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Thomas Lake on Pop Herring, the man who "cut" Michael Jordan in high school

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by brandonsneed, Jan 11, 2012.

  1. JackS

    JackS Member

    Agreed. As soon as I started getting recognizable earlier in my career, I quit and took a much less visible route in the biz.

    I like meeting and greeting well enough, but I absolutely hate it when people know who I am without me knowing who they are.

    Hate it.
     
  2. brandonsneed

    brandonsneed Member

    Thomas graciously agreed to answer some questions about himself, his story, and how to make it as a journalist for my blog. So yeah, sorry about the self-promotion, but he had this one answer that I knew everyone here would really appreciate. It's pasted below.

    If you want to read it all—it's about 4,000 words long; he really was too kind—the full interview is here: http://brandonsneed.com/home/2012/1/23/thomas-lake-on-pop-herring-how-to-make-it-as-a-journalist-co.html
     
  3. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    Finally read this story last night, and, another amen from the congregation here. But in addition to Jordan's legendary dickdom, it bothered me that there were so many other unindicted co-conspirators, such as the movie makers and those who went along with this charade. Wouldn't surprise me for a second to find out Nike was involved too.
     
  4. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Good work, Brandon. Glad you're 'round these parts.
     
  5. brandonsneed

    brandonsneed Member

    Aw, thanks Buck.
     
  6. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    Really enjoyed that, Brandon. Great stuff from Tom. Definitely would love to see you keep doing these, and please ignore any of the douche comments you'll undoubtedly receive for posting them here. There is tremendous value in them.
     
  7. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I'd like to think the coach explained to Jordan that he put him on JV so he could play and not sit on the bench. Would have like to hear something from the niece who looks after the coach.
    Also thought it was interesting that the entire article was sponsored by Gatorade. Subliminal? I don't know.
    And I guess we'll never get to hear Jordan rip/"thank" SI in Cooperstown.
    Figure the story to be a lock for BASW.
     
  8. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    Definitely very noticeable, if nothing else.
     
  9. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    YES, Yes and yes.
     
  10. Orange Hat Bobcat

    Orange Hat Bobcat Active Member

    Made that same comment over on Gangrey. I jumped and read the story online on the Tuesday it was published, and when I flipped through the magazine two days later to see its design, those six full-page ads were just dominant. Definitely interesting how the story and ads seemed to be linked.

    And, yes, if that story isn't in BASW 2013, I'd be shocked. Heck, I'd be at least a little surprised if it didn't lead off the book.
     
  11. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    We're not even a month in. And it's very, very difficult to predict which handful of Sports Illustrated stories will make the cut because there are always at least 10 contenders that wouldn't seem out of place every year. And, frankly, I think Michael Sokolove's New York Times Magazine feature on Oscar Pistorius was better.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazine/oscar-pistorius.html?pagewanted=all

    But maybe I'm the crazy one. Lake's one of my favorite writers, but this was not nearly one of my favorite stories by him. And here I am, the only person who has said a negative word about the piece in this thread (which has mostly fixated on Michael Jordan being a jerk, as if we needed to reestablish that).
     
  12. Orange Hat Bobcat

    Orange Hat Bobcat Active Member

    Plan to read Sokolove on Pistorius in the morning as Mrs. Bobcat drives us from Cleveland to Athens. Looking forward to it. Read somewhere about how Pistorius drove Sokolove around and something like 130 or 150 mph. Guessing there's a lot of color like that in the feature.

    My only point on BASW 2013 was that there are just dome stories you feel will get in. Sometimes you're wrong -- the story isn't even among the notables -- but this one, it just feels so good. I've read it three times now, the first silently to myself, then next two times out loud to friends, and it just gets better. But there's a lot of year left, of course, you're right.
     
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