Rick Reilly

by Adam J. Morris on Aug 17, 2008 2:16 PM CDT Comment 12 comments

Once upon a time, Rick Reilly was a really good sportswriter.

Then he got that gig on the back page of SI, and stopped writing stories, and started getting all human-interesty.

And has now gone to ESPN and is doing the same. Here's what I just saw on ESPN's front page:

National Voice: Rick Reilly
Did a guy with no arms and legs recently pass you in a triathlon? Don't worry. Craig Dietz lives to compete.

I have to assume that, sometime in the late-90s, Rick Reilly got some career advice from Kent Brockman, because his column has turned into a print version of "Bart's People."

Sigh.

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Yeah

But he’s never gonna give you up.

by chief on Aug 17, 2008 2:34 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Zork? What's Zork?

I didn’t say Zork.

Oh, and that’s also the Mojo episode.

Pray. For. Mojo.

The 40 Trumps All!!!

by thedirkatron on Aug 17, 2008 2:38 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That

was my initial thought when I remembered the episode. There’s something hysterical about an overweight monkey typing that sentence into a computer.

Plaschke: Scioscia, the former Dodgers catcher, is the model manager who has created an atmosphere of winning.
Junior:It's that simple. Mike Scioscia brings a Glade Plug-In labeled "Winning™" into the clubhouse and everyone who breathes it in gains 15 points in average.

by TheBZA on Aug 18, 2008 8:07 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i used to love reilly

i think about the time he was harassing sammy sosa for a drug test is when i started disliking him for trying to hard to become the story.

or maybe it was when he got the exclusive of jordan coming back to the nba for a 2nd time.

http://www.buchanan4pres2008.org/
NIXON: NOW MORE THAN EVER

by gossamer on Aug 17, 2008 2:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Fluff, fluff and more fluff

that’s what he is now.

"Sooner or later, prospects kill you, because you hang onto them." - Greggo, 11/22/2005

by Agreen07 on Aug 17, 2008 3:13 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Reilly

I think Reilly’s columns are pretty astute actually. He does delve into the sentimental on occasion but he also is a very good prophetic voice regarding the hypocrisy of sport. While the rest of the journalists were licking Sosa and McGwire’s balls, Reilly was asking Sosa about steroids. He also had a great column up on the hypocrisy of some athlete’s Christian faiths without haranguing Christianity itself. I miss him on the back page of SI and his nothin’ but nets campaign was brilliant and far more valuable to civilization than anything any other sports journalist has done lately.

Fire Ron Washington

by pblack on Aug 17, 2008 3:36 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I Agree

I stopped subscribing to SI a few years ago so I didn’t get the last few years of his SI columns, but I’ve always thought, and still think, Reilly is a good read.

by Kyle Mc on Aug 17, 2008 3:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Randy Galloway

is the best writer ever.

Today is the youngest you will ever be. Act like it.

by miles on Aug 17, 2008 3:42 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

and

Adam thinks Gerald Laird is overrated

by chrisR on Aug 17, 2008 5:34 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Quite honestly...

…Rick Reilly was a huge influence on me getting into sportswriting. His writing ability is pretty much second to none.

But now, he’s a shell of his former self. He’s resorted to the “human interest” stories as his crutch, and it’s like he can’t find his former self. It’s really sad. Now, he’s everything I am trying to avoid being: one-dimensional, over-dramatic, under-achieving.

"One man, five scoops." -- shroomer

by ghtd36 on Aug 17, 2008 4:12 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Sports writing

I was a sports writer in one of my other lives, and one of two things happens to most good writers. You get tired of it, because all the silliness and hyperbole does wear on you after a while, and go on to do something else. Or you do what Reilly and so many locals do — turn into cheerleaders, tell everyone how you hang with the athletes, and sound very serious pontificating about backup left tackles on sports radio.

Where is Mick Kelleher when we need him?

by 3744nsheffield on Aug 18, 2008 6:16 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs