Best Sportswriter in the US,

Shouldn't we be breaking this down by sport or season, perhaps?

I'm going that route and picking Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His insight with breaking down game film and weaving it into his game previews is stellar.

 

Right now I'd have to take George Dohrmann at Sports Illustrated. He is the guy out there who comes to mind as somebody who puts the "journalism" into sports journalism. He's one of our few colleagues with a Pulitzer Prize to his credit, but that's not what impresses me about him. In fact, the Pulitzer more or less is what gave him the springboard to do the kind of work he's doing now at SI. I love Dohrmann's stuff because he is always seeking to get below the surface of sports to tell the real story, and so much of what passes as journalism is just stenography, sometimes by logistical necessity - and also, well, because the readers need to know about injuries and trades and so forth as well as the dirt.

In a sports world in which everyone is hopping on the latest salacious controversy like Brett Favre's dong shots, Dohrmann goes through the trouble of seeking out actual tough stories to write like JUCO academic fraud or agents paying players.

I really like the guys who combine the reporting with the writing. And the guys who will make the tough phone calls are the ones who impress me the most.

P.S. I think Wetzel is at the top of the list, too, for many of the same reasons, but also for his versatility in being able to write investigative books and stories as well as game pieces and straight sports stuff. I also have really liked Alan Schwarz's NYT stuff on concussions in the NFL. To think he was once thought of as a straight sabermetrics dork.

 

Jackie MacMullan

 

Oh, shit, how could I forget Michael Lewis? Not really a sports writer by trade, but has written two seminal sports books of this century.

 

LZ Granderson. People always say sports writing is a way to illustrate larger issues, but precious few get around to doing it. LZ is one of those precious few, but ESPN.com does a good job at hiding his stuff.

 

Indeed. The funnier, less threatening Doyel, is - dare I say it - very likeable.

 

Your mom.

 

Bill Simmons [I'd duck, but I'm already pretty short]

 

I'm curious dooley. Since it happens to be my name, what am I missing with the reference?

I don't have an opinion on a "best" sports writer, though I do enjoy the way Jason Whitlock tells it like it is and seldom swings and misses with this approach (in my opinion), Plaschke (detailed, entertaining and thought-provoking, all in 22 inches), Gary Smith (I've read stories by him on subjects I never previously gave a hoot about, all the way to the last word) and currently, Bill Simmons (way too wordy on espn.com, and I can't figure out why he continues to be an NBA fan, even when he acknowledges in his book that the league appeared to sway certain playoff series; but I also read all 700-plus pages of that book, including every footnote). Those of you who have read the book will get that last reference.

 

+1, if only because I wasn't expecting it.

 

I'm surprised to have not seen Posnanski seconded. I find him hilarious; he's very versatile having done MLB, NFL, NBA and World Cup work for SI; he writes plenty; and he finds a way to write about events beyond the game. Heck, his blog post about the Simpsons baseball episode was pretty good.

Thompson and Smith do great narrative writing, while Merrill turns long-form stories around quickly (or at least what I judge to be quickly).