Tip to @pancakespodcast, an excellent piece of writing. Some language NSFW
Aside from the inherent contradiction in Andrew’s thought process—readers get upset when writers are controversial, but the only way to become a real writer is to be a controversial one—I’m most troubled by his notions of how to stand out in the crowd.
Whatever happened to standing out by doing great work?
Sadly, among sportswriters especially, our most famous members are our loudest, not necessarily our best. Nobody knows Gary Smith to look at him. And so kids see a picture of Jason Whitlock with an Asian transvestite hooker on his lap in a club, and they think they have to be like Jason Whitlock to make it.
Well, here’s the stone-cold truth, kids: Jason Whitlock has no soul. He’s neither a good reporter nor a good writer. He’s a bloviator who’s somehow carved out a niche for himself as a kind of anti-establishment figure by making references to The Wire and pretending he’s the second coming of Ralph Wiley, when Ralph Wiley would be f***g mortified to be associated with Whitlock’s brand of self-serving buffoonery.
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