Jones/ESPNMAG

I believe the phrase is "trolling."

 

There is no one better in the biz.

What a love, too, is the incongruity of his plain name to his massive talent.

No added middle initial as a compensatory item.... No quintuple-syllable first name to try distracting us from a deficiency further down the page.

It must be quite rarefied air to ingest.... when utter greatness is so monotonous.

Thanks, Jones.

 

Not even close Stinky. It just seemed odd to see the Jones brand headlining on ESPN. Since the inception of SJ many here have bashed espnmag endlessly for being lowbrow and cheesy and hyper-commercial, so it seems odd that someone who writes for the best magazines in the business would do this piece for a publication that garners so much cynicism and disrespect. Here At SJ Jones has always portrayed himself as the above it all counter culture style writer and now he is taking the money of the anti Christ. What next - William Ayers writing a column for The National Review.

BTW - the story itself is great - as it always is with Jones work. Here's hoping that it becomes an annual feature much like the One Shining Moment wrap that CBS does for the NCAA's .It will be something to look forward to each year. I just wish I did not know of the "Jones persona".

 

I can't blame Jones for taking their money but he really needs to hold out for final authority over the magazine's layout and design in his next deal. And I won't say he sold out until he starts writing one of those pithy little "chat" items to reinforce that he's cool like Stu. Holla!

 

Maybe they're just trying to make that magazine, you know, better.

And I'm pretty sure I have no idea what either of these thoughts are meant to signify:

 

I wish I had about 5 percent of Mr. Jones' ability to set a scene... damn, that's good.

 

Boom, let me ask you this:

If a business offered you X dollars to do whatever it is that you do for a living, would you take the job?

There is nothing wrong with Jones or anyone else, for that matter, taking a job at the WWL. The magazine has a pretty impressive staff of writers--Tom Friend, our own FOTF, Buster Olney. Would you call them sellouts?

 

I'll venture to guess that the Mag already thinks it's 'better,' at least better than anything else out there (which is probably a dubious distinction at this point).

How is it that a magazine with some of the best writers in the biz manages to be unreadable on a regular basis? If you can't make it 'better' with that staff, you have some serious problems.

 

I would say the writing being "published" on ESPN.com garners so many more readers than in the printed pages of the magazine.

And the feature pieces on ESPN.com have been amazing.

I also think the magazine is litter in my mailbox most months. It may have 5-6 decent pages wrapped around 40-45 pages of "what does this person's wife know about him or her?"

 

I always thought that Jones was more about the craft than the money. ESPN needs Jones more than Jones needs ESPN.

 

I think this piece makes it abundantly clear that art and commerce aren't always mutually exclusive.

 

So the man's a sellout because he is so good at what he does, he took a job from ESPN? That's the height of silliness. End of the day, the man's got a family. He writes because he loves the craft of writing, but it is also his job.