Mike Wilbon bids farewell to the Washington Post

Pretty good read from one of the more recognizable faces in sports journalism over the past 20 years. Highlights his most memorable moments at the WoPa.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/06/AR2010120606607.html

 

Great column. Glad he'll continue to write and do online chats for ESPN.

 

Typical average excellence from Wilbon.
As fellow who still voraciously reads newspapers and never, ever watches or listens to anything on ESPN that is a not a live sporting event, he will be missed.

 

One of the classiest big timers in the business. His John Thompson stories are the best. I was lucky enough to be at a dinner with Wilbon and several others when he was telling Thompson stories that were just amazing.

Absolute class act. I will miss his columns.

 

Why the angst towards sports television?

Anyway, I started getting into Wilbon as a high school student (about the time when PTI came on the air) and he has always influenced me from a sports journalism standpoint. Let's face it: Most people don't agree with everything any writer says, whether it's somebody you adore or someone you loathe.

I have always respected Wilbon for his complete honesty, whether in a column or on ESPN. He tells it like it is and doesn't try to hide it. I like to think of him as the opposite of Mitch Albom.

 

If he writes a weekly column for espn.com, are you going to skip it as a matter of principle?

 

I don't read ESPN.com now. The addition of Wilbon certainly won't give me pause to start.
I also don't listen to sports talk radio.
I want stories and facts, not opinion. I can form those on my own - without all the screaming.

 

But if you're an avid Wilbon reader, why would you stop reading him just because his column appears in a different medium?

 

I'm not an avid Wilbon fan. Just an avid reader. The only must-read columnist I ever had was Lewis Grizzard.
I read lots and lots of articles, and a few columns. I like Wilbon's style with the WAPO; like Reilly with SI. And at ESPN it just ain't the same. ESPN is a brand, like McDonald's. It's fast, decent and packaged to appear hip.
The WAPO and some of these other papers and magaiznes are institutions. I would be really impressed to share an elevator with Ben Bradlee or Bob Woodward and Robert Redford, but I could care less about Mike Tirico and Chris Berman and Stu Scott (all of whom I have seen and/or worked around).

Maybe I am old snob (emphasis on old) but papers and magazines carry clout with me. If you are a columnist it's because you earned it.
On the Interent, you aren't much different than any other hipster with an opinion, a blog and a Gargamel avatar. I don't care if it's ESPN, Foxsports, Deadspin or YoMommasucks.com.
I'm afraid Wilbon will follow the path of Reilly, lose his gift and fade in with the rest of the screaming ranting clods (like the guy who ate dogfood on Around the Horn).

 

Why? He's still gonna write columns.

 

So you never read the E-ticket features on ESPN? They're usually some of the best longform features you will find: http://search.espn.go.com/eticket/e-tickets/12.

And you never go to Yahoo to read guys like Wetzel and Passan, some of the best around in any medium?

If this is the case, then you're severely limiting yourself.

 

I have read some of the stuff - that has been posted here or at the Sports Desk. But ESPN is not among my bookmarks.