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Gopherguy0723

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Does anyone here like any major sports columnist in town? How about any major sports columnist (local, not national)? If you like one, who is this person and why? All I get from the internet is all sports columnists are bad or idiots. All they supposedly ever do is rip the local teams; thus, they don't deserve a job.

P.S. Although Bill Simmons is the most read columnist, he's bad. His writing and research are objectively bad. His opinions are subjectively bad. Sorry college fanboys.
 

I actually like Pat Reusse when he is NOT writing about the Gophers. His columns on MIAC football, town team baseball, and the occasional HS column are generally well-written and entertaining. But, when he does anything with the Gophers, it's like he turns into a different writer.

I will also read Shooter and Sid for their "notes" columns. I don't read Sansevere much because I hate the re-design of the Pioneer Press website - I get frustrated trying to find things and just give up.
 

Chip is a good columnist. He got pulled off the column beat to cover the Vikes again when one of the regular beat writers left, but he'll be back on the column side after the season.

Joe Posnanski is the best national columnist around, IMO. He was with the KC Star, then SI, now he has his own blog, along with some work for NBC.

Go Gophers!!
 

I started a thread on this subject a year or two ago.

I believe I had zero replies.
 

station19 said:
I started a thread on this subject a year or two ago.

I believe I had zero replies.
Click to expand...

I'm heartened to see that some people already replied and said they actually like some columnists.

I thoroughly enjoy Sid's Jottings and Reusse in general.
 


Bill Simmons is brutal, obvious homer, he really showed his true colors on draft night when Doc took the Clippers job. He's clearly the token white guy on ESPN's hoop coverage, kinda like the role Tony Kornheiser, or Dennis Miller played on MNF
 

If Reusse wrote a complimentary Gopher article in the woods, would any GHers actually read it?:cool02:
 

I like Reusse, even though he's too cynical far too often. Scoggins seems to write some good stuff, too.

Not a lot to choose from in this market, really.
 

Reusse lost me a while ago. He is the most talented by far but basically lazy. Part of his column is usually a history of some game, event, or individual. Then he will tie it in to the current topic. Some of it would be fine, but he uses the technique way too much. To me, it's just easier for him to get a lot of the material from the paper's archives; then he doesn't have to work on as much. Then, for whatever reason (boredom, attention getting, responses, compensation, etc.), he reverts to the cynical, almost nasty stuff. Too bad, because this week he was interviewing Richard Pitino and came across really well. He knows his sports and obviously can ask informative questions but often choses not to use those talents. Incidentally, the more I listened to Pitino, the more impressed I was.

Very few will agree, but Tom Powers can, every once in a while, come up with a pretty good column. Tries too hard for the chuckles some times, but he can often capture the moment. He's made fun of the Gophers, but I'm never pissed about it because Gopher teams, coaches, and administration have often set themselves up. At his best when writing about the upset or the absurd.
 



I enjoy Reusse on the radio. His columns can vary, but are generally good. He openly admits to enjoying getting under the skin of GH'ers, so you just have to know that going in.

Souhan is OK when writing about the Twins, but awful when writing about college sports as we know.

Chip is OK but I haven't read as much of his stuff.
 

Dana O'Neil from ESPN is great. I just love her writing style.
 


howeda7 said:
I enjoy Reusse on the radio. His columns can vary, but are generally good. He openly admits to enjoying getting under the skin of GH'ers, so you just have to know that going in.

Souhan is OK when writing about the Twins, but awful when writing about college sports as we know.

Chip is OK but I haven't read as much of his stuff.
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I've noticed this with Souhan as well. His beat was the Twins, so that makes sense. He's pretty decent for baseball. He's not very good at anything else.
 




howeda7 said:
I enjoy Reusse on the radio. His columns can vary, but are generally good. He openly admits to enjoying getting under the skin of GH'ers, so you just have to know that going in.

Souhan is OK when writing about the Twins, but awful when writing about college sports as we know.

Chip is OK but I haven't read as much of his stuff.
Click to expand...

I was listening to Souhan a couple of weeks ago. He was saying he had never covered college sports(maybe major college) before he came to MN and was really looking forward to it. He then said he soon learned all coaches and administrators of college sports were a bunch of hypocrites.

Bottom line, he doesn't like college sports.
 

BleedGopher said:
Chip is a good columnist. He got pulled off the column beat to cover the Vikes again when one of the regular beat writers left, but he'll be back on the column side after the season.

Joe Posnanski is the best national columnist around, IMO. He was with the KC Star, then SI, now he has his own blog, along with some work for NBC.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

+1
 

In the pre-Internet, pre-sports talk radio explosion, I read Reusse, Barreiro, Sid pretty religiously, but certainly have tailed off in following their writings or any other local scribes, to be honest. It's been said many a times, Gopher Hole has thoroughly replaced Sid's jottings for recruiting news and there's so much more in-depth, quality columnists accessible through the Internet, why bother with the hackneyed, cheap shot columns of a Jim Souhan?

Nationally, I echo Bleed-Joe Pos is a consistently great read and avoids negativity-which brought a lot of press his way when we was imbedded in Penn State writing a book on Paterno when the scandal broke. I feel like he's been unfairly tainted by many since that time, which is too bad-Pos just isn't that type of writer that would have scorched Paterno.

I also am a big fan of the Sports on Earth site-some really talented writers over there such as Mike Tanier, Shaun Powell, Emma Span, Will Leitch, Patrick Hruby, Chuck Culpepper; it's my go-to national sports site for thoughtful ruminations on the world of sport.

And some thoughts on Simmons-while I certainly have my criticisms (Boston bias, high self-regard, repeated jokes, thin-skin), I think much of the backlash has to do with familiarity breeds contempt and frankly, a bit of jealousy. What sports fan who has entered a lengthy post on a message board or tried to start a blog doesn't look at Simmons and wish that was their trajectory? He was a game-changer, for better or worse, and I still find myself seeking out his weekly columns; his Book of Basketball was fabulous, easy reading that educated me a lot on the history of the NBA; he has went a long ways towards re-engaging me with the NBA; the 30 for 30 series spearheaded by him has been a great contribution to the sports landscape; and while Grantland has its flaws, it does have a significant amount of interesting content and some really good writers also (Zach Lowe on the NBA and Bill Barnwell on the NFL are top-notch). I can't comment on his TV work for ESPN/ABC as I haven't been in the country since he began doing that work, but on the overall ledger, Simmons' contributions to sports discourse has been decidedly positive.
 

Gopherguy0723 said:
Does anyone here like any major sports columnist in town? How about any major sports columnist (local, not national)? If you like one, who is this person and why? All I get from the internet is all sports columnists are bad or idiots. All they supposedly ever do is rip the local teams; thus, they don't deserve a job.

P.S. Although Bill Simmons is the most read columnist, he's bad. His writing and research are objectively bad. His opinions are subjectively bad. Sorry college fanboys.
Click to expand...

GopherGuy, what you need to realize here on GopherHole, there are absolutely no sports columnists, reporters, play by play announcer that are worth a sh!t.

The only unbiased, totally open minded experts about sports are GopherHolers. :drink: :drink: :drink:

p.s. I love GopherHole and GopherHole commentors. They make the rest of my life fun.

For that, I thank you, all GopherHole Commentors.
 

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