Wright Thompson's finest work ever

The ode to Southern football column is about the biggest cliche in journalism. Almost as big as the Wright Thompson is god cliche. Think of this: Stephen King, or any big-time book writer, for that matter, has to rewrite several times before his work is publishable. That being the case, Wright Thompson certainly can be edited.

 

Wright certainly NEEDS to be edited

 

It's one of those places that seems as if it has been there forever, like the planets, or Styrofoam. I order a pimento cheeseburger. The Kingsman's famous for these gobs of cholesterol-laden goodness. They're messier than a small-town divorce.

Can't say that's not a good line though...

 

Wright always has good lines, as spnited said earlier. This one just happened to not lead you anywhere.

And anyone who could post this and say it was better than his father's day piece is off his rocker.

 

What's the over/under on someone coming on here and ripping all of you as Podunkville no-talent ass-clowns who couldn't hold Wright's jock?

Personally, I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet.

 

I disagree.

It's homeless-man's Rick Reilly.

I've read so many incarnations of that sort of crap.

 

Ahhh yes... a Canzano-ization.

 

I'm not usually a huge Wright Thompson fan myself. Usually kind of just bores me after a while, so I can understand how many wouldn't enjoy this piece.

But I'd wager that those of us that have been directly involved with being a passionate fan of Southern college football would be the ones that would enjoy this piece more. Yes it was a little heavy on the sap, but I smiled through the whole thing and remembered my own similar stories. I think that's what a writer like Thompson is all about: Putting you in the story with his prose. It's not enough for me to just want to read a long piece like this, I need to FEEL it too. That's why, I'd think, most outside of the football south just wouldn't enjoy this as much.

Interesting debate over audience and how to impact them though.

Oh, and you're right, this doesn't come anywhere near that Father's Day piece. Not sure much of anything could...

 

Oh, bp.

I have no doubt that legions from Lynchburg and surrounding areas would eat that up.

No doubt at all.

 

I agree that this is probably for a limited audience and I agree this wasn't nearly as good as the Father's Day story. My brother went to Ole Miss. I also grew up in the South so it resonated with me obviously more. Plus, northerners - with a few exceptions - don't have the same experience or passion (misguided though it can be) when it comes to college football. I've been to Ole Miss games and to Illinois, Northwestern and Missouri games. The Grove is a different planet in comparison. I know someone will come on here and say Michigan or Wisconsin or Ohio State has that. The difference is they're winning programs. With the exception of that Cotton Bowl win a couple years ago, Ole Miss hasn't won squat, yet the school has a full house for SEC games. It's easy to hype yourself up when a team is going to win. It's hard to ring those f-----' POS cowbells at Miss. State when you're team is going to get thrashed by LSU.
You may scoff at the story on the Georgia team beating a 4-6 Michigan team, and I don't think the implications are necessarily Civil War or whatever.
I think it's more being putdown by northerners, Yankees or whatever for just the way you talk. That you also couldn't possibly be smart with that accent or that you're part of a shameful past just by being from the South when you had nothing to do with it.
I've since moved away from there, but I can tell you where the attitude comes from in my mind.

 

Just FYI --
Isn't that the last time Georgia played a regular season game against anyone outside of the South?

 

Or, it could be the fact that those outside the SEC don't share in the fawning spoogefest -- whether its the Big 10, Big East, ACC, Pac-10, Big 11... other schools have tradition too; the SEC owns no copyright. Truth be told, the best college footbal traditions can usually be found at D3 schools.
Or, it could be an overwritten piece targeted at one, and only one, segment of a college football audience.
Truth be told, it's the first thing of Wright Thompson's I've ever read. Based on this, others who have commented about him needing editing are right. Am sure he's a talented writer, consensus here is he is just that. This piece was wordy and sappy.
Period.

And Fens, that answer to your question is yes, sad to say. The last time Georgia played a regular-season game outside the south was that game in 1965, unless you consider Houston (1967) and/or Roanoke (1966) not to be South. Other than that, the time before that game in Ann ARbor was 1960 at USC.
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