I'm a huge Wright Thompson fan. I think he's great. I think he's also been blessed with editors who have made the concious decision to let him what he does best.
For the most part, I think this piece was excellent. But I was uncomfortable with the instances, many of which Alma detailed, in which Thompson tries to climb into McGwire's head.
I don't think the quality of the story or the writing would have suffered if any of these lines were subtracted from the piece (Like, for example, "He feels safe here."). In fact, I think it would have improved the quality of the story.
Take the following line that Alma cited:
"By rejecting his past and creating a new future, McGwire is altering the arc of his family. He is changing all of their futures, and the way they will all view their past. Instead of the Hall of Fame defining them, his disappearance will. These are the decisions that shape a family."
There is no reason to write that. Leave it up to the readers to decide what McGwire is "doing."
I think a lot of this stuff would have been cleared up with a good editor, someone who would challenge Thompson on a few of these things: not in an adversarial way, but in a way that would result in a more powerful piece. I'm guessing Thompson doesn't really have a strong editor at ESPN the way he would at a newspaper. ESPN just wants him to do what he does. And I'm guess Thompson is happy with that.
But as far as the basic premise of the story goes: I think it works. I like the plaque imagery, I like the sources he spoke to....I think talking to the people who McGwire doesn't talk to anymore is pretty important. The guy doesn't talk to a good friend who was in his first wedding. I think that says a lot.
But Thompson needs to let these instances do the "saying." He takes it one step too far with some of his observations.
