Your first read on the Super Bowl

I imagine Bill Simmons claims to be - out loud and in his own mind - whatever suits the shell game that is his shifting ego.

He's a journalist. Of course he is.

 

'Death of a Racehorse' was written as a column.

 

I do NOT want to get into that discussion with you. I can rest easy in saying we see that story in 180-degree different ways.

 

Then they should be fired for not being columnists, or be given one final chance to prove themselves.

Or they can make less money to write one-and-two source features.

 

It's a terrific column that was riveting to read. An original viewpoint that's remarkable given the glut of media at a Super Bowl. At the same time, it's difficult to paint Brady in a sympathetic light when he's wearing a suit that costs more than most people make in a week and has a lingerie model chasing him down to give him a consoling hug. I imagine many people read that column and said to themselves: Get over it, Tom.

 

The guy wrote five columns a week. Were all five Death of a Racehorse? No.

If you have somebody writing four times week and soft-pedaling the space to wax, cut em. Get somebody in there who will embrace the role.

Sadly, papers put themselves in these positions by (too) consistently hiring the best writers on the staff to write columns, only to find out they're soft. Columnists should be driven, opinionated, a divisive-but-attractive personality, quick-witted, and up for a scrap. They also have to be intellectually honest.

 

I'm not arguing quality (with you, or with Alma). I'm just saying that reporting - simple 'observation' - has always been a staple of the column form.

In a world rotten with opinion, why insist that columns provide only that?

 

She didn't. She's wary to the very worst kind of columnist - the one who doesn't have anything to say. That's kind of like theologian whose contribution to the discussion is telling everybody else how good their points are.

 

This. I didn't say ONLY opinion, but it has to have opinion. A long-winded, beautifully written feature that argues a point? Column. 1200 words on how stony Belichick is? Feature.

 

You're both saying the only correct definition of 'column' includes the delivery of an 'opinion.'

 

Yes.

But let me turn it around on you then. How would you separate a column from a long feature if not by inclusion of opinion?

 

To use part of the definition you presented, it is a piece of writing of variable (although roughly fixed) length that appears regularly (online or off) and is the work of a person(ality) with a recognizable point of view.

I'd also, in this new age of ubiquitous opinion, say that 'analysis' or 'synthesis' might be equally good words for what we seek in these pieces.