Vintage Reilly here

I don't have a problem with people criticizing high-profile writers. It just seems as if a lot of it is out of spite, jealousy? I have no idea, but it gets irritating.

 

I'm not saying I'm a better writer than Reilly. I'm saying if I got stacks of letters each day about all these heartwarming stories, I would consistently knock them out out of the park with columns that tug on your heart strings. I bet the rest of you could do the same. Now, thats just an opinion, and I will never work for SI. So I will leave it at that.

 

"Gods" reference?
Nah.
Heroes?
No problem.
Not to hammer this horse into oblivion, but — again — jusssst a little stretch there.
And I understand that maybe, just maybe, a 13-year-old would regard an athlete in God-like terms. I understand that point of view.
I just have this gut feeling that, if you asked a 13-year-old, he probably wouldn't use the "God" reference. Just my opinion and it's only worth two cents on a good day.I just think more times than not, he or she would probably say, "I met my hero, John Elway, today. And my hero is keg-chested just like everybody on SportsJournalists.com said he was."
I think Reilly actually probably thought he had just met or knew "God."

 

I once worked for a newspaper like that. When the big story was there, no place covered it better, quicker or smarter. On the days and weeks between the big stories, the place was on autopilot, and it showed.

When there is a story to tell, and great, original material to work with, there remains no one in this business who can make it as visceral and memorable as Rick Reilly.

The challenge, the rest of the time, is turning pigshit into strawberry jam, and confronted with that, he spins his wheels, as pretty well everyone does.

And no, I am not him, although I know him to say hello to.

 

I will bet that at every home game some kid meets an NFL player through the community relations arm of the franchise.

Reilly just built up the information on the kid, found the crying link and punched you in the stomach with it.

I also like the photo credit.

 

I'll say one thing....confidence, you do not lack, sir.

 

I think with a writer of Reilly's talents, there is a mixture of having so much of the ideas "drop into the lap", so to speak, and also then using that talent to produce great stories.
Because of his reputation, who he is and his recognition, he's simply going to get a whole lot more ideas tossed his way. There are plenty of us on SportsJournalists.com who have the talent to write just as well--if not better-than him. I believe that.
At the same time, one still has to have the drive and want-to to get the job done and follow through on it. I've seen a lot of talented individuals in different areas and with everything at their disposal and didn't do jack-shit with it.
And maybe some of the time the really talented folks in any profession simply make it look so damn easy.

 

Unrelated, but the thread title reminds me of a college roommate, who always used the word vintage when talking about athletes, actors, singers. Rocky II would come on and the first thing he'd say would be, "Vintage Stallone."

AC Green grabs an offensive rebound? "Vintage AC Green."

A classic Seinfeld moment? "Vintage Costanza."

 

It's not jealously. Many of us grew up idolizing Reilly. I knew him pretty well early in my career and asked his advice once and he gave me this inspiring speech about how passionately you have to be about every story you do and it made a huge impact on me at the time.

To watch him phone it in is painful.

 

Maybe bitterness, then. Or perhaps genuine hate. I think I'd respect that a lot more than bitterness or jealousy or whatever.

So many people these days -- on this board especially -- love to bash for the sake of bashing. It gets old. Real old.

 

In the case of some, I would agree. With Reilly, I think many of us just want him to be the old Rick Reilly again when his features were must-reads in SI.

Reilly is one of the great talents in sports writing of the last 20+ years. When I read some of his stuff lately I feel like I'm watching Johan Santana intentionally walk 27 straight batters.

 

Oh yeah. It goes way beyond the constant Reilly bashing, but I digress....

I do, however, agree. I used to get all kinds of excited to flip to the back page of my SI. Not so much anymore with ESPN the Mag. I'm glad he comes through every now and then, though. Cause when he's on, he's on.

After all this, though, I really want to read mustang J's writings.