RIP Ralph Wiley

If you are not a sports fan, odds are you don't know who Ralph Wiley was. Which is a shame.

Ralph Wiley was an opinionated, sometimes acerbic, provocative sportswriter for Sports Illustrated and then for ESPN.com's Page 2 section. He was also among the best sportswriters around, a lierate man with a strong sense of humor to offset a strong sense of outrage. I looked forward to reading his columns, even though I knew he would often say things I disagreed with. He brought a perspective as an African American, as a former college athlete, and as a man who worked his way up from a beat reporter on the Oakland Tribune, and he never hesitated to call it as he saw it.

I don't know how much non-sports fans get out of reading quality sports journalism, but if I had to pick an example of why sportswriting matters, Ralph Wiley's work would do nicely.

Ralph Wiley, age 52, died suddenly of a heart attack on Sunday. I offer my condolences to his fiancee, to his children, and to his colleagues.

For a full obituary, see:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=1821759

Wanted: Comments?

I ran the "Who's Been Commenting" meme, and discovered that no has been commenting, for the most part. I know that given what and how I write, this shouldn't be surprising, but it is.

So, anyone wanna comment?

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