SI - Smith on Tillman

Songbird, I agree. I save most of Smith's pieces, but this one .... it just felt like it was too much hero-worship, too much adoration.

On another note, has anyone ever read any comments from his wife? I don't think I've seen her quoted. Even Smith's pieces touch very lightly on her.

 

First and foremost, if you read this story looking for a "point," you've missed the point. Smith says so in the first few grafs:

"Maybe it's best to keep it simple, to start with the day Russ first laid eyes on Pat, keep the moralizing to a minimum and let everyone figure out what Pat's story says about human beings and fear and the country in which we live."

But in terms of the last graf that I referenced:

"But if we really want to know who Pat was, our best chance, maybe our only chance, is to look hard at that picture of a half-naked man doing a handstand on a roof. Doing something he loved to do just because it was hard and scary, sort of like telling the truth."

I really think he nails it there.

 

Well there was an editor's note toward the front of the magazine saying he felt like Smith should get another attempt at writing the story because of how muddled things were when he wrote the first one. At the time he was on deadline for the story, there were three different versions about how Tillman died leading to a poorly written story for the magazine.

 

Like many of you, if Smith writes it, I'll read it. The part where he describes the firefight during which Tillman died was gripping. And while I'll agree the story was a tad heavy on the hero-worship, it didn't take anything away from the story for me. I didn't know Russ Baer before and now I am pulling for him in life.

 

I loved the story, but then I love everything Smith writes. What I found confusing was the graphic. I couldn't quite figure out where Tillman was supposed to be, who shot him and from where. I guess that's because it's still murky. I'd also have liked to seen more on the ill-fated missed turn that wound up triggering this whole sad story.

So the story gets an A from me, but the graphic gets a C minus.

 

I found some parallels to the Agassi story in that Smith subletly lets you see the flaws in the man while praising him.

Sure, Baer's devotion to Tillman seemed a little strange. But I found the story to be a gripping read.

 

The fact that SI felt compelled to disclose Smith's sources says a lot about just what kind of shitstorm the first piece generated. Talk about tipping sacred cows.

I'd put Smith in the pantheon of contemporary non-fiction magazine writers, and hold him to the highest standard. To me, this will always be a stain on his career.

 

One thing - there didn't seem to be the "50 sources" on the list, the number Smith swears by. Not that there weren't a lot, but not 50.

 

A tremendous read, I thought. I tend to agree with those who stay the original Tillman piece will be a stain on Smith, but that decision has to go higher up too, to an editor who said we HAD to have that story on that tight of a deadline.

The turn where Baer's kid survives then dies had my eyes watering, for sure.