Although we associate innovation and tech-savviness with the young, no journalists have benefited more from reinvention across media platforms than sports writers of the old school. Wouldn’t it be crazy if it turned out to be the old coots who led journalism out of its current malaise?
The late great Dick Schaap came up in newspapers as a news and feature writer, expanded his craft into magazines, and became world famous as a book author, a commentator on network television, an interviewer, a radio personality, and host of the ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters.” He was, as they say in the television world, “the talent,” a talent that was rooted in writing, reporting, and knowledge of his field — the world of sports.
Mitch Albom built his reputation in Detroit as one of America’s best sports columnists and has become a kind of cottage industry, appearing regularly on ESPN, hosting his own radio show, and catching lightning in a bottle with the publication of that ultimate best seller “Tuesdays with Morrie.” If that were not enough, Albom is also a versatile musician and composer. Albom also proved, however, that such multi-tasking could have its price. He became the center of a fabrication controversy when he wrote a story about the NCAA basketball tournament anticipating events that turned out not to be true.
This should serve as a warning for all multi-taskers: if the Bible says that no one can serve two masters, then how can anyone possibly serve six or seven?
No one who ever looked at a photo of Tony Kornheiser would guess that the King of Quips and Combovers would become a television star, but it all began with his rise from beat writer to columnist. That great columnist voice migrated easily to radio, then to his tag team ESPN show with Michael Wilbon (another re-inventor) and finally to one of the most desirable gigs in sports — color man for Monday Night Football. He — could — go — all — the — way! And apparently he has.
The list goes on and on. Dan Jenkins, the great Texas football and golf writer, turned to writing novels like “Semi-Tough,” which became movies. Mike Lupica, that little tick from the New York Daily News, is well known from his work on ESPN, and now for his novels.
All these men paid their dues and jumped through the standard set of hoops to reach the big stage and the big bucks. But one of the great advantages of the current news media culture is that you can get into the reinvention game even if you are not old, white and male.
Jemele Hill was discovered as a young sports journalism prospect by the late Van McKenzie. After a stint as a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel, Hill was intercepted by ESPN, where her talents have glowed in her magazine work, on blogs, and on the air.
The old school sports department was easily caricatured as the place where boys played with toys, a den of arrested development and inebriated sexism. But in many cases that irresponsible freedom led to some of the best writing and reporting in the newspaper. Decades after the event, a game story by a Jimmy Cannon or Red Smith still stands up against their news competitors as a good read.
In many shops, the writing in other departments would catch up with sports. But even as that was happening, the sports columnists were learning radio, television, magazine writing, and book authorship. To use a baseball analogy, they became “five tool” athletes. On some papers, they became the highest paid journalists in the newsroom, making millions while finding new ways to express themselves. Too often, they became insufferably egotistical, prima donnas of the first order, almost impossible to edit or manage. But, hey, the fleas come with the dog.
Many sports journalists remain — at heart — childish. But didn’t somebody once say that it would be a child who would lead us?
