Thursday, January 15, 2009
Hidden Excitement of Sports
When school peers talked about sports, I used to turn my head the other way and start talking about a new movie coming out. However, this was until my sister introduced me to the writings of Rick Reilly. He was a sportswriter for Sports Illustrated who recently retired. Although I was not interested in sports before, the way he wrote about sports captured my interest and made me excited to read the latest updates in the sports world. One article of his that I really enjoyed was "Man of Substance." He definately uses pathos to reach his readers. In this particular article, he talks about a retired basketball coach that fought for rights that everyone deserved. Rick Reilly mentions that, "Dean Smith is Abe Lincoln in a sports world of Stepford Jocks, where speaking out on social issues is likened to a Class A felony, where taking a stand is a good way to blow your car dealership endorsement, where somebody pressed mute on the social consciences of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods." The examples he uses make you think about just how much he is possibly giving up. Using the famous basketball coach as an example also appeals to ethos, and gives the article more credibility. I absolutely love Rick Reilly's articles because he certainly knows how to appeal to his audience.
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3 comments:
You have inspired me to look into this writer. Just like you, I am not interested in sports articles. All they seem be good for is looking at pictures. But if your description of Reilly's articles could be interesting. It will be good to read an article that appeals to the reader.
Rick Reilly is a great writer. Most people don't think of sport wrtiting as being more than reporting what happened in the games, but there are many out there like Reilly who do more and are really great writers.
I think what can make a writer really good is when they can capture the interest of an unlikely audience, just as Rick Reilly does. It sounds like he has inspired quite a few people who were previously uninterested in sports to look further and see sports in a new light. That says a lot about him as an author.
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