Vintage Reilly here

I wouldn't say ego, but I would say it speaks of lack of self-awareness. Local stations probably do this kind of stuff because the audience eats it up and it helps market their news org as "the station that cares" or "we're all one family."
Reilly has always been Reilly. He knows how good he has it, and has said so in print. I just wish it came through in his writing more, because when it doesn't it comes across as "look how special I am that I got to ride with the Thunderbirds or ride a bike with Lance Armstrong" - but it was the name on the front of the magazine, not the back page that made those opportunities happen.

I don't disagree with you Pope, but it better be damn good. And sure we're in a new media age, where writers have to establish their (PLEASE EXCUSE ME BECAUSE THIS TERM SHOULD BE TAKEN OUT BACK AND SHOT) "own brand" instead of relying on the masthead to carry them through to retirement, but writers really need to clear a very high wall to make that happen. I trust a writer to be more objective about something that happens to someone else than something that happens to them.

 

Well, the Simmons column about his dog dying was roundly loved here, and people HATE Simmons. So I think there's something to what PDB said.

 

I don't think it is about creating your own brand as much as it is telling interesting stories, no matter where you find them, even if they are in your own life. Honestly, if we sent the average reader with the Blue Angels and then had Rick Reilly write about it, the resulting column is not going to be as good as the one where Reilly went up there himself. I think a good columnist needs to have an internal check to make sure that the column's appeal goes beyond the story itself and taps into common feelings and editors also need to be willing to point out when it doesn't. But I don't agree that there is some massive hurdle to climb where it has to be into the upper deck great before it reaches print.

 

I've defended Reilly numerous times on this board, but I agree with Mizzou. He's coasting. And the thing is, I think he'd admit he's coasting. It kind of reminds me of Emmitt Smith playing for the Cardinals or Jerry Rice catching passes for the Raiders. Everyone knows their best days are behind them, but it's Jerry Rice, for Christ's sake, people still want to watch him perform.

But I don't blame Rick. While I miss his features, he's earned the right to kick back. Keep in mind, it's not mailing it in when that's all the job requires. ESPN has several talented writers doing the longform stuff -- I'm sure someone is writing a tear-jerker about a lost loved one as I type (that's ESPN.com's favorite topic, if you didn't know). That allows Reilly to be goofy and brief, all while making more money than 95 percent of us would make in a decade. More power to him.

 

Rice in Oakland, maybe. Reilly on TV, no thank you.

 

Rushin's decline was worse that Reilly's.

 

Ah. Thanks. I was too lazy to go Google it.

 

His latest offering:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4406915

Besides banging his tort reform drum, I have a quibble. Since when is baseball "dying sport"?

 

The guy can still write. Maybe his column writing is like sticking a gourmet chef in a Dennys.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4997277

 

Posted that on the NBA thread but glad you put it here; more than two people will see it here. Like you said, maybe he'll concentrate more on features, like he did before getting the backpage at SI. It is amazing what can happen when a few horrible puns and groan-inducing similes are dropped.

 

I thought the George Karl piece was very good. Reilly got fantastic access, obviously. His best work yet for ESPN, I think. I felt a little more like I was reading Reilly the feature writer on this one.

 

WFW. Just got around to reading that now, and it was brilliant.