I don't know how many times I have to say it -- Rick Freaking Reilly

I know you're using the word "major" and that's a bit subjective, but I don't buy it. There are plenty of columnists on SI.com and ESPN.com that I don't read. Maybe that's because they aren't major, but it also may be (and I don't think that it's a coincidence) that the major columnists became major because they're good. Maybe some have lost something off their fastball, or maybe we just hold them to a higher standard because they have shown how good they are in the past. Either way it gets tiresome how everyone on this board slams basically any "major" writer.

The fact that they aren't out covering prep cross-country doesn't mean they're not real journalists. And hell if they were, they'd probably be better at it than most of us. Anyone remember Reilly's story a few years ago about the kid with some physical handicap that fell like every two feet running XC and it took him 2 hours to finish every race? I'd dare to say that his column was probably better than whatever ran in that kids local paper.

 

So that's the new Mendoza line for sportswriting?

 

That was a funny piece. Loved the ending line. But it also seems like I've read that column before, or a different version by someone else.

 

What's wrong with those kinds of pieces? I find them interesting because it gives a first-person perspective, almost always informative and well-written, on something I'll never do. Reilly's column is the first thing I read.
Friends not in the biz usually rave about Reilly. I think that's more of a true assement as to his popularity than a group of sports writers, most of whom would give almost anything to have his job. With those not in the biz, the jealously factor is tempered a bit.
And, no, I'm not Rick Reilly, either.

 

I hope he didn't plagiarize the George Michael Sports Machine.

 

I never thought Reilly was funny. He's the guy at the party who works too hard to make people laugh. And he strikes you as just another columnist whose understanding of sports is childlike and unsophisticated. His football commentary has been consistently bad for years.

 

Which puts him in the same league as Kornheiser ... ... maybe they should both be on MNF

 

Who said there is anything wrong with those pieces? I agree with pretty much everything you said, so you picked the wrong post to quote in your rant.

 

I read Reilly's column yesterday, and while I may have seen different incarnations of it in the past, I enjoyed this version. Nice job, Rick Shanley Reilly.

 

Isn't it time for him to say it again?

 

Can we retire the phrase "hating on"?

It's so ... illiterate. Inarticulate. Insipid.

Plus, and I hope the editors on the board will back me up on this, it's needlessly wordy.

 

Isn't that a Stuart Scott creation? I hate it, too.