I’ve got to take the next few days away for another project and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to devote time to the site. Maybe in a week or so. For now, here’s the story that ran on SI.com on Tuesday that took me away a few weeks back.
All thanks to Adam Duerson, my old and good friend at Sports Illustrated, whose idea this story was. And I am forever grateful that he entrusted it to me.
When I was a boy, once I realized I wasn’t going to become the heir to Walt Frazier, all I ever really wanted to do was write for Sports Illustrated. More than that, to deserve to write for Sports Illustrated. This is probably as close as I’ve ever come. More than anyone else, I owe a huge debt to Adam and to former SI editor Bob Roe, who hired me at Newsweek and retrained me to write without worrying. And also to Stewart Mandel and Dan Uthman at The Athletic, who threw me a line when I was going under for the final time.
All four of those guys know what a colossal pain in the ass I am. And still they work with me.
I understand why people chase a fat paycheck, I do; this was just always my ultimate goal.
I read this yesterday morning at SI & thoroughly enjoyed it. At least until the end, when it made me sad.
In the fantasy world inside my head, SI is bought by either Bezos, Buffett, or Sweet Pea with their “couch change” & comes roaring back to life as THE premiere print & internet sports “voice”. And of course, the Press League will arise too.
Because the damn font size on this teeny laptop is so small, perhaps I just missed it, but did you write if YOU participated in these Wednesday games? Either when you actually worked at SI or after (as a grandfathered player)?
And FTR, I am STILL a PAID subscriber to SI, the magazine. Even though it has gone from weekly to bi-monthly to just monthly & I’ve received no rebate to date. 😉
The father of a friend of mine died yesterday from COVID. He was in his late 80s, resided at a small Assisted Living facility in NV & although he battled dementia, his physical health HAD been good. COVID killed him in a week.
But yeah, LET’S “REOPEN!” There are still thousands of American citizens over the age of 80 yet to be MURDERED by the GOP-NAZI regime. Got to cut all those “entitlements” SOMEHOW…
What Adam, Stewart and Dan all know is that YOU are the ringer.
You hit it out of the park!
Nice piece. I enjoyed it.
“all I ever really wanted to do was write for Sports Illustrated.”
Don’t know the numbers but it’s safe to say most folks don’t get to do what they wanted to do as a kid.
Good on you.
Great article! You should be proud.