Best national columnists?

Geoff Calkins isn't a national guy, I guess, but he's great.

 

Rial Cummings was great, but he's left the industry (like so many others).

 

This thread begins and ends with Joe Posnanski.

Jason Whitlock is fantastic for grabbing controversy by the balls. Not my favorite writer, but you can't argue he isn't courageous.
Bill Plaschke writes the "heart-tugger" better than probably anybody in America.
Geoff Calkins absolutely OWNS his columns.
LZ Granderson (ESPN.com) puts out a good one every once in a while.
Jeff Passan (Yahoo.com) can write the hell out of baseball, and he's great for a baseball fan.
John Canzano (Oregonian) is awesome. Can't go wrong with him.
T.J. Simers (LA Times) is very funny on a regular basis, and very unfunny on a regular basis. But he has a niche audience who swear by him.

BUT ALSO (non-columnists):

Dave Sheinen (Washington Post)
Mark Ziegler (San Diego Union-Tribune)
Kevin Robbins (Austin American-Statesman)
Jimmy Breslin (Newsday, sometimes)

AND (dead):
Jim Murray
W.C. Heinz
Mike Royko

And so many more.

 

In all seriousness, buddy, if you're reading national columns because you want to, the bravado is well-appreciated.

If you're reading national columns because you're trying to learn to write/perfect your craft, make sure you learn more from the features and beat coverage you see than the columns. Don't want be a downer, but nearly everyone will vouch for me that it would be best served if a writer doesn't become a columnist until a later stage of his career.

 

Zebracoy, wise advice. I heart Royko. He was my favorite as a tyke. Cried like a baby when he died.

 

I've said this on probably a dozen threads by now, but I'll let it fly once again: Jeff Passan is the best columnist I've read. As a diehard baseball fan, his work is refreshing to me. I haven't read one I didn't like, and I'm really not surprised by it anymore. I expect gold from him because that's what he's been delivering on Yahoo! for the last two years. His work is a definite plus to the start of the baseball season -- even though he works through the offseason.

 

It's not every day that a thread is started that is a totally fresh idea. Nice work, slats.

 

I read the dictionary. Some of the best righting ever.

 

I think we need a "Best Columnist Under 30" thread.

 

I'll go crawl back into my hole again

 

I also love Passan's writing. One of my favorite columns of his was when he went into a gay bar after Ozzie Guillen's "faggot" controversy.

He also wrote back after I complimented one of his columns.