From the Back Page to Page 2

[Note: This post is a roommate collaboration. My roommate, Nicholas Iannarino, and I wrote this in response to a heinously ignorant article in our college newspaper.

Before you read our letter to the editor that follows, make sure to read the aforementioned artricle at this link:

-http://www.flyernews.com/article.php?section=Sports&volume=55&issue=14&artnum=02

This post was published in the Nov 7 edition of Flyer News.]


We were at a loss for words.

After reading sports editor Will Hanlon’s recent column, the overblown and excessively dramatic “Legendary Columnist Rick Reilly Sells His Soul,” we, needless to say, were justifiably baffled at the words printed in front of us.

Along with Mr. Hanlon, we are both longtime fans of “Sports Illustrated’s” legendary back page columnist. While the three of us have a, perhaps, unhealthy infatuation with Mr. Reilly, we couldn’t disagree more with Mr. Hanlon’s column.

The author details his obvious displeasure for Reilly’s decision to move to ESPN after 23 years at SI. We too were very surprised to learn of Reilly’s announcement, but it doesn’t take much consideration to realize that this could actually be an exceptional scenario for any true fan of Reilly’s.

Monetary reasons may have had an impact on Reilly’s decision to leave SI for ESPN, but there is much more to this move than simple dollar signs. Reilly, as it has been reported by ESPN, will be much more involved at his new company than he was with the writing of “The Life of Reilly,” his previous weekly column at SI. For ESPN, Reilly will, of course, regularly contribute to “ESPN the Magazine.” But, since the magazine is only circulated monthly, he will provide additional, longer, and more frequent content for ESPN.com and appear regularly on one or more of ESPN’s cable television networks.

The more Rick Reilly the better. Maybe he simply wants to be more involved in other aspects of media. The times are a changing, and Reilly, most likely, realizes the internet and television would be a different, more creatively challenging form of media for him to pursue.

Reilly’s been at SI since 1984. 23 years is a long time to be doing anything, be it bagging groceries, selling insurance or writing a weekly sports column. Reilly’s probably burnt out. As a writer himself, Mr. Hanlon should know that redundancy and repetition are fierce rivals to creativity. Change is not something to be feared or, in this case, despised, especially when it could allow an artist to continually improve (even when we may think they have no room to do so) or to prolong a career. Would you rather see Reilly remain loyal and potentially watch his work suffer?

As pretentious as Mr. Hanlon’s personal list is, there is no reason to drop Reilly behind any other sportswriter on this planet. He is changing jobs. Not his style. Not his humor. Not his personality. Thankfully, Reilly’s at a point in his career where he doesn’t need to care what the sports editor of some university newspaper in Ohio thinks of him.

If Reilly’s motives were purely monetary then he absolutely would have left SI years ago. We can’t imagine this is the first time in 23 years that ESPN, or any other organization for that matter, has offered him a better deal than SI. The circumstances must have been right this time. He must have liked what was being offered in the way of new opportunities, exposure and workload. And there’s no reason not to take advantage.

Yes, ESPN may maintain somewhat of a monopoly on sports entertainment. But it isn’t without merit. They are the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” because they employ the best writers, reporters and sports personalities on the planet. Rick Reilly fits that mold, and will fit in well at ESPN.

If Reilly’s work was compromised through this move, then we could go ahead and call him a sellout. But whether Reilly’s on the back page, or Page 2, he will always be the same writer entertaining us all with every word he writes.