Your first read on the Super Bowl

Thanks, though now when I go to the Yahoo site, it appears every single columnist has written this:
"John Cena to serve as honorary starter for Daytona 500"

And when I click on the Silver column, it looks like it was filed this morning -- 14 hours ago, from the time stamp. So maybe Wetzel's was the lead column? It is excellent, just seems odd to have the lead column focus on the losing quarterback, as captive as he was.

 

Here is what I like the most about Wetzel's column, other than some of the stuff that's been mentioned already.

So much of professional sports is sanitized and scripted, and time constraints often force a huge group of writers to choose from the same bland menu. Here is the press conference for the winners. Here is the press conference for the losers. Here is an interview with the losing coach outside the locker room. Here is something mildly controversial said by an athlete that we will take great offense to while it drives our program for the next 10 hours!

A lot of sports writers these days, especially when covering an "event" seem to limit themselves to writing only about what happens during the scripted moments. Like the moment the athlete says "Ok, I'll take questions" is the moment the reporting begins, and the moment he says "Everyone good? I've got to get going" is the moment it stops. And all of that is streamed on NFL.com now, and it's being tweeted within seconds.

There are a lot of little moments in this piece that tell me so much more about what it's like to be Tom Brady than anything he could ever say in either of his interviews. And it's stuff that everyone else ignored. I actually love the detail about Jim Gray screaming at his producer and Brady standing there in polite silence. That's such a great scene, as is the scene of Gisele running after him, because they both speak to the minor chaos that Brady is walking through as he's dealing with this devastating loss.

I like how he makes the briefest of references to the stuff that occurs at the podium, as if to imply just how bullshit whatever is said up there truly is. How Brady really feels is reflected in his actions here, not his words. I think only one of his quotes in the whole piece is more than a single sentence.

What I admire so much about Wetzel is that he's obviously achieved a lot of success, but he's still driven enough to begin all his writing with reporting first. It's so easy to just yap. It's so much harder to use your access for some real insight, but the results are so much richer.

 

This is one of my favorite posts ever on this board.

I feel more and more that in discussions about the business, here and elsewhere, the trend is toward being lemmings, following the herd (sorry about the mixed metaphors) -- whether in theme/approach or the tools. It might just be my perception, not reality, but that's the feeling I've had, and for years now.

Give me someone on my staff who knows when to go left when everybody goes right, and I'll feel like I'm giving people something they can't get from 100 other sources.

Love your take, Double Down.

 

Does Simmons claim to be a journalist*? A bit odd to criticize him for not fitting the conception of something he doesn't aim to be. He writes from a fan's perspective--the lens through which most people enjoy sports. And, when he's at his best--which, to be fair, I don't think he was for this column--he's pretty good at it (even if he launched a bunch of imitators that aren't).

As for Wetzel's column, I guess I'm in the minority--finished reading it with a bit of a shrug. I certainly appreciate the attention to detail and the craft of the story, but not really all that interesting to me beyond that--don't really care all that much, as DD put it, Brady "really feels". Not the sort of "real insight" I'm looking for.

* Although he probably is one of the better NBA reporters out there, even if he doesn't cover the league in a traditional way.

 

OK, a few things:

Ginger, Yahoo's main column Sunday night was written by its top NFL reporter, Jason Cole. He wrote about the Giants defensive backfield and its precise planning against the Patriots offense. Martin Rogers also wrote two Giants sidebars, which were much shorter, that were up at night. Then Les Carpenter and Dan Wetzel wrote the discussed pieces.

IJAG, The division between column and feature has never, ever, ever been clear in sports. I would say a column features a persuasive argument. Columnists take stands. Wetzel wrote an atmospheric feature. But he's a columnist, which doesn't mean that he only writes columns but does mean that his mugshot comes with his stories.

DD, that was a great post. And I agree wholeheartedly.

lc, Alma's comment was based on Simmons' uncrafted prose. That's what he meant by calling him Nicholas Sparks, the guy who wrote The Notebook.

 

Well said.

 

What defines a 'column?'

 

I agree with Verse. I think there has to be an opinion in there somewhere. That's kind of what I was getting at in the "column vs. extended feature" thing. Both can be beautiful and well-written, but I think there has to be an argument to be made, or an opinion shared, or some sort of "trying to convince someone of something" for it to be a column.

And Verse, in addition, I understand what you're saying. But everyone was talking about how this "column" was so great, not "this story by this columnist."

 

Why?

 

I'm not quoting this as the end-all, be-all, of course, but it's largely how I see things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Column_%28periodical%29

We have four writers. All of them have "columns" that run. ONE OF THEM ever writes an actual opinion. The others are long-ass features with no opinion spouted, and it's ridiculous.