44-year-old writer is treated like a real player on the team

And if this were the Ohio State football beat, and not Winston-Salem, I think the reaction would be a lot more negative.

 

Every college paper in the country has had a writer show up to open tryouts for basketball or football and then write about it.

 

Few of them 44, I'm thinking.

 

When something is kept tight, when it reveals stuff about the team or players or process the "insider" has infiltrated, when it makes the reader feel as if he is on the inside, great -- as a rare form. I think this one works.

When it's an ego trip, when it focuses as much or more (or even a fair amount) on the writer and his athletic history rather than on those he has infiltrated, when the photo(s) dwell on our hero rather than the context of his teammates or coach, then I want to puke. Nine times out of 10, that's the reaction I have to these things.

 

Wake me when he goes through Oklahoma drills in Gainesville or Tuscaloosa.

 

So, he went through 7-on-7 drills with the team in front of a coach who was likely watching every word that came out of his mouth.

I'm sure he was treated just like a real player on the team.

 

So it'd be OK if it was Florida?

 

I was joking, hence the smiley face.

 

John Feinstein never threw a pitch, never caught a pass, never swung a club and never took a jumpshot.

Apples, oranges, I know. Just saying ...

 

Exactly.

 

Mr 96,

Yeah, you're right. Dangerous to inject healthy respect into the necessarily adversarial relationship ... either way that is.

YD&OHS, etc

 

Spurrier had a female student reporter try to punt once at practice after she had written a column ripping the punter.