Wright Thompson: outta the park, through the uprights, slam dunk, et al

[TheSportsPredictor]

Believeland.

Read it and weep:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=101201/Cleveland

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It's brilliant as usual. I just want him to stop putting himself in the story. Every "I" and "me" drives me insane.

 

[JackReacher]

It's brilliant as usual. I just want him to stop putting himself in the story. Every "I" and "me" drives me insane.

I don't have a problem with it. If I read stories based on newspaper writing rules from 1990, maybe. But not now. Not in this case anyway.

 

[YGBFKM]

Tried to read it, but it's about Cleveland. Lost interest a couple hundred words in.

 

[hondo]

Boobie Gibson is my new hero.

 

[hondo]

Tried to read it, but it's about Cleveland. Lost interest a couple hundred words in.

I'm not from Cleveland and I loved it. Expand your mind a little.

 

[YGBFKM]

Tried to read it, but it's about Cleveland. Lost interest a couple hundred words in.

I'm not from Cleveland and I loved it. Expand your mind a little.

Your head would explode from overuse if you had my brain for five minutes.

 

[JimmyOlson]

FWIW, Whitlock is crushing this story and Thompson on Twitter today. Calling it Mitch Albom-level schlock.

I loved the story myself. Just wanted to point out Whitlock's take.

 

[doubledown68]

FWIW, Whitlock is crushing this story and Thompson on Twitter today. Calling it Mitch Albom-level schlock.

I can only wonder what Dr. B.A. Homer would say about Whitlock's transparent jealousy.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

FWIW, Whitlock is crushing this story and Thompson on Twitter today. Calling it Mitch Albom-level schlock.

Whitlock's new schtick is to go the opposite of everything, no matter what.

 

[nmmetsfan]

FWIW, Whitlock is crushing this story and Thompson on Twitter today. Calling it Mitch Albom-level schlock.

Whitlock's new schtick is to go the opposite of everything, no matter what.

 

[clintrichardson]

I started reading it and pulled out early, so this obviously limits the value of my opinion. But my first reaction when I began wading in was a broad sort of depression and disdain that this talented writer chose to apply his gifts to this topic.

I read a great deal about sports, and I've read so many stories about hard-luck Cleveland fans over the years, and also about their latest misfortune. I begin to read and soon all I can think is, "is this all we have to make a big deal about?"

 

[Dick Whitman]

I can't believe people have such an issue with Thompson using first person. It comes up on every single thread about his stories, within the first five posts.

I think Thompson fancies himself as a travel writer who is writing about sports, and thus writes that way. Also, he's essentially a magazine writer.

I have no issue with it. It works. The inverted pyramid is dead.

 

[Webster]

FWIW, Whitlock is crushing this story and Thompson on Twitter today. Calling it Mitch Albom-level schlock.

You mean Whitlock thinks that he didn't do the damn thang?

Whitlock's new schtick is to go the opposite of everything, no matter what.

 

[BYH]

Tried to read it, but it's about Cleveland. Lost interest a couple hundred words in.

I'm not from Cleveland and I loved it. Expand your mind a little.

Your head would explode from overuse if you had my brain for five minutes.

As great as this line is--and it is on the very short list of funniest things ever posted here--it would also be true coming from any other poster.

You've got to love the sheer cluelessness of a parochial, xenophobic, close-minded clown who thinks Jacksonville is the **** telling someone else to expand his mind a little. Everybody laughs at the R.A., even fellow Vince Young haters.

 

[Care Bear]

As great as this line is--and it is on the very short list of funniest things ever posted here--it would also be true coming from any other poster.

You've got to love the sheer cluelessness of a parochial, xenophobic, close-minded clown who thinks Jacksonville is the **** telling someone else to expand his mind a little. Everybody laughs at the R.A., even fellow Vince Young haters.

I have been waiting for this response for well over an hour.

 

[BYH]

Do you want me to sit here and explain to you how chronic masturbation to 90210 reruns works?

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

All right, I suppose. Nothing I haven't read before.

 

[imjustagirl]

There was no way I wasn't going to love this piece. But I did.

And Thompson's first-person writing doesn't bother me. It actually helps it flow for me.

 

[holy bull]

There was no way I wasn't going to love this piece. But I did.

And Thompson's first-person writing doesn't bother me. It actually helps it flow for me.

Same here. I understand the beef about placing yourself in the story, but he does it in a way that doesn't make himself the story. It adds a humanizing element to it. The occasional interaction between the characters and the storyteller coaxes the narrative along without becoming an "all-about-me" act of self-indulgence.