If you could write a 5,000-word takeout on one athlete, who would it be?

Julie Foudy. Olympian, activist, founder, new mother and (in my wildest dreams) future president.

 

Zane Smith and the groupies.

 

Gordie Howe. He's the history of pro hockey: Fearless warrior, supremely skilled scorer, utterly naive pawn of management.

 

golf - ian baker-finch or david duval
tennis - gabriela sabatini or jimmy connors
football - sammy baugh or donovan mcnabb
basketball - scottie pippen or jerry west
hockey - steve yzerman or mark messier
baseball - curt schilling or travis hafner

 

If we're saying that this person would cooperate -- Barry Bonds.

Closest thing sports has to a Shakespearean-type tragic figure. Would love to get inside his head, find out if he believes all the crazy stuff he says. If he really believes nothing is his fault, it's actually the media's.

And if he is as crazy as he seems -- why? How'd he get that way?

 

Taking the prison route here with my choices...

Cecil Collins - What's life like for a football player with the potential to be one of the greatest, most dominating college football players ever wind up in prison, wasting his talent away?

Ike Ibeabuchi - How things fell apart for a heavyweight who looked to be the heir apparent to Mike Tyson

 

I would like to think I've at least read a few definitive takeouts of folks mentioned on the previous pages (Gary Smith's pieces on Andre Agassi and Pat Tillman are must-reads; two new books profiling Pete Maravich were just released, one far more detailed, the other far more literary; Kurt Angle's story to this point has been documented well by Chico Harlan) ... but there are a few definitive takeouts I would like to write at some point. I'll probably get beat to them, though.

Hulk Hogan has always fascinated me. Granted, I grew up and fell in love with professional wrestling just after Hulkamania's peak, but Hogan entranced me during my youth. His rise from bodybuilder to low-level wrestler to star ... to bad movie star ... and his decline to pop culture parody is a story that hasn't been told. Is there a story there? I'm sure there is, and I'm sure the casual reader would enjoy it just as much as the sports fan. Hogan is the one wrestler who really crossed over to the mainstream. People know who he is, and I'm sure they would be interested in reading about his antics now. (And his daughter, Brooke, is kinda hot.)

By the time his career winds down, I would love to examine Kevin Garnett. He played at several high schools, opted to skip college altogether and entered the NBA Draft -- and, in turn, sparked a decade-long trend that culminated with the NBA's implementation of a minimum age rule -- played for a sad-sack team that he has never been able to carry deep into the playoffs and, to this point, has never been a winner. So many athletes of this era will retire without a championship, but perhaps none will have failed so magnificently and so eloquently and so noticeably as Garnett. While he deserves some of the blame for the Timberwolves' failure, he receives all of it.

The kid in me that grew up an Indians fan has always been intrigued by Jose Mesa. Once a starter, he emerged as the team's closer during their dominant years -- then perhaps blew the 1997 World Series with what Omar Vizquel described as "an empty look in his eyes" -- but has found good work for much of the last decade by plying his trade and finding teams that need a middling reliever. The aspect that interests me most is the '97 Series and his ensuing and ongoing feud with Vizquel. By itself, that feud is worth a good chunk of words; it might be baseball's best today.

Mutombo interests me, of course. Tyson, for all the wrong reasons. With access, Bonds. ... But access is always a problem. Two years ago, LeBron James granted Charles P. Pierce a 15-minute interview for a Sports Illustrated cover story. Fifteen minutes. Yes, James is the high-profile exception, but the best stories are those that are unknown, that unfold for the reader like a drama. The best access, too, can be found below the surface.

Give me the story in the backwoods of Kentucky any day over the star.

 

Finch's curve was 120 mph. His heater was clocked at 168.

 

Another idea:

Jerry Sloan. Arguably one of the best coaches in NBA history, never won the big one or the COY honor. Still wears John Deere hats, operates a farm in Illinois during the offseason, etc. And could probably kick the ass of most NBA players today.

 

Amen.

 

Many, many great proposals on this thread. Some are so good they should be books-Parcells, for example.
In the big takeout concept, Mickelson would be fabulous, not least because he's reckless enough to give a writer the access he'd need to do the job right.
I can't help thinking the best possible takeout subject is some athlete or coach within an hour's drive of my home who exists in perfect obscurity so that I'll miss the opportunity out of my own ignorance.

 

huh? you lost me.