Grantland article on LSU's Mo Isom

[sportbook]

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8278704/former-lsu-goalie-mo-isom-try-kicker-tigers-football-team-no-matter-happens-knows-not-end

 

[Double Down]

This is an beautiful story. Deserves a read.

 

[21]

My entire body aches from reading that.

Very well done.

 

[Double Down]

Sometimes we're observers, and sometimes we simply collaborate with someone when they demonstrate an acts of courage by sharing their life.

I really liked the ending, and that Conn wasn't afraid of the religious angle, because that part was obviously important to Isom.

I also think its a good example of why it's silly to say "I don't read Grantland." You don't have to like everything there, but there is likely something for you there of exceptional quality.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I don't read Grantland. ... Then I saw DD's comment. Hit the link. ... started to read. ... and kept reading. It's the first thing I have read there in months. That was very well done.

 

[Small Town Guy]

Discovering Conn's work has been one of my favorite things about Grantland. Have really liked several of his pieces.

 

[Norrin Radd]

A really gripping read. But didn't think it was spectacularly well-written as much as it was clear and descriptive of a really interesting story and set of facts and events. Maybe a case where the writer got out of the way.

I wonder how much she told on her blog prior to Grantland's writer putting his work together. She seems pretty open about a lot of things:

http://moisom.com/my-story/

 

[sportbook]

She's a pretty good writer herself.

 

[YGBFKM]

My entire body aches from reading that.

Very well done.

My entire body aches from working out two days in a row, but I agree that was a great story.

 

[Alma]

I also think its a good example of why it's silly to say "I don't read Grantland." You don't have to like everything there, but there is likely something for you there of exceptional quality.

Tell Grantland, DD. It's disappeared from the front page. SummerSlam and Part 3 (!) of an Olympics diary that's boring and dated are up there, though. Mo Isom has been lost to the ether, while Grantland apparently shells out big bucks for a novelist to talk to a long dead German writer no one's heard of.

 

[jr/shotglass]

That was a great read.

 

[Double Down]

I also think its a good example of why it's silly to say "I don't read Grantland." You don't have to like everything there, but there is likely something for you there of exceptional quality.

Tell Grantland, DD. It's disappeared from the front page. SummerSlam and Part 3 (!) of an Olympics diary that's boring and dated are up there, though. Mo Isom has been lost to the ether, while Grantland apparently shells out big bucks for a novelist to talk to a long dead German writer no one's heard of.

Well, for starters, the story is at least three days old. I saw it when it was published (Monday?) and I had to put it aside. I know you have beef with almost all things Grantland, and your criticisms of it are always well written and respectful, but I don't think that one is particularly fair. It was the "Big Article" on Monday, and had the top spot there the entire day. It's a blog. I'm not sure what else they're supposed to do with it.

Personally, as one of the board's more outspoken Christians, I thought you would appreciate the fact that Conn didn't shy away from the religion angle, and that he wasn't afraid to make Isom's Christianity the engine of the narrative.

Did you read the piece?

 

[jr/shotglass]

Frankly, the fact that the Christian part of it was dealt with so comfortably was quite impressive.

 

[Versatile]

"Maybe," Isom says, "he said good-bye to the dogs."

Jesus.

Jordan Conn is Grantland's hidden gem. Read his story on Roy Hibbert or several others. And this is his best work yet for the site. Hell, this might be the best thing I've read on Grantland. And Charles P. Pierce and Michael Weinreb and Chris Jones and Jane Leavy write for Grantland.

The writing was so fluid. The narrative decisions were pitch-perfect. It was a Grantland rarity in that it felt well-edited, which may mean that Conn isn't Pierce or Weinreb or Jones or Leavy, so Grantland's editors actually edit his work. Or it may mean that he wrote it perfectly, spent time making sure it was written perfectly, went over it and had friends go over it so that it was written perfectly.

Norin Radd said the writing wasn't particularly strong, but I think clarity is a sign of great writing. George Plimpton never overwrote; he knew better. The descriptions where there when they needed to be, like in this graf:

There was still one solution. She ran to the bathroom and knelt by the toilet and jammed her fingers down her throat. Her head grew heavy. Tears fell, her makeup ran, and the food came up in spurts. Soon it was just bile, spilling from her lips, dripping as she convulsed. When it was over she sat still, overwhelmed with relief.

And as far as Alma's criticism goes, it still is in the flag, which is where Grantland puts highlighted work from previous days.

 

[Double Down]

The line about how her make-up ran is the detail that elavates the section Versatile pulled out into something beautiful. It stood out for me on first read too. If I were talking to a young writer I'd say "That's the kind of little unexpected detail that makes for a great scene but avoids overwriting."

 

[Versatile]

Ending with the word "relief" was also a great choice. It's unexpected but poignant. The final word of a sentence/paragraph/story is often more important than any other.

 

[JackReacher]

Riveting story. The beauty of me not being in the business anymore is that I've adjusted to reading a story like that without nitpicking it to death. Not that anyone here is doing that. Just saying. I enjoy that now. But the details in this story were amazing.

Definitely going to read more of this guy's work.

Again, just riveting. Loved it.

 

[DanielSimpsonDay]

Sounds like she'll find out if she made it or not on Friday. Who wouldn't be elated if she made the team?

 

[Alma]

I also think its a good example of why it's silly to say "I don't read Grantland." You don't have to like everything there, but there is likely something for you there of exceptional quality.

Tell Grantland, DD. It's disappeared from the front page. SummerSlam and Part 3 (!) of an Olympics diary that's boring and dated are up there, though. Mo Isom has been lost to the ether, while Grantland apparently shells out big bucks for a novelist to talk to a long dead German writer no one's heard of.

Well, for starters, the story is at least three days old. I saw it when it was published (Monday?) and I had to put it aside. I know you have beef with almost all things Grantland, and your criticisms of it are always well written and respectful, but I don't think that one is particularly fair. It was the "Big Article" on Monday, and had the top spot there the entire day. It's a blog. I'm not sure what else they're supposed to do with it.

Personally, as one of the board's more outspoken Christians, I thought you would appreciate the fact that Conn didn't shy away from the religion angle, and that he wasn't afraid to make Isom's Christianity the engine of the narrative.

Did you read the piece?

I read it and liked it.

As far as the faith stuff being in there, that's fine. It read as authentic.

I am not a critic of all things Grantland. I like stuff in there, like I like stuff anywhere. I'm a critic of its worldview. Guys like Conn and Weinreb get buried on a site that like to employ novelists and Hollywood bloggers and folks writing about WWE. There's little discernment.

 

[mash4077]

I read it and thought it was a powerful and well-written story. It doesn't matter to me whether it's on Grantland or anywhere else. I wish I wrote as fluid as that.