Columnists Worth Reading

[slappy4428]

Skip Bayless. One of the few you would drive five miles just to catch him with your front bumper.

 

[cfinder]

to continue in the Online division:
Pat Forde, who was well worth the time to read in Louisville, may well have come close to mastering the craft on the Internet (there is no space problem in cyberspace).
if you have ESPN Insider, go back and read his deadline column/account of the Boise State victory in the Fiesta Bowl.
it was such a joy to read, i was not only moved to write him a DangYouThatWasIncredible email between flights at an airport where i first got to see it, but i forced my sports-writing college class to read it as well.
p.s. you could say he also wrote the book on column-writing, or at least the chapter. with Dave Kindred quotes. in a college text by Abraham Aamidor.

 

[boots]

Give me the two R's - Ray McNulty and Rob Parker!!!

 

[Brain of J]

Rial Cummings from Missoula is excellent.

Cummings is pretty good. I wouldn't say excellent, but he can be a good read.
I like your other picks, Hill and Podnanski.

I'd add Canzano from the Oregonian and Thomas Boswell from the Post. And throw in Tom Verducci although he's not really a columnist.

 

[shockey]

vaccaro. he's sooo much better than that rag he works for it's not even funny. 8)

 

[JerseyBurning]

I thought Colin Stephenson or Dave D'Alessandro were better choices to take Vaccaro's spot. Maybe either one can replace Izenberg.

When has Stephenson ever written any columns?

 

[Soccer15211]

Re: ESPN and SI online columnists...I think Stewart Mandel does a pretty good job throughout the college football season and Grant Wahl is solid on his soccer coverage. ESPN has pretty much no one worth reading anymore. Thanks for the complete lack of emotion and passion in every story, column or feature you do 'Worldwide Leader'.

 

[boots]

And I'll repeat my earlier post. Just give me the two R's - Ray McNulty and Rob Parker!!!

 

[Minnesota4Ever]

When has Stephenson ever written any columns?

Politi has never written a column, but apparently it did not stop the paper from hiring him as a columnist.

 

[casty33]

To set the record straight, Steve Politi was hired as a feature writer and did that, also filling in on a few different beats, for two years, maybe three, I'm not sure, before the Ledger gave him the chance to do a column. I think he has done a good job. He's young and he's going to grow into an outstanding columnist, in my humble opinion.

 

[Moondoggy]

check out Geoff Calkins at the Memphis Commercial Appeal. Calkins is one of the best, most under-rated writers out there. I've read him for decades and he very rarely disappoints.

And no, this is not Geoff Calkins. Just a big fan.

No he's not under-rated. Geoff is hugely popular with the residents of SportsJournalists.com nation.

 

[sheos]

Ratto, Whicker, Posnanski, Ryan, Shelton and a few guys who almost never get mentioned: Dave Hyde, Jeff Schultz, Phil Sheridan.

I know this an old thread, but I just stumbled upon it, and one of the most underrated columnists around is Dave George of the Palm Beach Post. I'm always reading the South Florida papers on the web, and his stuff is comparable if not better than Lebatard or Hyde or any of those guys.