Big Lead bags John Feinstein

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

TBL got an interview with John Feinstien

He got $17,500 advance to do his first book- after it was turned down by four publsihers - and left the Post to do it.


http://thebiglead.com/?p=3545#more-3545

 

[jlee]

but to me, as a writer, leaving SI for ESPN the so-called mag is like leaving The Four Seasons to check into a Hampton Inn. No, they won’t ever wipe out SI; it is too established and still too good to ever just go away.

Well, there's one name that won't ever show up on the "ANOTHER one to ESPN" thread.
Props to TBL.

 

[goalmouth]

Imagine -- a book author does an interview! Unheard of! Anyway, Feinstein's been talking about the backstory for that book since it was published.

 

[playthrough]

But he is always honest about not being able to hate Knight ... "I can't hate him, he paid for my house" is an oft-repeated Feinstein line.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

The comments are, ah, interesting.

 

[wickedwritah]

The comments are, ah, interesting.

Seeing him basically called the Mitch Albom of the East Coast was interesting.

 

[Double Down]

I'm sure this will seem like me picking on TBL since I've been such a critic of his lately, but that interview was a gigantic miss.

Love him or hate him, Feinstein has some very interesting books he could talk about. Maybe Junior was simply picking and choosing what he wanted to answer, but this interview read like it came from someone who knows very little about JF and did even less research in preparation for it.

 

[Chi City 81]

I'm sure this will seem like me picking on TBL since I've been such a critic of his lately, but that interview was a gigantic miss.

It's not as though it's been undeserved.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Feinstein shredded the WWL when their ridiculously inaccurate version of Season on the Brink came out... I've had the pleasure of meeting Feinstein a few times and I think he's one of the more interesting people in this business...

Anyone who gets banned from ESPN is OK in my book...

Another great interview by The Big Lead...

 

[Joe Williams]

Anyone who gets banned from ESPN is OK in my book...

Agree, Mizzou.

In spite of some good journalists who work there (having gone over to the dark side, one might say), the WWL sure has become one of those clubs of which you wouldn't want to be a member -- except for the paycheck, period. The arrogance, the shoddy journalism practices so often exhibited, the internal politics and apparent misogyny ... lots of deals with the devil made there.

Seems very vintage Steinbrenneresque, in work culture, from what I've heard: That if they pay you enough, they can treat you anyway they want and ask anything of you, and you will stand up on your hind legs and bark.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

Feinstein and Kornheiser are great on the radio. TK loves poking him with a stick, and Junior always comes back.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Feinstein and Kornheiser are great on the radio. TK loves poking him with a stick, and Junior always comes back.

The best moment of TK's former radio show were when Feinstein was on... He was banned long before ESPN took TK's show away...

 

[wickedwritah]

I thought Feinstein boycotted ESPN, not the other way around, and that his boycott was over. (I've seen him on some relatively recent ESPN productions, sometime within the past year or two.)

 

[Sly]

Everyone in that comments thread is bagging his golf books, but those are the only Feinstein books I really like. (And I really really like the golf books.)

The basketball ones, though, are filled with too much praise toward the coaches. I read the first few pages of the ACC tournament book and couldn't go any further. With the exception of 'Brink', Feinstein treats them too reverentially.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

Feinstein and Kornheiser are great on the radio. TK loves poking him with a stick, and Junior always comes back.

The best moment of TK's former radio show were when Feinstein was on... He was banned long before ESPN took TK's show away...

Get XM and listen to TK when he returns after MNF. Junior still comes on weekly. The show was also available as a WaPo podcast, although I don't know what will happen now that WaPoRadio is dead. (I think they pulled the plug officially. His show was the only one that generated any ratings whatsoever.)

 

[wickedwritah]

Tony's show will stick around on the new WTTT.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Feinstein was banned by ESPN, not the other way around... I remember TK talking about it... I seriously doubt he was losing sleep over it...

I remember the Lubbock paper having a story where Feinstein ripped the **** out of Season on the Brink and I think that was the major reason they banned him. I don't know if the ban has been lifted, I think it has...

I also remember one time where TK and Feinstein were making fun of DJ Stewy so much that the next day, TK was no longer allowed to mention Stewy by name... This was about 6-7 years ago so I don't know what fences have been mended...

 

[silentbob]

"Season on the Brink" is one of the top five sports books ever written.

But I haven't been floored with the rest of Feinstein's work. (Only read about half of his books.) "The Punch" was extremely repetitive and boring in spots. The Ravens book wasn't so bad. I just get the feeling that he hurries his way through most of them.

That said, I love listening to the guy on television and the radio.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Tony's show will stick around on the new WTTT.

Technically it's WWWT. And the rumor is that when he returns he'll be there full time, year-round, not just for six months. And that could mean this is his last go-around on MNF.

 

[wickedwritah]

Right, 3WT. Should've known.