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Wright Thompson's finest work ever

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Jack_Kerouac, Aug 31, 2007.

  1. Jersey_Guy

    Jersey_Guy Active Member

    Could the reason be, perhaps, that people in the rest of the country place more value on truly important things than being seen as the country's most passionate football fans? Could it be, perhaps, that they'd be somewhat ... well ... embarrassed to care so much about something that's essentially meaningless in the greater scheme of things?
     
  2. You're right. No one's EVER written stuff like this about Notre Dame, for example.
     
  3. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    JD - I love football - everywhere. Love the feel of gameday anywhere in the country. Southern football does have a distinctive feel to it but what Wright Thompson wrote has been done over and over- books , movies, columns, tv shows.

    Go back and look at header - this was framed as "Wright Thompson's finest work ever." I believe that is what most are addressing. Same story line sub in John Ed Bradley or Rick Telander or Austin Murphy and it would read the same way.
     
  4. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Fair point about the subject line, Boom. I wasn't commenting on whether it was Wright's best work, but I do recognize it became a point of discussion here.

    I probably got a little defensive because I was coming off two 12-hour work days, including travel, and being awake for 40 of the previous 46 hours, covering Southern football. I had to convince myself it was worth the effort.

    8)
     
  5. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Lil JD want a bankie and a pacifier? ;)
     
  6. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Nah, but I'll take some Slap Boudreaux's Creole Seasoning while I eat my fatty foods and watch my football today. Got any left?
     
  7. blueview

    blueview Member

    I don't think the subject of the thread is highlighted in the proper shade of sarcasm blue.

    Mr. Write's work has gotten better as he's gotten older - he's gone from unreadable surrealism in his work from years ago to painting very strong pictures and sentiments with his work now. But this piece certainly was a cliche. As stated earlier, the formula - region that is passionate about football (Western PA, Texas, Florida, etc.), attributes of that era, what makes it so great - could be applied over and over.
     
  8. I don't understand why some of these "young studs" don't try to write straight more often. I remember Thompson's piece in BASW about the first black player at Iowa State. It was a page-turner. But sometimes you read stuff from the Brat Pack and it's like writing for story offends their intellectual sensibilities.
     
  9. HoopsMcCann

    HoopsMcCann Active Member

    yet you're here... shouldn't you be off solving world hunger?
     
  10. HoopsMcCann

    HoopsMcCann Active Member

    damon evans wanted to go back to michigan, and michigan passed... takes two to tango (of course, you could just send app state there)

    (plus at arizona state in 2008, at oklahoma state in 2009, at colorado in 2010, at oregon in 2015 -- and had agreements to play at oregon state and at cincinnati, both schools backed out)
     
  11. silentbob

    silentbob Member

    Let me start by saying I love Wright Thompson's work. If he wrote a book on writing, I'd buy it yesterday. If he held a seminar on writing, I'd be the first in line.
    The guy knows how to tell a story. He has some Rick Bragg in him.

    I do, however, tire of the Southern prose. It's overdone. Ah yes, the South, college football and simple times. Grandfathers sitting on the porch, sipping sweet tea and talking about the glory years, a hound dog named Bear resting at their feet. "Yes sir, I think this might be the year,'' granddaddy says. "That Saban character's got those boys heading in the right direction."

    No matter how well it's written -- and the recent stories by Bragg and Thompson couldn't have been written better -- it's predictable, and I think a little misleading. I've lived in the South, covered football games in the South and there's no question the passion there is great. But it's a little like the old-time baseball writer talking about baseball like it's still the game that was played by DiMaggio and Teddy Ballgame. A Saturday in Athens these days is not much different than a Saturday in South Bend, Columbus or even -- gasp! -- Los Angeles.
     
  12. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    The only difference is the beverage of choice for the day. In Athens I suspect there is more Bourbon flowing and in LA its a crisp chardonnay.

    I am not big on the fandom pieces. There is just no new ground to cover. I am a sucker for the stories writen by ex football players turned writers that are from the heart ode to the game pieces. The works of John Ed Bradley and Rick Tehlander come to mind.
     
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