RIP Ralph Wiley
Jun. 15th, 2004 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteIf 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
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
(no subject)
Date: Jun. 15th, 2004 07:12 pm (UTC)I've also noticed that in the midwest, SF fandom and sports fandom are almost mutually exclusive. Why that is, I have no idea. In Buffalo NY, where I was born and raised, many of the SF fans there were sports fans as well. I still root for my hometown teams -- the Bills and the Sabres -- although it's hard to get news on them here.