Comments on: Who's your favorite sportswriter?

Question: Who's your favorite sportswriter?

reenum — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:12:43 -0800

I'm looking for some new reading. Specifically about sports. There's

I'm not necessarily looking for national columnists. The recommendations can also be of people who write for your local paper. As long as the articles can be accessed on the Web, I'm good to go. I'd ideally like to read columnists like Gary Smith, who write well and are insightful.

I've already seen this earlier thread, and I do like Bill Simmons and can tolerate Easterbrook. I just want to be able to go beyond the current mediocrities like Stephen A. Smith and Scoop Jackson.

Thanks to all for the help.

By: dseaton

dseaton — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:44:02 -0800

As far as columnists with national appeal go, I like Salon's King Kaufman. If you're into football, you should definitely check out Pro Football Talk. They're pretty obnoxious, but it's the best place to go for inside information.

My favorite columnist, however, is the Philadelphia Inquirer's Phil Sheridan, but he sticks pretty much with the Philly sports scene most of the time, so if you're not interested in that, he may not be the best choice.

By: Rock Steady

Rock Steady — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:49:14 -0800

Chuck Klosterman does the occasional column for Page 2 (most are now behind the Insider paywall, but I just check an RSS feed of his archive every once in a while so I don't miss the new stuff.

You probably know about Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy, but I like the Globe's 3rd columnist, Jackie MacMullan.

PS. I think Simmons is trying to get fired. He recently did an entire column on the sad state of NFL announcers, and he threw an ex-Page 2er (Alysse Minkoff) under the bus recently.

By: reenum

reenum — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:49:21 -0800

Local sportswriters are A-OK. For example, I really like reading Ray Ratto's SF-centric articles, even though I'm from the Midwest.

Thanks for the suggestion dseaton! Please keep 'em coming, folks.

By: letitrain

letitrain — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:49:31 -0800

Pro and top college sports are all about the money, so I enjoy reading the economists at The Sports Economist.

I also enjoy literate (meaning "able to read and write") discussions about sports, so I visit SportsFilter.

By: Mr. Gunn

Mr. Gunn — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:56:07 -0800

Gladwell writes about sports a lot.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:56:27 -0800

In Chicago, Bob Verdi is excellent. Sam Smith's NBA columns are generally very informative. And I love Steve Rosenbloom's blog.

Nationally, I like Michael Wilbon a lot.

By: lovejones

lovejones — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 09:58:10 -0800

I grew up reading Mike Lupica, he's more of a "big picture" columnist than a beat writer and is mostly NYC focused.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:11:14 -0800

Please Please for the love of God ignore Mike Lupica. A total blowhard. There is always Deadspin for the irreverant side of things. It is a good source for links to sports writing outside the norm.

By: escabeche

escabeche — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:53:56 -0800

For baseball content, Baseball Think Factory can't be beat.

By: jtajta

jtajta — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:13:51 -0800

The best sportswriter in the land is Michael Lewis. He famously wrote the books Liar's Poker, Moneyball and The Blind Side, but he is also a regular contributor to the NYTimes, so you can definitely find lots of his stuff in there.

Why the aversion to real books? You could go read Paper Tiger, Levels of The Game, David Foster Wallace's pieces on tennis...

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:13:09 -0800

SportsFilter

By: reenum

reenum — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:15:17 -0800

I don't have an aversion to books at all. It's just that daily columns are a bit more palatable.

By: oddman

oddman — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:37:23 -0800

I really enjoy reading King Kaufman over at Salon. He writes in a self-deprecating style, and he brings an impressive sense of the history of sports. He isn't just looking to tout the flavor of the month. I especially like the way that he'll occasionally take a look at some hard numbers in order to deflate the hyperbolic comments of the folks at ESPN and their ilk.

By: tallthinone

tallthinone — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 14:59:43 -0800

If you're interested in a highly statistical/analytical take on college basketball, I'd suggest this site/blog:

Ken Pomeroy

He's also an occasional coumnist for espn.com.

By: Carol Anne

Carol Anne — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:50:24 -0800

For women's basketball, the gold standard is Mechelle Voepel in her columns on ESPN.com.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:55:18 -0800

MetaTalk thread on my shameful self-link. Includes mea culpa!

By: callmejay

callmejay — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 20:50:12 -0800

BMac's Blog: The Rants of a Basketball Maven

By: stuart_s

stuart_s — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 01:38:27 -0800

Read the articles and essays in Best American Sports Writing and see which authors you like.