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What Makes a Good Sports Columnist?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L), Dec 22, 2013.

  1. Calvin Hobbes

    Calvin Hobbes Member

    Everything in moderation. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. The best know when to go first person and when to avoid it.
     
  2. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Exactly. To say a good columnist "never" uses it is essentially saying there are no good columnists.
     
  3. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Let's just say it doesn't work a helluva lot more often than it does.
     
  4. dirtybird

    dirtybird Well-Known Member

    I came to see that as sort of like a lot of hard and fast J-school rules. They're key when you're young and make you a much more solid writer. Very good to great ones can transcend them.

    There's some great first-person stuff (Joe Posnanski often does it well, and Resurrecting The Champ uses it to perfection). That being said, there's not a lot of folks in the upper echelon, and usually, staying away from first person helps.
     
  5. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    Yes, it's a rule that I agree with. Personally, I could care less what a columnist thinks. I'm wise enough to formulate my own opinions. I believe a columnist should be entertaining and thought provoking. Using the I crutch turns a column into an editorial essay. In my opinion.
     
  6. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    Stop it.
     
  7. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    GROW UP
     
  8. Matt Stephens

    Matt Stephens Well-Known Member

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  9. Drip

    Drip Active Member

    One day you'll understand. I hope.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  10. Hey Diaz!

    Hey Diaz! Member

    Someone who leaves his recorder on while driving, just in case a high profile coach calls.
     
  11. Frank_Ridgeway

    Frank_Ridgeway Well-Known Member

    I have been spoiled for the past three decades, mostly. Almost all of them were "good" in some fashion. Problems arise when a good columnist begins to think he's a great one. The great ones are filled with self-doubt and are harder on themselves than any editor will ever be, yet understand there is a time limit just as in many of the games they cover. And they will listen to good editors -- maybe fight you sometimes but not all the time. I like our two sports columnists quite a bit, BTW.

    I worked once with a guy who was our No. 2 columnist -- the No. 1 is my all-time fave -- and the No. 2 guy is retired now. The paper had a thing of monthly seminars with in-house experts, and when the No. 2 columnist led one, he said his No. 1 rule is that if he rips someone, he has to show up ASAP to face that person, whether it's a practice or a game. And he ripped a fair amount of people. With integrity.
     
  12. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    I've put this up on this site before, but the No. 1 thing people need to know -- and often don't get -- about columnists is that they first need to be great reporters.

    All good columns are based on good reporting. The best columnists do as much reporting as a full-time beat guy.

    Back up your opinions with facts, as much as you can possibly gather. If you're going to write, say, Russell Wilson should be MVP over Manning (just an example, I'm not saying that), talk to coaches, scouts, opponents and find out what they think and why, what Wilson does better than anyone else, how he hides his shortcomings, etc. If you're going to say a coach should or shouldn't have been fired, know who made the decision, what it was based on and how the process worked. Get as much behind-the-scenes stuff as you can get your hands on.

    At one of my many stops, the big-name columnist was probably the best reporter on the staff. He was always feeding information he'd learned to the beat guys (on several beats) for stories, even when he wasn't writing a column on the subject. He was ridiculously plugged in. And it always showed in his columns.
     
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