Michael Silver -- I just don't get it...

AGREED! completely agree. What I'm pointing out is that there is zero background or context to it. But there needs to be a reason, otherwise, it's just stupid...

 

Oh my god. Now we've gone too far the other way. He was just telling us what, when and where Edge was drinking, with specificity, as any good writer should, and from that we can draw our own conclusions. Of course a writer can always go deeper, but this was not meant to be the definitive, magazine-length profile of Edgerrin James, it was a web column about whether Edge has lost a step. Silver could have spent another six grafs on this scene, telling us how the light sparkled off Edge's gold teeth, but this was not the story for that. Besides, at some point you have to trust that the writer is giving you the relevant details. If it was his sixth drink and he was slurring his words, I assume Silver would have told us that. It's more likely that Edge was just sitting and chatting, drinking a whatever it was, and Silver decided that was all the description worth spending on that scene.

 

If Mr. Silver describes the scene, including the drink James has, then that's readable.

When Mr. Silver writes in his precious "Look at ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm with a famous ATHLETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm COOOOOOLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" style, it's just not worth reading. Jock-sniffing only provides insight into how much ass a writer is willing to kiss to get a player to say "Yeah, man, it upsets me when people say I've lost a step at 29."

Haven't finished a Silver story in a decade. Started a lot of them with high hopes . . .dude DOES write for SI.

But ultimately, he's a writer. One with skill and a great paycheck, but a writer. Not a jock, not a member of the inner circle, not an athlete. Basically, when he writes like this, he comes off like a college-age fanboy who is just stoked and honored to be in the room with these godly athletes.

 

Until Jones referred to it as tequila a few posts ago, I had no idea what kind of drink Patron was. I'm guessing I'm not the only one (among readers, not among all you drunkards ).

 

Why in the fuck would you put Rosie's in Patron?

 

Bingo. That's exactly what I was trying to say myself and have been trying to say for the last 10 years.

 

I ran into deposed dictator Augusto Pinochet the other day ... one hearty laugh ...

 

I'm honored...I didn't realize I could incite such vitriol...

 

Never given much thought to Silver as a technician one way or the other, but I do remember one year, being at training camp and seeing a group of beat writers slobber all over him on his hit-and-run visit. There's a vast difference between showing someone respect and audible slurping. I mean, the guy shits, too, just like the rest of us.

 

Obviously a subjective discussion ... but I'd be curious to hear the names of three NFL writers at national outlets (sportsline/fox/espn/yahoo) who you think are better reads than Silver. Obviously it's personal preference ... but still curious.

I prefer it when writers to hang out with athletes away from the locker room/field, but that's just me.

 

It's standard magazine celeb profile writing -- "(Name the actor) looked out over his arugula at the trendy Beverly Hills bistro and sighed." -- brought to sportswriting.

 

I blame television. And Bill Zehme. And our culture of celebrity. And our schools. But mostly Zehme.