a really good writer
Does anybody here care much about football, AKA "soccer"? Well, maybe not. But how about vivid, unexpected, funny, and even elegant writing? As someone who cares about both, I have become a really big fan of Brian Phillips's blog The Run of Play. I have no idea who Phillips is or where he lives or anything, but I can't wait to read whatever he writes about the Beautiful But Also Kinda Weird Game. Here’s his description, taken from a recent interview, of what he’s trying to do on his blog:
At some point last fall I started thinking about how strange it is that we want sports to be played with style and flair, but we're content to read sports coverage that's overwhelmingly predictable and dull. This is especially true, at both extremes, of soccer: we like teams to play with originality and joy and show us amazing things, and then we follow them through sports pages that are full of cliches, demagoguery, and lies. I started wondering what sportswriting would look like if it were carried out in the spirit that we want players to bring to the game: what would a soccer article in the style of Garrincha look like? And I thought of a blog that would cover the game in a way that was more sharp and playful than what I was used to reading, that would be free to be as absurd, dramatic, or critical as I wanted, that would toy with material, that would try new things.
The best thing Brian does is his Tuesday Portrait, a character sketch of some important or interesting or bizarre character from the world of football. These are usually players, but an especially memorable one featured ESPN’s commentator Andy Gray:
Andy Gray talks about football as though he created it thousands of years ago, but then somehow became disconnected from it and is now powerless to shape its destiny. He still cares deeply about his creation, you sense, and he regards it with a hugely affectionate, easily frustrated curiosity, but it's spiralled out of control and no longer reveals any sign of a benevolent governing presence. His love for it becomes poignant when, as often happens, he watches it betray his intentions in a way he's helpless to prevent. Just as often, however, it does something to fill him with pride, and for the millionth time he longs to pierce the veil and commune with it directly again.
I mean, come on. That’s just ridiculously good.
When I subscribed to Sports Illustrated in the 1970s, it was consciously literary — e.g., it featured a long excerpt from E.L. Doctorow’s new novel “Ragtime” about going to a baseball game in 1912. The Guinness Book of World Record for highest journalist pay per word was SI’s late 1950s offer to Ernest Hemingway of $30,000 for 1500 words on bullfighting.
But, as far as I can tell, they have since gotten rid of all that literary frou-frou.
— Steve Sailer · Dec 13, 12:38 AM · #
Steve, I think Mark Kram, who used to write about boxing for SI, was the last really special writer at that magazine. And they got rid of him in the 70s when he was at the height of his powers.
— Alan Jacobs · Dec 13, 12:50 AM · #
Talented sports writing is a great thing. But I really, really don’t care about soccer. I love sports, but soccer is the expression.
— PEG · Dec 13, 10:49 AM · #
It’s also the exception. God, I’m tired.
— PEG · Dec 13, 10:51 AM · #
PEG, read Run of Play for one week, an article a day, and you’ll probably find some measure of interest in even the most mundane European transfer sagas, I promise.
— Richard Whittall · Dec 13, 02:32 PM · #
Alex Wolfe, who writes about basketball for SI, is a very good writer, especially about guys who play internationally and can’t quite give up the game. And Wolfe started a minor league basketball team in Vermont.
dw
— dw · Dec 13, 03:39 PM · #
I went to a pacifist college where we had soccer before it was trendy, because football was too violent.
Go Crew!
— Julana · Dec 13, 08:23 PM · #
I have a dog-eared copy of “The Red Smith Reader.” It’s a compilation of columns by the legendary sports journalist. Not much soccer-related in his columns but by gosh, he could write. After reading Smith, current sports coverage seems even more predictable and dull.
— Karl · Dec 15, 10:08 PM · #