What Sportswriter Did You Want to be When You Grew Up?

Kornheiser. And it's not close. It's not close to close. ... Gary Smith distant second. At my first gig I would come in early on Saturdays if I had a big feature running. I'd pop in a "Braveheart" CD into my portable player (look it up kids) and usually have Smith's latest or two close at hand as if somehow talent could be transferred through osmosis. I haven't quite made it there but ... most days I'll still take it.

 

Patrick Reusse. He grew up in a small town in southern, MN, so did I. I dreamed of writing for newspapers and he'd achieved that. He went to school with my parents so I heard stories about him as a kid. And when he made the switch from the St. Paul paper to the Minneapolis one, I got to read him every day since that was the big city paper my parents subscribed to. Loved his voice and just his abilities as a storyteller. Reading his columns feels like you're sitting with him at a bar hearing him spin a tale. Those are qualities I still admire in him and I still think he's the best big-city newspaper columnist in the biz. I don't know of any other ones who can still bring the heat with the pro sports while writing about the smaller stories and personalities outside the metro area.

As I got older, Rushin became someone I wanted to be. Again, partly because of the origin story. He was a young guy from MN who got to write cover story for 1991 World Series and then went on from there.

 

Jim Murray spoke to a class I was in during high school. I was enthralled. He lived locally, his daughter was a senior when I was a sophomore. I knew I could never write like him and didn't try. I tried to follow two people -- Mitch Chortkoff and Mal Florence. Mitch was my boss a couple of times. He was not flashy, more information driven. Mal (RIP, sir) was the same way. Be the beat guy, show up every day, know what's going on. Basic, informational writing style. Mal was never one to mince words. He said he would tell all of the newbies coming to the L.A. Times that: "You are not Jim Murray, you will never be Jim Murray, don't try to be Jim Murray."

 

The other guys you cited were great. I never liked Bisher's column.

 

Never really glommed on to one guy. I read some old stuff from Red Smith, Jim Murray and others that I thought was quality, but mostly I learned by reading bad stuff from a lot of locals and learning "don't do that."

 

I loved Gary Smith's stuff (the Shadow of a Nation story was the example I always used to show people you can find a compelling story anywhere, no matter how obscure).

I wanted to be Curry Kirkpatrick. As a youth I could think of nothing that would be more fun to do for a living than cover college basketball for SI.

 

Carl Kolchak. He wasn't a sportswriter, but he was a snappy dresser and drove a cool yellow Mustang ragtop. He also talked back to his editor alot.

 

Jim Murray. If You're Expecting One-Liners, Wait, A Column.

 

I didn't want to be sports writer until I got out of college. That said: I grew up reading the paper every morning and never missed a Royko or Grizzard column.

 

Roy Moore did.

 

I've always first and foremost been a book guy, so Feinstein.