Lugnuts said:When Bryant changed 'doing' in the real quote to 'going through'... That's where he truly went too far.
I'm with Frank and IJAG. Why not write it this way:
Portis said he doesn't know what anyone else feels, thinks or does, and that "the only thing I know is what's going on in Clinton Portis's life."
Maybe it doesn't have the same flair, but it's real, and you still get Portis using himself in the 3rd person a la Rickey.
All the way back on Page 1, I said we in the media were "addicted to the quote."
Why?
Because we're afraid somebody else will have a quote we didn't have.
Because quoting somebody cuts out about 250 words in a 750 word story, making our job easier.
The heck with that.