When was Lupica good (great?)

I read Lupica regularly and am often left wondering, 'What's all the fuss about here?'

Plenty of flaws with him, but at some point he was good/great, and I'd love to read some of his earlier stuff so I can understand what the big deal is with this guy. So if anyone has links to 'vintage' Lupey, please share them. I doubt the stuff from his days covering the Knicks for The Post is online, but that'd be cool to see too.

Rip me if you must, I know how it goes here.

The reason I'm asking is b/c I came across this Mike Vaccaro interview with The Big Lead where he raves about early Lupey. But I'm not about to go to my library to find it.

http://m.thebiglead.com/bigleadsports/#!/entry/lupica-steve-phillips-rewriting-books-no-problem-an-interview-with,51447f15d7fc7b56706f3df2

 

Brings back such fond memories of the early SJ days when Lupy conspired with his editor
Leon Carter and APSE President Don Skwar to shut down SJ because Lupy did not like what
was written about him. Made for some real interesting times for some of the SJ membership.

 

For all you newbies:

Dot.com chatters give us all a bad name

By DON SKWAR
President

In one of the earlier reports from this space in the newsletter, I updated you about the fight for our rights to cover an event – in this instance, it was any Southeastern Conference football game. It was about freedom of speech, in essence, and if this organization didn't let everyone know how firmly we stand behind that right, then, really, it wouldn't make sense being in this profession.

So now I want to update you on another fight. This one has everything to do with what we're about as well. Yet I'm sure some might say that what I'm suggesting is that we limit that freedom of speech. That's not the case, of course, but if that's how it's viewed by some, so be it.

This is about sportsjournalists.com, a web site for sports journalists, presumably. It has some well-intentioned features – a list of stringers we all might use; a link to a scholarship fund established in memory of murdered Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt; a job board; and a link to our own APSE web site.

So why, on Jan. 25, did I write the webmaster of this site, demanding that we have the link to APSE removed? Why did I get in touch with my parent organization, the New York Times Co., to let it know it might want to rethink its advertising a 50-percent off deal for the Times newspaper on this web site?

http://archive.apsportseditors.org/feb2002/2dotcom.html

 

I have one of Lupica's "best of" books from early in his career. Everything in there is brilliant.

It does remind you that, yes, he was once great... It also lets you know what a steaming pile of shit he has become...

The industry is filled with columnists who once were great who have become punchlines... Lupica is the most extreme example though...

 

I think one of the problems with Lupy's style of prose was that it was not built for the
long haul. After 20 years it all started to sound like recycled mush.

Still waiting for Lupy to mention that he was fouled by the steroid era of baseball.

 

SWILL!

Poor Don.

 

He was great in that time, in that place, with those people, doing these things they did for them.

 

I really enjoyed his first murder mystery, "Dead Air." Was made into an awful TV movie.

When I think of Lupica, I recall him walking into the main Olympic press center at Albertville (1992) and seeming a little disappointed that he didn't get recognized. Sort of stood around, shuffled his feet for a few minutes and then left.

 

Specially on a cold October day at the big ball orchard in a place they simply
called "The Bronx"

 

I had the same thought (going straight to Rick Reilly in my mind) and wondered why? How can writers of such brilliance devolve into writers in such inane drivel? Is it simply that those at the top are bound, like the great athletes they often write about, to have less-than-graceful falls into mediocrity?

Or does the status, paycheck and praise corrupt what was once a desire to bust your ass and make each column better than the next? Sorry to go off topic a bit here, but it is something I often think about when reading guys like Lupica and Reilly.

 

His entry into the Best American Sports Writing of the Century is one of the five weakest in the book.

 

I've walked into all kinds of rooms, including media centers and hospitality rooms, and looked around to see if anyone I knew was there, and then left when I didn't see anyone I knew. So, you can tell the difference?

Or did you only used to be a great mind-reader, and now, not so much?