Greasey burgers, Bourbon, Faulkner, The Grove, Rebel Flag,Hwy 61....

Right. It's not. The guy is brilliant.

Double Down is completely correct. Wright has traveled all over the place. That's not debatable.

But for a guy who writes a handful of big features each year, this year may be a little different than normal because he covered the World Cup, but for a guy who is ESPN's main features writer, he spends an awful lot of time on his hometown college.

 

Not my intent. Just a low, impressed whistle at all the stamps on his passport.

 

I don't mean this as a fight, but I think it probably feels that way more than holds up to truth.

Pretty sure this is only the second piece he's done involving Ole Miss in almost 10 years (I believe the first was about racial segregation in the 60s). Three if you include a video essay he did for College Game Day this year, when Game Day went to Oxford for the first time ever.

 

If I had a criticism of the story it would be that he glorifies a place that is still farley backwards compared to the rest of the country. Perhaps more balance might have served the reader better if the purpose was trying to give them a sense of place.
He did offer some subtle observations on race but perhaps he could have brought them more to the forefront. This is a state that still proudly flys the rebel flag.

 

What other stories has he written about Ole Miss this year?

Edit: Oops. DD answered that.

 

Not a "story" but the 30 for 30 counts as something.

 

There's also this piece, which I loved. Technically about the entire SEC, but it's 2/3 Ole Miss.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=southernfootball

 

So the Ole Miss story on this thread, the 30 for 30 narraration, and the 45-second GameDay voiceover? There are so many things about Wright Thompson to unnecessarily nitpick at (believe me; I do it plenty), and you're going with this?

 

... is a very funny line.

 

He did a lot more than the narration for that 30 for 30. That was his baby. I think it was a different 30 for 30 that he just narrated. I don't remember which one.

He'd also done a "How to Survive at an Ole Miss game" but I googled it and that was a freelance magazine piece.

I'm a gigantic fan of the guy. I did not care for this piece.

 

What's absolutely hilarious is that Wright is not particularly well thought of amongst the locals.

He has no claim to be a Charger or Commodore, perhaps the most telling of all Oxford-based roots, and didn't go to Ole Miss either.

He's a Delta kid and Oxford will forgive the planter's kid when they enroll but Wright went Yankee and Oxford will never forgive that.

 

Missed that one. So that's four. With the 30for30 we'll bump that to five. Just for the sake of argument, let's say there is another one or two I'm missing. So let's say there are seven stories involving Ole Miss somehow. I would bet he's written more than 100 stories for ESPN. Probably closer to 150 if you include blog entries that are essentially stories from the World Cup. Is five or six percent of your stories involving Ole Miss too much?