dave and worked part-time for two months. Then a full-time writer left, the Marshall beat writer, and they gave me the full-time job. The pay wasn’t spectacular but I was a full-time sportswriter and tickled to death. I started doing Virginia Tech home games that fall. That was in 1998 – I was 26.

Q. As a full-time staff writer you got benefits?

A. I got the benefits. My biggest benefit was getting married. My wife was a registered nurse. She was making good money and I could afford to be a sportswriter. To this day that is the biggest benefit.

When I went to Parkersburg I got almost a $10,000 pay raise, which brought me in at $25,000. Quite honestly, I think I had the best job in the state, in terms of my boss, and my position. I was in charge of the Sentinel’s sports section. I laid it out and wrote columns and set my own schedule, Monday through Friday. As long as I had it laid out Dave Poe had faith in me to write and pitch ideas. I made assignments to the rest of the staff.

It was a really good atmosphere to explore different opportunities. In the summer we did a silver anniversary team for high school football for the last 25 years. We got the coaches together and had them pick the top 25 players. Most recently we wrote a book on 100 years of Parkersburg high school football.

Parkersburg had 10 or 12 undefeated seasons. It’s the birthplace of Greasy Neal, who coached at Yale and coached the Philadelphia Eagles to two titles, and who played baseball for the Cincinnati Reds in the late teens. Parkersburg has a big football tradition – it’s also a big wrestling school. It dominates wrestling year in and year out.

We cover more preps than anybody in the state. Tennis matches, golf matches, Legion baseball and softball.

Q. Are your readers demanding?

A. Yeah, pretty much. In 1967 the city got so large it created Parkersburg South, which is now the bigger school and is clamoring for a lot of respect. PHS owned them in so many sports but South is starting to gain ground. Anytime those teams play they will sell out, and whoever loses, they will call the next morning to complain about the coverage. For their football games they put 5000 tickets on sale Sunday morning and sell out in 45 minutes.

Q. How would you describe West Virginians as sports fans?

A. They’re pretty rabid. The Mountaineers are the state team, with apologies to Marshall. People root for WVA like Pittsburgh fans root for the Steelers. Locally the high school scene is pretty big. Football in Parkersburg is bigger than in Beckley, and it’s every bit as big as it is in Weirton. People put a lot of emphasis on athletics in Parkersburg. Parkersburg High and Parkersburg South both have huge followings. You have that in a lot of places where it’s rural and not a lot is going on.

Q. Does the economy affect fans in your area?

A. I don’t think it does. Most of your fans are parents and relatives, and then you have the die-hards. Most of them will cough up $6 for a Friday night football ticket or a Tuesday night basketball ticket. We have season ticket holders for Parkersburg High from 1937. Our population peaked in the 1980s at around 50,000 and the newspaper circulation was around 50,000. It has declined steadily over the years but interest in football and sports remains very heavy.

Q. Did you like sportswriting?

A. Yes I did. I remember Steve Keenan (Fayette Tribune) said to me, “Just once I’d like to watch the game like one of those fans without having to take notes.” And I said to him, “Most would them would like to get paid just once to watch a game.”

Q. Why did you move to news?

I guess I got burned out.

Among the monotony, we do a ton of signing stories – you know the deal – 40 or 50 parents and coaches who want signing stories done on their kids who are attending Hillbilly State and intend to play a sport. The stories are all the same thing and we do each and every one of them. Spending 10 years covering high school sports day in and day out was enough.

And, sports really didn’t give me a chance to cover the gritty side of things. If I stayed in sports, I would never cover a fire or a fatal car accident, expose corruption in government or call a dead person’s next of kin for comment. That’s not something I relish doing, but I think it is something I need to be able to do – to say I did it. To learn how to deal with that type of situation. To be a good reporter I need to be able ask hard questions, make tough phone calls and write straight news. That’s not something you get covering sports in West By God Virginia. I need to learn to be a tougher, more efficient reporter. Working in news will help.

I love writing sports gamers – it gives me a chance to be more creative. News is much more straightforward. Covering high school sports you don’t get to ask a lot of tough questions and deal with real, tough issues. Granted, It’s not as popular, but it is more important. In sports, I would get 20 e-mails a day on a game story. Hell, I’m lucky to get 20 e-mails a month covering City Hall!

However, starting in sports, I learned quickly to work within the confines of a deadline. Truth be told, news is piece of cake when it comes to deadlines. For example, the news side reporters, including the Executive Editor, treat election night as if it is Super Bowl Sunday. The reporters get pizza and a shitload of “Attaboys” the next day. There is no such kudos for the sports boys come Saturday morning, after cranking out an eight-page Friday night football section. Sports has election night coverage twice a week (Fridays and Saturdays) in the fall. And there are no “Attaboys.” No free pizza. No big deal.

Like I tell my EE: The first time you see Jack Lambert crush a quarterback it is impressive. But after a watching him awhile it becomes normal to see him turn a QB into a quivering mass of bloody flesh.

The boss is used to seeing our sports guy kick out three or four pages of copy and results within a 60-minute deadline every week. He’s become accustomed to it: It’s Average Everyday Excellence.

I will always enjoy prep sports. In fact, I will be covering Friday Night football for the sports department this fall to stay in the loop. I want to continue to be creative. And honestly, I like to sit at my local watering hole and tell the locals about the latest local sports happening. You know, give them some inside info. And quite frankly – apologies to Stephen A. Smith – I love the whole local Friday night football scene. It is something I have really grown to appreciate in the last few years.

(SMG thanks Jody Murphy for his cooperation)

An Interview with Brian Murphy

“The dynamics are changing. After winning the Fiesta Bowl Boise State looks at itself differently. Readers and TV viewers want every bit of information they can get. It’s reminding me of the Georgia Tech beat…or some beats in North Carolina. We’re competing over every detail and shred of information. Everyone sees the phenomenon of Boise State – that’s the franchise – and more and more resources are devoted to covering it.”

“A lot of letters talked about my east coast bias and about being an out-of-towner. I see on message boards that I’m out of touch with Idaho and should go back to ACC country. I think some of that is starting to wane a bit. I’ve been here a year and people get familiar with you and start evaluating you on what you write as opposed to where you’re from.”

“All my family is on the east coast and I have a lot of friends on the east coast. I didn’t know anyone in Boise, Idaho, or in surrounding states…I was willing to take the plunge personally and professionally…I’ve never been afraid to go places and do things just to do them.”

Brian Murphy: Interviewed on February 14, 2007

Position: Columnist, Idaho Statesman

Born: 1978, Rockville Center, New York.

Education: North Carolina, journalism and history, 2000.

Career: Macon (Ga.) Telegraph 2001-2005; Idaho Statesman 2005 –

Personal: single

Favorite restaurant (home): Goldy’s Breakfast Bistro, Boise “great Sunday breakfast place – the wait to get in on weekends is unbelievable but it’s worth it”

Favorite restaurant (road): Joe’s Stone Crab, Miami Beach; State Line Barbecue “on the road between El Paso and Las Cruces – great barbecue”

Favorite hotel: Marriott “for the points”

Brian Murphy excerpted from the Idaho Statesman, January 2, 2007:

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Discard the old modifiers. Boise State is no longer mid-major. No longer an upstart. No longer Cinderella.

These Broncos are bonafide.

Boise State emptied its playbook and shocked the world, striking a blow for underdogs everywhere by knocking off tradition-rich Oklahoma 43-42 in Monday’s Fiesta Bowl.

In one of the most exciting college football games ever played, the Broncos reached the summit of college football. And, in the process, checked off all the items on their to-do list: perfect season, a Bowl Championship Series bowl victory and, finally, the admiration and respect of the entire nation.

…Bring on No. 1 Ohio State, the only other undefeated team in the nation.

“We deserve a shot at the national championship,” quarterback Jared Zabransky said.

And who can argue with them now?

Certainly not me.

…It’s hard to imagine a better — or wilder, wackier, crazier, more exciting or more unbelievable — finish.

And it led to some of the rawest human emotions.

Boise State’s longtime athletic director Gene Bleymaier collapsed on the field after the game, falling to a knee for a moment of quiet reflection before darting across the field like a running back trying to elude tacklers — a la Jim Valvano, another ultimate underdog — looking for someone to hug.

It was that kind of moment.

One that sent grown men sailing into the arms of others.

One that turned the WAC defensive player of the year into a teary mush at midfield.

One that made an All-American tailback, having just scored the biggest points of his life, fall to a knee and propose to his girlfriend, the prettiest cheerleader, of course.

One that left the Big 12 champions with their jaws agape as they filed off the field in stunned silence.

One that will cause college football’s powers-that-be to rethink their flawed system. One that doesn’t always reward teams for what they do on the field, but for the tradition they have created.

Or, at least, let’s hope it does.

“People will respect us now. We beat the Oklahoma Sooners,” an exhausted Andrew Woodruff said. “We are the Boise State Broncos.”

Yes they are.

And they’re champions, too.

Q. When are the book and movie coming out?

A. The book may be out by mid-August. Me and Chadd Cripe, the beat writer, signed off on doing one. It will be a new adventure – I’ve never written one before. The paper is facilitating it – we tried to go out on our own and ran into a bunch of issues – including putting up money ourselves. Then the paper worked out a deal for us. But we aren’t taking a leave of absence – our workloads will go down over the next couple of months while we try to get it out.

Q. And a film?

A. Funny thing, there’s a story in the paper tomorrow – Boise State is trying to make a documentary and sell the rights to it – to keep it in-house. Boise State’s approach seems to be unique. I’m not familiar with movies, but the ‘Marshall’ movie was based on a book by Rick Nolte, my former SE in Macon – I consulted with him. There’s always a hope the documentary gets delayed and they make a movie based on our book.

Q. Are there misconceptions about Idaho media?

A. I wouldn’t call Boise a big city, but it’s bigger than you think. Two newspapers cover Boise State. Four TV stations are all doing some sports. Having grown up on the East Coast when I tell somebody I moved to Idaho they say “Iowa?” The second thing they say is “What is there to do out there – is there a market?”

I didn’t know much when I moved out here, but I’ve been impressed. After working in Macon – the Atlanta market – and the Research Triangle, it’s not that different. Beats are competitive, especially Boise State. It’s a growing city with a lot of sophistication – the state capital being here brings lawyer types and educated people. There’s a level of sophistication people don’t necessarily equate with Idaho.

Q. How competitive is the Boise State beat?

A. I’m not the beat writer – I’m the columnist. I think it is competitive – we do a really good job on it. But it’s changing. The dynamics are changing. After winning the Fiesta Bowl Boise State looks at itself differently. Readers and TV viewers want every bit of information they can get. It’s reminding me of the Georgia Tech beat, where I was the beat writer, or some beats in North Carolina. We’re competing over every detail and shred of information. Everyone sees the phenomenon of Boise State – that’s the franchise – and more and more resources are devoted to covering it. We probably have an edge – I would say monopoly but that isn’t the right word. We work hard to maintain our edge. Everybody saw last year what can happen – how much interest there is.

We produced 150,000 posters of the January 2 paper and sold all of them. We also produced posters of our January 3 ‘trick play’s page – we had diagrams of the three trick plays that shocked Oklahoma – the hook and lateral, the halfback pass, and the Statue of Liberty play to win it. That page came with a blow-by-blow of the last quarter and a half. We also produced a special section the next Sunday called “Unbeatable Season”, with a long narrative written by me. We tried to pick 10 or 11 moments to define the season and tell the story through those moments – we got a lot of positive feedback on it. We produced a poster off the cover of that section. Early on when they beat Nevada to go 12-0 and secure a BCS spot, we produced a page of 25 small photos surrounding a larger photo: it said “12-0” and “Broncos Moment in the Sun”.

Q. What has Boise State’s season done for your career?

A. I started here last December, so this was my first football season covering Boise State. The impact on my career – I guess I haven’t seen that yet. I’m certainly flooded with more e-mail than I’ve seen in the past – seems like everybody who saw the game felt the need to comment on it. I got hundreds of e-mails form people who read our coverage online and wanted to say that was the most unbelievable game they ever saw. Our website got 750,000 hits on January 2, a record number. We set the single-copy record for sales, Sunday sales record, and Internet hit record. All of that obviously has to be good for my career. I’m doing a book, something I never had the opportunity to do. I’ve never covered anything like this. This is my first columnist job – it takes awhile to build a name and brand – this season raised my profile in the community. So many people are interested in Boise State and I was writing about them so often it can’t help but get my name out there. The second part is that you have to do a good job – hopefully my columns were well-written and well-received.

Q. Have you critiqued yourself?

A. Things haven’t slowed down to where I can. I’ve had a lot of good feedback inside the paper – the executive editor pulled me aside and said she thought I had grown and was writing authoritatively while not over the heads of the casual fans who had jumped on the bandwagon. That was nice to hear. As far as me going back and looking at it – some stuff I was happy with. We did a good job of covering events and we provided layered coverage that casual fans and die-hard fans could get a lot out of. It reached the point where we could not produce enough. I know some in our business criticize us for going overboard on big events, but for the Fiesta Bowl we sent eight people to Phoenix and we could have sent 16 and I don’t think our readers would have minded it. When you get an event like that readers have to ride with it.

Q. Storybook season – have you written anything tough?

A. Some games early in the season were pretty sloppy – I caught a bit of grief from the coaches. They had an 18-point win on the road and my column was not glowingly positive.

More so with the University of Idaho – it’s located in Moscow about six hours from here. Through the year they went through the Dennis Erickson hire – the paper flew me up there. There are probably 20,000 Idaho alums in the Boise area. When Dennis was hired there was a lot of optimism and excitement. But they fired a basketball coach I said they should have kept and made a hire I said was uninspired. I wrote all of that. When Erickson left I took him to task a bit for leaving.

You’ve got to find a balance. I don’t want to be critical just to be critical. On the other hand I do get paid to write my opinion. Coming from a beat writer background where you approach everything analytically – now to be in a position to tell folks what I think probably will be an adjustment period for me.

Q. Is the Boise market as open to criticism as Atlanta or Raleigh?

A. I would say no. On rare occasions when I’ve been critical of Boise State or Idaho I have certainly heard from fans. Part of this is the changing dynamic of the market. It’s had a huge population boom in the last 10 or 15 years but in some ways people here still consider it a small town.

The best example is something I wrote about Jake Plummer, who is from Boise and played high school ball here – he was a hero and won a state championship. I covered the Denver-Pittsburgh AFC title game last year and wrote it was a chance to redeem himself and to silence critics who say he plays too sloppy. He turned the ball over four times and they lost and I was very critical. I got a flood of e-mails – we ran several on the editorial page. I have them posted on my desk: ‘classless bash, ‘out of touch’, ‘Jake deserved better’, ‘biggest mistake is Murphy’s writing ability’, ‘how dare you bash one of ours?’. I’ve gotten some of that with Boise State as well. The Plummer thing really demonstrated it to me – there are a lot of people in the local community who feel the newspaper should be supporting local athletes – whether they turn the ball over four times or not.

Q. Are you viewed as an outsider?

A. Definitely. A lot of letters talked about my east coast bias and about being an out-of-towner. I see on message boards that I’m out of touch with Idaho and should go back to ACC country. I think some of that is starting to wane a bit. I’ve been here a year and people get familiar with you and start evaluating you on what you write as opposed to where you’re from.

Q. Do you feel like you belong?

A. Yeah. I think the more people you meet and the more time you spend here – I’ve been here 14 months and I’ve bought a house. I’m starting to feel like part of the community. Whether that changes how people associate with me, from a personal standpoint…I don’t know. I think I’m more authoritative on the community. Part of it was the lead-up to the Oklahoma-Boise State game – there was a column exchange with The Oklahoman. I felt like I was carrying the voice of Idaho. I did a lot of radio shows. People had never been to Boise – they knew it for the blue turf and they were coming to me to defend and explain Boise State. Going through that made me feel more comfortable as a Boisean.

Q. Why did you take the Statesman job?

A. I’d been covering Georgia Tech in Macon for 3 1/2 years, since March 2001. I just sort of felt it was time to do something different. I was perfectly happy covering Georgia Tech – I loved being an ACC writer and things were good – I would have been happy covering Georgia Tech for another year or two. I didn’t know about column writing but I felt it was time to take another step. At the same time I applied to The State to be a Clemson beat writer. So I thought I had no chance at this. I had done some column writing at Macon – Rick Nolte wrote a sterling letter of recommendation for me and I got my foot in the door in the interview process. I had heard there were three finalists – I was the last to interview – and they decided to take a chance on a young unproven columnist. All my family is on the east coast and I have a lot of friends on the east coast. I didn’t know anyone in Boise, Idaho, or in surrounding states. But I had moved to Macon and didn’t know anybody there. I was willing to take the plunge personally and professionally.

Q. Isn’t that the adventure of journalism?

A. It did seem like an adventure. I’ve been extremely fortunate in my career. When I went to North Carolina they reached three Final Fours while I was there. In college I interned at Baseball America and on the ESPN Sports Century project, which required me to move up to New York. Out of school I was hired by Sporting News to drive across country with two other young writers – we covered an NFL game in every city during the 2000 season. I landed in Macon and did high schools but in my second year Georgia Tech reached the Final Four. I come out here and Boise State wins the Fiesta Bowl. Most of those things I had no control over.

I’ve never been afraid to go places and do things just to do them. Moving to New York and doing Sports Century was a risk – it was unpaid and I was working on weekends and spending $40 on tolls every week. People tried to talk me out of the Sporting News internship…I guess I looked at them as adventures.

Q. Can you describe yourself as a writer?

A. Developing. I don’t think you ever master it. That’s a tough question – I’m not good at critiquing myself.

Q. Writers you admire?

A. I read a lot of people. Bill Simmons (espn.com) – I really enjoy reading him – the way he can blend sports and culture is interesting. Steve Hummer and Jack Wilkinson at the Journal Constitution. Mark Bowden – he wrote “Black Hawk Down” and “Killing Pablo”. I like people who can take the newspaper form and expand it – who have the basis in reporting in detail but can tell longer stories – that’s really cool.

Q. Where do you get your information?

A. A lot from espn.com. Sports Illustrated forever. The Atlanta Journal Constitution online. Raleigh News and Observer. I just have an interest in what’s happening in those areas. I read the LA Times online. I’ll go to sportspages.com – the top 10 – and blow through that.

Q. Do you read blogs?

A. There’s no Boise State blog, although we do one. I do read the fan sites – you have to, in today’s day and age. I know it’s anonymous and you don’t know where it’s coming from, but a lot of information is coming from those boards.

Q. What do you think of beat reporters who post on fan sites?

A. I’ve seen that done in a solicitation manner. As in, “I’m looking for a fan who has seen every Boise State game”. I haven’t done it. I’m not sure why someone would do it other than to find a fan. But there seems to be a better way to do that than getting on a board.

Matt Winkeljohn of the Journal Constitution, in his blog, acknowledges criticism from those boards, and even in comments at the end of his stories. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. When those people know you’re a person, in some ways it helps the dialogue between the reader and writer. On boards they can post anonymously and say whatever they want, even making nasty comments about your family. When there’s interaction you’re more likely to get constructive criticism and less blanket slander.

Q. Do you blog?

I started writing a blog this week, for the Statesman. We’re trying to bulk up our online site. Mine is the second true blog.

Q. How will it work with your column?

A. Good question. I’m still figuring that out. I’m not sure. There always seems to be extra stuff, whether it’s been left over or doesn’t rise to the level of a column. I’m still trying to discover a happy medium.

Q. How many columns do you write?

A. Between three and five a week. Sunday is a protected day – we make sure to have one. Events dictate the other days.

Q. Is it cold in Boise?

A. We’ve had a mild winter. I’ve only been skiing once.

(SMG thanks Brian Murphy for his cooperation)

No doubt about it, these Broncos are big time

Brian Murphy

678 words

2 January 2007

The Idaho Statesman

1

English

(c) Copyright 2007, The Idaho Statesman. All Rights Reserved.

Brian Murphy

Staff

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Discard the old modifiers. Boise State is no longer mid-major. No longer an upstart. No longer Cinderella.

These Broncos are bonafide.

Boise State emptied its playbook and shocked the world, striking a blow for underdogs everywhere by knocking off tradition-rich Oklahoma 43-42 in Monday´s Fiesta Bowl.

In one of the most exciting college football games ever played, the Broncos reached the summit of college football. And, in the process, checked off all the items on their to-do list: perfect season, a Bowl Championship Series bowl victory and, finally, the admiration and respect of the entire nation.

“It puts Boise State on the map. There are no little guys at BSU,” wide receiver Legedu Naanee said during the Broncos´ euphoric celebration at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The Broncos erased all doubts and debate about their standing in college football. Champions of the Western Athletic Conference, they proved they can go toe-to-toe with any team in the nation.

Bring on No. 1 Ohio State, the only other undefeated team in the nation.

“We deserve a shot at the national championship,” quarterback Jared Zabransky said.

And who can argue with them now?

Certainly not me.

Nor the legions of other prognosticators who picked the Sooners, convinced that their size and speed would win out in the end.

But Boise State has never listened to the skeptics before and it wasn´t about to start on New Year´s Day.

Instead, the Broncos — using every trick in their vast arsenal — found a way to topple the vaunted Sooners. In the final minute of regulation and in overtime, Boise State used a hook-and-lateral, a pass from a running back on fourth down and a Statue of Liberty play for a 2-point conversion to secure the victory.

Having almost given away a certain win, the Broncos then snatched victory back from the jaws of defeat.

“It might go down in college football as the best game — ever,” said Zabransky, whose late-game interception gave the Sooners a 35-28 lead with 1:02 remaining.

It´s hard to imagine a better — or wilder, wackier, crazier, more exciting or more unbelievable — finish.

And it led to some of the rawest human emotions.

Boise State´s longtime athletic director Gene Bleymaier collapsed on the field after the game, falling to a knee for a moment of quiet reflection before darting across the field like a running back trying to elude tacklers — a la Jim Valvano, another ultimate underdog — looking for someone to hug.

It was that kind of moment.

One that sent grown men sailing into the arms of others.

One that turned the WAC defensive player of the year into a teary mush at midfield.

One that made an All-American tailback, having just scored the biggest points of his life, fall to a knee and propose to his girlfriend, the prettiest cheerleader, of course.

One that left the Big 12 champions with their jaws agape as they filed off the field in stunned silence.

One that will cause college football´s powers-that-be to rethink their flawed system. One that doesn´t always reward teams for what they do on the field, but for the tradition they have created.

Or, at least, let´s hope it does.

“People will respect us now. We beat the Oklahoma Sooners,” an exhausted Andrew Woodruff said. “We are the Boise State Broncos.”

Yes they are.

And they´re champions, too.

To offer story ideas or comments, contact sports columnist Brian Murphy at 377-6444 or by e-mail at bmurphyidahostatesman.com.

Cutline:Boise State running back Ian Johnson jumps into the crowd after he scored on a 2-point conversion in overtime. The conversion allowed Boise State to defeat Oklahoma 43-42 in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday night.

Cutline:Boise State linebacker David Shields, top, and teammate Colt Brooks smother Oklahoma running back Allen Patrick in the third quarter.

Document BSID000020070105e31200004

ports BULLDOG

Boise State football will never be the same again

Brian Murphy

596 words

2 January 2007

The Idaho Statesman

2

English

(c) Copyright 2007, The Idaho Statesman. All Rights Reserved.

Brian Murphy

Staff

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Chris Petersen´s wake-up call this morning was delivered at 7:45 by a radio producer requesting a live interview.

Minutes later, T-shirts heralding Boise State´s 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl, ones with the score printed on them, arrived at the Broncos´ team hotel.

They were the first signs — among many — that Boise State football will never, ever be the same again after a thrilling Monday night in the desert.

By 10 a.m. — not even 12 hours after the Broncos shocked the college football world and a national television audience — ESPN´s “Cold Pizza,” “The Jim Rome Show,” “The Dan Patrick Show,” “Good Morning America” and “Inside Edition” had requested interviews with Petersen, quarterback Jared Zabransky or tailback Ian Johnson.

Boise State´s sports information directors, the liaisons between the media and the team, hardly had time to complete one phone call before the next request would arrive via voice mail or e-mail. Several media outlets offered to fly the Broncos to New York or Los Angeles for live interviews.

It´s just the tip of the iceberg, one far larger than anyone could have imagined before the Fiesta Bowl. Back then, a mere 24 hours ago, the Broncos were a cute feel-good story — equal parts Cinderella, Rocky Balboa and David to Oklahoma´s Goliath.

“We were playing for the little guys, apparently. We were playing for the mid-majors. We were playing for the people back home,” Johnson said. “We never saw ourselves as the little guys. We never saw ourselves as David and Goliath, but we´ll take it because David always wins.”

So do the Broncos.

Now Boise State is the talk of the country — and not just the sporting one. The other New Year´s Day bowl games are a mere footnote to the Broncos´ captivating and miraculous victory.

Johnson´s end-of-game marriage proposal to his cheerleader girlfriend thrust him into the mainstream. Petersen´s go-for-broke mentality — three trick plays in the final moments, all producing points on the board — endeared him to every free spirit in a nation full of them.

There is no telling where this will end.

The top 5 in year-end polls? The cover of Sports Illustrated? Or People? A playoff system in Division I-A?

The transformative impact of the victory will extend far beyond Boise, Idaho, where BSU is entering rarified air. The aftershocks could rattle the very core of college football, especially if Florida defeats No. 1 Ohio State — the nation´s other undefeated team — in Monday´s national championship game.

In that case, the Broncos will collect No. 1 votes in the Associated Press poll. Not nearly enough for a split national championship, but enough to make people think that they deserved a chance to prove it on the field.

“This means everything for college football — everything,” Zabransky said from Fox´s post-game stage on the middle of the field at University of Phoenix Stadium.

On that field, in that moment, such hyperbole was to be expected. But this morning, when the newspapers hit the doorsteps and the television talking heads began their spin and the requests came fast and furious, it didn´t feel like an exaggeration at all.

BSU football will never be the same again.

English

(c) Copyright 2007, The Idaho Statesman. All Rights Reserved.

Brian Murphy

Staff

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Division I-A college football, among all American sports, is the least true to the nation´s ideals. It´s not a meritocracy. It´s the dominion of giants, whose monopoly is rarely — if ever — broken or challenged.

Which is why Boise State´s appearance in tonight´s Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma represents a triumph — and a chance.

We, a nation that began as the ultimate underdog, have always held a special place for the scrappy upstart. Sports, more than anywhere else, is where the story line gets played out. Sports is littered with unlikely champions.

Cassius Clay. The Joe Namath-led New York Jets in Super Bowl III. Buster Douglas. The 1985 Villanova Wildcats. George Mason.

Each got a chance to prove their worth on the field or in the ring. They delivered in stunning fashion. But the little guy doesn´t get many opportunities to prove himself in Division I-A college football.

Until now.

Tonight, Boise State has an opportunity for the ages, a real shot against a national power on one of the sport´s biggest stages. The Broncos can turn the small crack available to the sport´s little guys — opened with threats of legislation and lawsuits — and bust that door wide open.

Or Oklahoma can slam it right in their face.

“We definitely can send a message to the BCS and to everybody that, ´OK, the small teams can´t play with

the big boys,´ ” Oklahoma senior defensive end Larry Birdine said.

“Or they can send a message saying, ´You´ve got to respect us, the Boise States and the Central Michigans and all them guys that play in the little conferences.´ “

Throughout tonight´s national television broadcast, Fox will hammer home the little guys vs. big guys theme.

(If the network´s reputation for overkill carries into its college football coverage, fans will want to kill themselves with David´s slingshot by the fourth quarter.)

Though the Broncos have insisted, rightly, that they are more concerned with their program, their school and their state than all the other non-BCS conference schools, tonight´s outcome will have an effect on all of them.

If the Broncos win, the Fiesta Bowl could go down as one of the most important games in college football history.

It would become important in the way Super Bowl III, which proved that AFL teams could compete with their NFL brethren and sped the pace of the leagues´ merger, is important. It would prove that the gulf between BCS and non-BCS is not as large as most believe.

“We can´t lose this game because it would be a devastating blow to all the big programs,” Birdine said. “Everybody is going to be like, ´Why hasn´t the BCS implemented a fifth game for these guys to begin with?´ “

And other questions would come up.

Like should the Broncos have gotten a shot at Ohio State?

Like the p-word: playoffs, the ultimate meritocracy.

Once those questions started, once the media got rolling and the little guys started lobbying again, it would be hard to stop that momentum. The six-conference cartel that controls college football could begin to crumble.

But a very bad Boise State loss would cripple that talk for a very long time.

Boise State, specifically, would forever be haunted by skeptics.

Non-BCS conference members, in general, would have to meet higher and higher standards to earn votes in the polls that determine who plays in the biggest bowl games.

That is all on the line tonight. Boise State is playing Oklahoma. But, for many, they are proxies in a much larger game.

The Broncos have done a very good job of not concerning themselves with that. Oklahoma is just the next team on their schedule.

You can bet, however, that others have thought about it. That college football´s little guys have pinned their hopes and dreams on a Bronco upset.

The wait is almost over.

History calls.

To offer story ideas or comments, contact sports columnist Brian Murphy at 377-6444 or by e-mail at bmurphyidahostatesman.com/ To read his previous columns, visit IdahoStatesman.com/murphy.

brian Murphy

Statesman sports columnist Brian Murphy is looking forward to the Fiesta Bowl to see how the Broncos, lauded in their own back yard, really match up against a big team from far, far away.

Here, according to Murphy, are more good reasons to watch the game:

1. “The little guy angle.” BSU is playing for all the teams that generally don´t get to play in big Bowl games.

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is a conglomeration of the country´s biggest football conferences, like the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten.

The BCS changed the rules just this year, Murphy said, adding a fifth bowl game so schools like BSU, who are not in the BCS conference, have a better shot at competing.

The first non-BCS team to play in the Fiesta Bowl was the University of Utah two years ago. Utah beat Pittsburgh — but Pittsburgh wasn´t much of a team that year, Murphy said. Oklahoma is and will be a real test for the Broncos.

2. Murphy agrees with Hawkes that this game means big exposure for the Broncos and Boise. The Broncos were on the cover of USA Today and the Fiesta Bowl will be broadcast on Fox, right after the Rose Bowl (kick-off is at 6:50 p.m., MST).

“The lowest-rated BCS game had double the television viewers of BSU´s best game ever,” Murphy said.

3. BSU and Oklahoma both have good human-interest stories. BSU´s Zabransky, booed at home at last year´s MPC Bowl, has had a “season of redemption,” Murphy said. His quarterback rating last year was the lowest of his career. His rating this year is his highest.

Then there´s junior offensive lineman Jeff Cavender . He´s filled in this year for his injured twin brother, Pete. Cavender has worn his brother´s No. 64 jersey this season in homage.

Oklahoma has had a rough season. The team lost to Oregon because of bad officiating and tumbled out of contention for the national title after losing their quarterback because he accepted exorbitant wages from a car dealership and was thrown off the team.

The Fiesta Bowl also will mark the last college game for running back Adrian Peterson. He finished second for the Heisman trophy when he was only a freshman and has come back from a collar bone injury this year. He´s considered one of the best running backs in the country and will likely be a first round NFL draft pick next April.

This may be your last chance to be able to say, “I saw him when …”

Win or lose, this season is a great one for first-year coach Chris Petersen. Colorado offered him a job along with beloved coach Dan Hawkins. Petersen decided to stay with the Broncos instead and fill Hawkins´ considerable turf shoes.

4. Crowds love the Broncos. They lured 6,000 fans to Utah and 8,000 fans to Nevada. After that win, which cemented the Broncos´ place at the Fiesta Bowl, fans charged the field and lifted celebrated sophomore running back Ian Johnson aloft.

Five thousand fans showed up at Taco Bell Arena on a Sunday night to hear the official word the Broncos would go to Arizona, even though everyone knew it already.

“Most people think Oklahoma is big and fast. The national guys admire BSU´s spunk. Big and fast usually beats spunk, but you never know. That´s what makes sports great,” said Murphy.

SEE BSU ON LIFE 5

An Interview with Rick Morrissey

“I feel like I’m rooting for the story with the Cubs, though I’m not sure what the best story is. I guess it’s if they finally win it all, but then again, there’s so much material if they keep losing. I’m sure Cubs fans would want to string me up for saying this, but it’s a great story and I’m not totally sure I want it to go away.”

“My thing is to mix it up…I think you have to be versatile enough as a columnist to make it interesting. I want people to pick up the paper or get on the website and say ‘I wonder what he wrote about.’ And when they look at it they don’t know where it’s going.”

“I write four columns a week – that’s four opinions – and it takes me awhile to think about what I believe – it doesn’t always come out of me right away. What bothers me about a blog is that it asks you to react to news, and I’m thinking ‘I don’t know what I think at this point’.”

Rick Morrissey: Interviewed on Sept. 7, 2007

Position: columnist, Chicago Tribune

Born: 1960, Chicago.

Education: Northwestern, BJ, 1982.

Career: Star publications, south suburban Chicago 1982-84; Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Ind. 84-87, Charlotte Observer 87, Rocky Mountain News 87-97, Chicago Tribune 1997 –

Personal: Married, three children

Favorite restaurant (home): Café Salsa, Couintryside “great margaritas”

Favorite restaurant road: McCormick and Schmick’s, Seattle, ‘fresh seafood”

Favorite hotel: New York Hilton “Central Park nearby for jogging”

Rick Morrissey, excerpted from the Chicago Tribune, Sept. 5, 2007:

Nobody enjoys getting booed. As ballplayers always say, how would you like to get booed at work? To which I reply, I get booed every day, but I’m hoping my teenagers eventually will grow out of it.

In the wake of Carlos Zambrano’s why-must-they-boo/where’s-the-love sermon Monday, let me try to explain the mind-set of Cubs fans to Cubs players, some of whom still don’t seem to get it.

Start with this basic truth, fellas: The fans want it more than you do.

You players will disagree with that statement, probably all the way to your graves. But it’s not meant as a knock or as an indictment of your desire as competitors. Cubs fans are so thirsty for a World Series title that when they talk, sand comes out their mouths.

So how can you blame them when scorpions spill out with the sand once in a while? Booing is the natural outgrowth of 98 straight seasons without a championship.

Unless you’re a player who grew up in Chicago and rooted for the Cubs in the face of overwhelming evidence that you were a goof for doing so, you can’t possibly know the feeling of dryness on the North Side.

Let’s face it, a multimillion-dollar contract takes away a lot of the sting of not winning. Whatever your emotional investment is in the Cubs, it can’t be bigger than your paycheck. Cubs fans have no such soft landing place, no escape. They can’t go anywhere else. Oh, they can move out of town, but their Cubs afflictions are hitched to their cars.

Q. How can you, as a sportswriter who gets paid to watch games, know what Cubs fans are feeling?

A. Good question. First of all, you have to understand the history here, and the history is horrendous. It’s kind of an affliction handed down through generations. I grew up in this area and I know how rabid people are, and yeah, I watch the games, I watch them closely. When you’re in the middle of this you see and hear the pain people are going through – this year it’s almost an exquisite pain. Hope is being dangled in front of the fans – the Cubs are tied for first in a mediocre division, but people don’t care if it’s mediocre. They feel like they’re competing for the playoffs and beyond. Next year will the 100^th anniversary of the last time they won the World Series. It’s around us all the time – it’s just so apparent how much people want this – you really have to be in the middle of it to get it. I get e-mails from Cubs fans all over the country.

Q. What’s it like to have the Cubs to write about whenever you need a column?

A. It’s great. If you go on our website, Chicagosports.com, and go to the bottom you’ll see the most e-mailed stories. During the season it’s almost always the Cubs, and a lot of time the top three stories are the Cubs. For a columnist it’s a great story. It has everything you could want – all that history and cosmic baggage they carry around with them. I wrote a Kerry Wood column last week after they came back and won in dramatic fashion, and one of my colleagues turned to me and said ‘this might be the game you look back on where they turned it around’. I said ‘you know what – I’m sticking with my Wood column because I know what’s going to happen’. Sure enough, they gave up four in the ninth inning yesterday and lost.

Q. If it happened for the White Sox can’t it happen for the Cubs?

A. That ratcheted up their expectations and the urgency of it. When the White Sox won in 2005, for me professionally, it was the best thing I’ve covered. They hadn’t won since 1917. I remember sitting there in Houston after the game thinking about all the great columnists who wrote for the Trib over the years who never got to experience this. I was thinking ‘I’m in a unique position here of chronicling history’. I feel like I’m rooting for the story with the Cubs, though I’m not sure what the best story is. I guess it’s if they finally win it all, but then again, there’s so much material if they keep losing. I’m sure Cubs fans would want to string me up for saying this, but it’s a great story and I’m not totally sure I want it to go away.

Q. Some Boston writers felt that way in 2004.

A. The difference is that Red Sox fans have tasted success – they’ve had a number of good teams. That’s not the history here. There have been some good teams but they haven’t knocked on the door too much – it’s really been kind of dry here.

Q. Is Cubs ownership the problem?

A. I work for the Tribune Company which has owned the Cubs since 1981. The company has taken hits left and right over that time, from me as well. But what about the 70 years before that? It’s easy to bash the Tribune Company, but the art of losing was perfected long before the Tribune came along.

Q. You seem to have a sensitive moral gauge – is that necessary for a columnist?

A. I don’t think it’s necessary. There are successful columnists who would prefer not to write about this stuff and will do so only when absolutely necessary. My feeling is that so much is going on now in college and pro sports, in overall bad behavior….maybe it’s part of being a father. I have three kids who are a little bit older now and when they were younger maybe they rooted for Vick or Sosa and then they have these questions for you and you say ‘this kind of sucks.’ We’ve had a lot of problems like Tank Johnson being in trouble. There were times when I felt I went a little bit overboard and questioned myself. The problem is that if you call one person out then you hear ‘why aren’t you indignant about these other cases?’”

Q. What do readers want?

A. My thing is to mix it up. If you’re hitting people over the head every day with a hammer I think they tune you out. The flip side is if you write the same kind of stuff every day – feature columns on players or shtick – I don’t think it works. I think you have to be versatile enough as a columnist to make it interesting. I want people to pick up the paper or get on the website and say ‘I wonder what he wrote about.’ And when they look at it they don’t know where it’s going.

Q. Is it tough to pick a topic?

A. Not too bad here – there’s so much going on. There’s a point where you could have written two or three Vick columns and you say ‘enough – I’m not going back there five days later when he pleads guilty – let’s move on’. If I’m sick of it I’m not going to make my readers sick of it too.

Q. Before we started you said you wanted to talk about something.

A. I worry about the writing. I think the sports department is the best place to find great writing – a place where you can spread your wings a bit. I don’t know if I’m right about this, but I’m a little concerned about the whole blogging thing. I did it for almost a year – I got sick last year, with cancer, so I stopped and picked it up again. I write four columns a week – that’s four opinions – and it takes me awhile to think about what I believe – it doesn’t always come out of me right away. What bothers me about a blog is that it asks you to react to news, and I’m thinking ‘I don’t know what I think at this point’. The second thing was that I didn’t take as much time with it. I take pride in writing and going over it and trying out new things. Blogging strikes me as a little too thoughtless and too quick to judgment and lacking in good writing. So I worry about the immediacy of the Internet and it’s effect on quality writing. If the whole thing is how many hits you get, I wonder if you’re getting hits because they like your writing or you have something outrageous to say. That’s a great unknown to me. Maybe I’m worrying about something needlessly – maybe it’s going to be even better. It does concern me a bit. I hope great writing will be allowed forever.

Q. Who do you admire?

A. A bunch of them. Mike Downey (Chicago Tribune). Gary Shelton (St. Petersburg Times). Sally Jenkins and Mike Wilbon (Washington Post). Rick Telander (Chicago Sun-Times). Ray Ratto (SF Chronicle) is hilarious. Art Thiel (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) is great. Bill Plaschke (LA Times) is everybody’s All-American. TJ Simers (LA Times) is different than anybody out there. Bob Kravitz (Indianapolis Star) is excellent. Steve Hummer (Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Mike Rosenberg (Detroit Free Press) is really good. Gene Wojciechowski (espn.com). There’s a lot of good writing going on out there.

Q. Who were your influences?

A. This will make Downey feel really old. When I was just out of college he was at the Detroit Free Press. I was starting at a string of suburban papers Downey had worked at – he was an idol of the young people going through there. We looked at his clips – he was really fresh and had a lot of fun with sports. I read Bob Verdi a lot here in Chicago. There was an incredible wordsmith at the Sun-Times, John Schulian. His book, ‘Writers Fighters’ is unbelievable. If you ever want to feel unworthy read that.

Q. Can we ask about your cancer?

A. I had colon cancer. I was at the Masters in 2006 and I was jogging and got unbelievable fatigued. There were a couple of other symptoms. I was concerned because my dad died at a young age of a heart attack. I went in and they found cancer. It was shocking to say the least. I had surgery, chemo and radiation. I took a month off after surgery. The interesting thing was how the work, writing a column, was really cathartic. It was just good to be able to do something. I was able to keep up my schedule for the most part. Some people thought I was pushing myself too hard and other people thought it was great I was plugging along. It was neither of those things. Working took my mind off of it and gave me something to do and something I really like to do.

So far so good. The checkups seem to be good.

Q. Did you share your illness with your readers?

A. I did. I wrote about it twice, when I cam back after surgery, and then I wrote about it again. Gene Wojciechowski gave me a hard time – he was kidding me that I’ve been milking my cancer for columns. That’s sad. Let the record show I’ve only mentioned it twice.

Q. Do you think readers care about you as a person?

A. Yes. The reason I know this is e-mails. There’s a connection there. I think people pick up the newspaper and if they pick it up for years you’re a small part of their existence. They read you. They may be offended by what you’ve written or they may love it.

So I don’t have any doubt about that, which may sound egotistical. The e-mails you get hit home. Sometimes you may be flippant about things and they might think something was overboard, but you hear from people. I’m talking about people who care and feel they know you. When I was diagnosed and wrote about it I got hundreds of e-mails. There really was no reason to do that unless they feel they get to know you from a column. I’m not afraid to put in part of my personal life. Usually I use it for humor. Sometimes it’s just universal things people might relate to.

Q. Such as exploiting a pet?

A. Yes. I’m cheap and I’ll do whatever is necessary to further my own column writing.

Rick Morrissey, excerpted from the Chicago Tribune, August 22, 2007:

I like my dog, a basset hound, a lot. He’s probably 10 pounds overweight, sleeps most of the time, barks at the mail carrier, waters fire hydrants and, given the chance, buries things for safekeeping. He’s a big lump of a cliché.

So when I read and heard about some of the dogfighting atrocities Michael Vick is associated with, it turned my stomach.

(SMG thanks Rick Morrissey for his cooperation)

September 5, 2007

Nobody enjoys getting booed. As ballplayers always say, how would you like to get booed at work? To which I reply, I get booed every day, but I’m hoping my teenagers eventually will grow out of it.

In the wake of Carlos Zambrano’s why-must-they-boo/where’s-the-love sermon Monday, let me try to explain the mind-set of Cubs fans to Cubs players, some of whom still don’t seem to get it.

Start with this basic truth, fellas: The fans want it more than you do.

You players will disagree with that statement, probably all the way to your graves. But it’s not meant as a knock or as an indictment of your desire as competitors. Cubs fans are so thirsty for a World Series title that when they talk, sand comes out their mouths.

So how can you blame them when scorpions spill out with the sand once in a while? Booing is the natural outgrowth of 98 straight seasons without a championship.

Unless you’re a player who grew up in Chicago and rooted for the Cubs in the face of overwhelming evidence that you were a goof for doing so, you can’t possibly know the feeling of dryness on the North Side.

Let’s face it, a multimillion-dollar contract takes away a lot of the sting of not winning. Whatever your emotional investment is in the Cubs, it can’t be bigger than your paycheck. Cubs fans have no such soft landing place, no escape. They can’t go anywhere else. Oh, they can move out of town, but their Cubs afflictions are hitched to their cars.

Right now the fans see a mediocre division and a golden opportunity to get to the playoffs. They look in their rearview mirrors and see those 98 seasons of aridity. They see the end of their communal rope. They want to win now.

The fans know you players are trying. But they’re sick of rooting for effort. They’ve seen decades of both effort and lack of effort. They’re sick of tapping their toes, checking their watches and waiting for next year.

They want results now.

Over the years, the tone of the booing has changed. It used to say, “The Cubs are bad and always will be bad. This is our lot in life, and we’re periodically going to express our distaste between gulps of beer.” Now it says, “The losing has gone on for far too long, and we’re deathly tired of it. We want to win the World Series. And if you players aren’t with us, you’re against us.”

And here you thought “boo” meant “boo.”

It’s a love that’s no longer patient.

Yes, they were booing Zambrano for stupid baserunning against the Dodgers. Yes, they were booing him for all the walks. But at the heart of those deep, guttural boos was complete frustration over the ace’s inexplicable troubles at a time when the team needs him most. This sad-sack division is there for the taking. Zambrano apologized Tuesday. Great. Now start winning some games, Carlos.

A feeling of euphoria and desperation is in the air at Wrigley, and certainly you players can feel it. There is early Oscar buzz for the fans’ theatrical ups and downs during games. And those were August games. Critical mass figures to be reached in September. No one is quite sure what to expect. Group psychosis?

If it involves losing, expect booing.

Contrary to what you might think, the boos are educated and sophisticated. Cubs fans are very much aware that the last six World Series have been won by the Cardinals, the White Sox, the Red Sox, the Marlins, the Angels and the Diamondbacks. In other words, not by the Yankees. They know that in baseball today, anybody can win it all.

It’s why you might be able to detect some urgency in those boos.

Despite what Zambrano said Monday, the fans are with you players through thick and thin—they continue to pack the park. The problem is that they have been served a steady diet of thin. In a way, you’re getting the business end of 98 years of aggravation. Is that fair to you mercenaries? Probably not, but neither is almost a century without results. They know you didn’t play for the 1951 club that finished 34 1/2 games out of first place or for the 1962 team that won only 59 games.

Yet you get booed anyway.

Deal with it.

Booing for booing’s sake doesn’t mean a whole lot. That’s not the case here. Surely you can see that there is substance to the boos at Wrigley. They don’t point to fickle fans. They point to fans who have had enough. These boos are what happens when fans fill a ballpark for 20 years with little to show for it, other than scar tissue.

The losing has become old, very old. If you want the booing to stop, do something about it. Win, for example.

rmorrissey@tribune.com

An Interview with Leigh Montville

Intro: Encore for a Storyteller

Leigh Montville, in his biography of Manute Bol, wrote in the foreword:

The figure stands on a hill and looks across the African landscape. The sun is round and bright and red behind him. The figure is tall, tall, very tall. He could be a Giacometti sculpture. He could be Gumby.

The figure walks a great distance, past the giraffes and hippos of his native village, straight ahead, from one world to another.

He stands again, in the center of a polished wooden floor inside a large arena. A spotlight focused on his black face. A purple mascot with HOOPS written across his chest comes up to the figure, putting his right hand high. The figure answers, slapping the mascot’s purple fur hand.

This is a fable.

This is the truth.

That was in 1993. Since then, Montville has written five more books, including bios of Dale Earnhardt, Ted Williams and Babe Ruth. He combines an eye for character and plot with a narrative touch that is anecdotal, empathetic, whimsical and ironic – a style that was distinctive in the 1970s, and is even more iconic today, in an age when commentary has trumped storytelling.

Montville’s seventh book is due out in May: “The High-Flying Life of Evel Knievel: American Showman, Daredevil, and Legend.”

The former Boston Globe columnist and Sports Illustrated feature writer took time out from the final two chapters to talk to SMG. — SM

Leigh Montville: Interviewed on January 3, 2011

Position: Freelance Author

Born: 1943, New Haven

Education: U-Conn, 1965, English

Career: New Haven Journal Courier 1965-68; Boston Globe 1968-89; Sports Illustrated 1989-2000; freelance author 2000-present

Personal: single, two children, two grandchildren

Favorite restaurant: Legal Sea Foods, Boston “I eat differently than I used to”

Author of: “The High-Flying Life of Evel Knievel: American Showman, Daredevil, and Legend”, May 2011.

Q. What drew you to Evel Kneivel?

A. In 1974 when he jumped Snake River Canyon I was sent out by the Globe. I was 30 years old, low man on the totem poll, and had a motel room 40 miles away – so I was driving 80 miles total every day, to Burley Idaho. It was fascinating because newspapers didn’t know who to send to cover it. Some sent a sportswriter and treated it like a sports event; some sent science writers who covered moon walks and launches; and some sent sob sisters who covered cultural events – thinking he was going to die.

It was a weird conglomeration – so cartoonish it stuck in my head. I didn’t do a good job – I was an outsider missing press conferences – and when I looked back at the stories they were okay but I could have done better. I carried that around with me – I missed something there. He was kind of a despicable guy out there – everybody hated him. Somebody wrote that in a matchup of Evel against the canyon the canyon was a sentimental favorite. Another guy said he hoped Evel would live so he wouldn’t “become a fucking martyr.”

Q. How is his story relevant today, if at all?

A. It was a story of a guy coming from nowhere and making himself known by putting his life on the line. Look back and he was the precursor to extreme sports and the X Games – he started all that stuff. Kids were captivated by the idea of doing something dangerous – he brought that out. Also, it was kind of the beginning of reality tv – he strung out his life on tv – you watched to see what would happen to him next – would he be a survivor or would he not make it.

Bob Arum said it was total shit – like all this shit on tv now. It’s cheap tv and people watch it.

Q. What other ideas did you consider?

A. When I finish a book I talk with the editors about doing the next book. I always want small little stories – I’d like to write a book like ‘Seabiscuit’ – a story nobody knew that rattled across the country.

But publishers wants an iconic name whose picture on the cover sells the book right there. So there’s like a little argument back and forth. My next-to-last book was Babe Ruth which is as iconic as you can get in the U.S. Then I convinced them to do a little book, “Mysterious Montague”, about a golf hustler. It didn’t sell – they were right on the money. Babe Ruth was a New York Times bestseller. So we tracked back toward iconic.

I tried a few different things. I’m linked into sports but would like to move out a little – I suggested a bio of Dr. Billy Graham, a down the middle version. No. Then I suggested Gene Autry, a guy who was really famous, a movie star, country western singer and sports guy. They didn’t go for that either. Then I harkened back to Evel Knievel and they liked it from the beginning.

It is a good idea. There was an Evel Knievel stunt cycle put out by Ideal Toys, in the ’73-’75 years. It was a big Christmas toy for boys – the toy everybody had to have – kids just loved it. The back wheel was a gyroscope and you put the back wheel on an energizer and cranked as hard as you could and when you stopped the cycle would fall down and shoot off the energizer. You could set up jumps, do a wheelie, turn corners, put up flaming stuff and get the bike to jump over it. Kids shot ‘em off apartment houses. It was indestructible.

That kind of brought him into the house, like a member of the family. A bunch of people in their late 40s and early 50s were kids in those days and they have a great interest in Evel Knievel.

Q. How long have you worked on this?

A. A couple of years. I’ve gone to Butte, Montana a couple of times, where he grew up. If you learn about Butte you learn about him and how he was formed.

His mother and father married young – she had him first and his brother Nick 10 months later and then soon after they divorced. The mother went to Reno and the father to Sacramento and the two boys were raised by the grandparents – old people who didn’t have the energy to fight ‘em. The two kids grew up on the streets.

Butte was one of the capitals of fast living in America. It was a copper mining town that attracted people from around the world to make a fortune. You think of it as a cowboy town but I was more like Pittsburgh. Work was perilous in the copper mines and guys make good money but they took all the risk and then all these hustlers came to town to take their money away. There were bordellos and a lot of bars. Outside of New Orleans it was the largest city without an open container law and prostitution was legal until 1982. The street with prostitutes was two blocks from the high school. In 1915, 100,000 people lived there, now it’s 25,000. The mining went to Chile and the town is faded now.

Q. Who remembered him?

A. Everybody pretty much – as a wacky guy. He never graduated high school – at 22 he played hockey and started a semipro team, the Butte Bombers. He was the coach, winger, owner and GM. One of his scams involved the 1960 Olympics, which were in Squaw Valley. He got the Czech team to come and play an exhibition game against the Bombers. The Czech team wound up losing a lot of money on the deal and there were stories that he stole the money.

He had a guide service to Yellowstone Park to take hunters. There were too many elk in the park and the government was going to send hunters to kill the elk. He organized a protest and hitchhiked to Washington to talk to JFK.

He also was an insurance salesman for awhile.

Q. What were your difficulties in reporting this?

A. The major difficulty is that his family didn’t want anything to do with it. They have some tapes he left and they want to do an autobiography. But he signed away his book rights a bunch of times and never carried through with any of them and spent the money. If the family tries to put out an autobiography they’ll be hit with a bunch of lawsuits.

He beat up a guy named Shelly Saltman who wrote a book about him. Knievel and another guy caught up with him at the 20^th Century Fox lot. The other guy held Saltman while Evel beat him with a baseball bat and broke his hands. Evel spent six months in jail and Saltman got a $10 million judgment against him and against the estate. So the estate is hobbled in what it can do.

The family was off limits. There is one son, Kelly, who I approached in different ways. His brother was going to talk but didn’t want to piss off the family. Kelly said ‘I don’t want anybody in the family talking to you because we’re going to do our own thing’.

HBO was going to do something but walked away because they made it so complicated.

When I did the Ted Williams book his kids really didn’t talk to me. You find that people have their own streets and don’t want to get involved. But I found his friends, people he grew up with, a cousin who grew up with him, an eight-time congressman from Montana, and his half-sister – she talks to me – and so did everybody who did business with him. He became a marginal commodity and a lot of people who did business had problems – Arum, Saltman, George Hamilton who made the movie, and people from Caesars Palace where he had the big crash.

Q. Challenges in writing this?

A. One problem is that he lied and exaggerated everything. His crash at Caesars was the event that brought him to the American public. The night before the crash Knievel had told John Derek, ‘I don’t think I can make it’. Derek was going to make a film of the event, but then he said ‘I don’t want to film your death’.

He shot the event and gave the film to Knievel. It’s a terrific film clip – unlike any you had seen at the time – it showed him falling and bouncing and bouncing. Knievel took that little piece of film and went on all the shows – Carson and Bishop and Griffin – and the audience was stunned.

Knievel suffered injuries to his pelvis and a broken leg. Three years later he said he was in a coma for 29 days, and this gets to the point about his exaggerating. Jay Sarno was the head of Caesars. I talked with his son, who was 10 at the time and who went to the hospital with his father after the crash. He stayed in the limo when his father went in. When his father came out an hour later and they asked how Knievel was his father laughed. He said, ‘He’s fine but when you read the newspapers he’s really going to be hurt – it’s a publicity thing.’

He exaggerated throughout his life. Robert Boyle of Sports Illustrated wrote that in 20 minutes he could tell stories to keep fact checkers working for 20 years. Four grafs later he had Knievel in a coma for 29 days.

I got some of the stories sorted out. But some people say one thing and others say another thing. I don’t think we’ll really know. Even if he did leave an autobiography he’s not going to be honest in it.

Q. How much work remains?

A. A couple of chapters – they’re due in two weeks.

Q. How do you do under deadline?

A. I’ve always worked under deadlines. When I worked at newspapers I was always late against the deadline. At the magazine it got stretched out – I had a couple of days to be late. Now it takes a few months to be late against the deadline.

Fear is always my great motivator. Not a good way to work.

Q. Thoughts on sports media today?

A. It’s a lot of no-story stories. Nobody interviews anybody – it’s 95 percent opinion. It’s gone back to the way it was done in the 20s and 30s. Everybody writes their lists of top 10 this and top 10 that – I throw out that stuff. All the writers write the same way they talk on radio and tv.

Maybe it’s better. Nobody reads anyway.

(SMG thanks Leigh Montville for his cooperation)