Alex Wolff's Sportsman of the Year: Robert Lipsyte

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/magazine/sportsman/11/19/lipsyte.sportsman/index.html?sct=sp_t11_a2

Nice tribute to one of my favorite writers and a guy who definitely helped shape the modern voice of sports writing. A lot of people like to take pot-shots at the Times' sports section, but Lipsyte, Ira Berkow, Dave Anderson, George Vecsey, Harvey Araton and Bill Rhoden -- they may never have been on the full-time staff at the quite same time, admittedly -- made for an unbelievable columnist lineup from the 70s through the 90s and early 2000s. And Red Smith needs no introduction, though most think of him writing for the Herald-Tribune.

 

Who's taking pot shots?

All of those guys were great, but one. That's a pretty high percentage, by any standard.

 

The pot-shots tend to be focused on the lack of traditional Metro coverage. I heard it quite a bit growing up in New York. The city sports fans wanted more Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Rangers, Giants and Jets. I understood, but I thought the writing in the Times was so much better than the Post or Daily News offered that I didn't care. I'd take Jack Curry and Buster Olney and (eventually) Tyler Kepner on the Yankees before reading anyone else on the beat at the time.

It may be that most of the grudges with the Times sports section came from the New York metro area, which would make sense. But you never would hear the Times mentioned among the great sports staffs of old, when people bring up The Boston Globe of the 1970s; Los Angeles Times of the 70s and 80s; The Washington Post of the 80s and 90s; etc.

I think I can guess which of those Times columnists you dislike, but care to clarify?

 

I like Bob Lipsyte. But I LOVE his son Sam's fiction. Sam Lipsyte is easily one of the best fiction writers working today.

 

The whole "nominate someone obscure for Sportsman of the Year" practice gets a little clunky in these cases. Does Alexander Wolff really think Robert Lipsyte for sportsman of the year? Or have the writers just thrown away that definition in favor of spotlighting a lesser known person?

Side note: I had a fleeting thought a couple of weeks ago that maybe, given all the bruises college sports took in the past year, SI was planning to remind us of what's good about it by presenting a valedictory of ... Joe Paterno, written by Joe Posnanski.

 

(Philly) Daily News of the 80s.

 

lipsyte q&a, a bit dated

http://sportsmediaguide.com/interviews/robert-lipsyte/

 

The guy whose broad production was generated from one primary angle, which frequently prevents the presentation of a fully-nuanced viewpoint . . . and which frankly makes it difficult to get anywhere near the truth, in many cases.

I've previously made my feelings made known on this subject, and don't look to belabor it. It's obvious -- even to his friends.