Gary Parrish feature

[Johnsonville]

Painful story that was well done. I like that they devoted space to someone outside the big world of college hoops.

http://sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10567327

 

[GBNF]

Johnsonville,

I appreciate you posting this story, because A) I'm crying and it was a great read, and B) I think it might help my writing.
Too often I — and so many other writers my age — think we need to package all these great quotes in one hard-hitting sequence to really bowl the reader over.

I'm just now starting to learn about sequencing and pace and tempo, and this story showed me that it's possible to affect a reader without all those ploys that I sometime use.

Look at these two quotes, that, in one of my stories, would certainly be near the top, if not a lede, if not subheds...

"There he is in the car," Tim said as he pulled the picture up on his computer. "See how his lips look swollen? The police said that's from the carbon monoxide."

I mean, come on, how could this not be one of the top quotes?

AND

" It reads, in part: Don't ever try to convince yourself otherwise -- this event is absolutely, completely your fault. You created it. You could have prevented it. You encouraged it. You found our pain funny. ... If I have the opportunity to haunt you, I will. ... I pray you will see our faces in your mind's eye and wonder what Ryan could have been and what we could have had if you had only chosen love."

I would've given this prime freaking placement.

But Parrish weaves it in, tells the story, and I was hooked.

Thanks again,
JV

 

[Writer33]

GBNF, you nailed it. His use of quotes was perfect. I wish that piece had my name on it. Great stuff.

 

[Norman Stansfield]

Gary's always been a good nuts-and-bolts hoops guy, but I was really impressed/moved with this story.

As Johnsonville said, good to see it get the space/billing it deserved.

 

[FreddiePatek]

Great subject and well told. It's a bit cliche to say, but Gary got out of the way and just told the story with no window dressing.

Speaking as someone married with a 2-year-old, that suicide note was one of the most crushing things I've ever read.

 

[Dedo]

Gary's great. Helluva nice guy, too.

One thing that strikes me about this piece is, sometimes when we're interviewing someone who's been through traumatic experiences like this, there's a tendency to back off and not press them for the grisly details. But in a lot of cases, they WANT to talk about it, and almost need you to ask the not-so-comfortable questions. It certainly sounds like that's how the coach in this story felt, and Gary did a fantastic job of letting the coach tell it.

 

[Stone Cane]

sat here in starbucks sobbing while i read that one

powerful stuff, handled beautifully

and very good technical points from GBNF & Dedo

 

[awriter]

This line completely jarred me: "To the side she wrote, "That's Ryan saying bye-bye, Dada."

 

[BillyT]

I don't cry a whole lot in the middle of stories.

Damn.

 

[Small Town Guy]

There's been lots of good discussion about the story - and the craziness of the woman - here:

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/51495/

 

[lantaur]

That was a great article, and there certainly is no happy ending:

The coach was fired for apparently having a relationship with a student. Who might not have been of the age of consent when the relationship started. Geez.

http://www.sportsline.com/collegebasketball/story/10585306

 

[toolsofignorance]

This line completely jarred me: "To the side she wrote, "That's Ryan saying bye-bye, Dada."

That was the one that hit me hardest. Man.

What a powerful, well-written story. I'm not ashamed to say it made me cry, too. Thanks for linking this, I'd missed it somehow. Gary's a great guy and a great writer.