What Makes a Good Sports Columnist?

Good take by Michael Gee

http://jmgee.blogspot.com/2013/12/an-honest-opinion-is-only-kind-worth.html

 

Agreed. Great post.

 

I agree.

I always felt as a columnist, I needed to do three things: (1) take a side/opinion on an issue, (2) support that opinion with facts and (3) offer whatever seemed like a viable solution. I never assumed that my view was the only one, but I at least tried to let readers know why I felt the way I did. I never started a piece with "I think that....."

 

Like a good closer, you need more than one pitch - unless you're Mariano Rivera.

 

A good columnist never uses "I."

 

He must be a good tweeter.

 

I don't know. I remember reading Roger Ebert, who admittedly was not a columnist but perhaps the greatest movie reviewer ever, saying that one of the keys to his success was to not be afraid to use the first person.

 

First person can certainly be a crutch, but are there any columnists who "never" use it?

Sometimes it really works.

 

There are, and have been, many who don't use first person. I've been taught that it's a crutch and to avoid it like one-source stories.

 

Who are some of the great ones who never use first person? I agree that a lot of the columnists I enjoy most do it sparingly, but saying a good columnist never does it is extreme.

 

I can't definitively think of any columnist who has never used the first person. I'm sure if I throw out a name, someone will come up with a first-person column done by that columnist. But I will stand by my statement that a good columnist never uses "I."
There are some Jake who can write extremely well in the first person. I'm just not a fan of those type of columns. Again, that's my opinion. I'm sure others feel differently.