Columnists Worth Reading

I tried to do a search on the topic and couldn't find anything real straightforward on the subject, so I figured I'd ask: which columnists are worth reading everyday, either for their writing style, viewpoints, sarcasm or humor?

A lot of the people I used to/still do read haven't been held in much high regard around here for one reason or another, so I figured I'd try to come up with a consensus. I vaguely recall Canzano being mentioned as a good name and remember that Cowlishaw was talked about highly in another thread. Anything else?

 

Does it even need to be said? Ah, screw it ... This will not end well.

 

I like the question because I'm always looking for new people to read that I might've missed. But the reason I say it won't end well is because there will be people who get all uppity about other people trying to determine what it means to be "worth" reading, which happened the last time someone asked about the best beat writers. I hope we get some good answers though.

 

Nope.

 

I like Terry Pluto, Christine Brennan, Jemele Hill and Posnanski (off the top of my head).


I'm quite sure I'll get slammed for those, so ya know.

 

Didn't mean to open a can of worms here. I was just hoping to broaden my horizons a little bit. I typically read the people in my area and know I'm missing some great stuff out there, so that's why I ask.

 

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times is pretty good as well.

Rial Cummings from Missoula is excellent.

 

Plaschke, Wilbon, Geoff Calkins in Memphis and Whitlock immediately spring to mind.

 

the 4 w's...

whitlock...whicker...wojo(det news) wilbon

 

Depends what you want. Are you looking for someone who's really opinionated or who blows you away with language? If the latter, don't restrict yourself to sports columnists.

I could say Mark Whicker is great, and he is, but what makes him great is that he is so consistently good, which is not easy. So you'd probably have to read him four times a week to understand what I mean.

A couple columnists I like a lot from smaller papers:

Sports: Bob Padecky, Santa Rosa Press-Democrat

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPORT10&profile=1055

Not sports: Clayton Hardiman, Muskegon Chronicle

http://www.mlive.com/columns/muchronicle/clayton_hardiman/

 

me