The Art of Sportswriting

by Jesse Liebman

Editorial. Photos by AP News

The question us aspiring sportswriters always ask ourselves is: will our profession ever see another Golden Age? I wouldn’t be so quick to answer that it’s impossible; I would, however, say it’s improbable. At the very least, the odds aren’t exactly stacked in our favor.

Make no mistake: there are plenty of great sportswriters in today. But with the advent of the television in the 1950s and the introduction of a little 24-hour network in Bristol, Connecticut in 1979, the culture of sports has been forever changed.

We no longer have seminal figures that we grew up reading whose personalities were as captivating as the stories they wrote. Ever hear of Bill Cunningham? This guy was Boston sports for decades. It was said that if he changed his job it would cost the old Boston Post 100,000 readers. Then there was George Plimpton: he combined immersion journalism with his sportswriting to bring fans closer to the action than ever before. We no longer have those larger than life personalities.


I don’t think it’s necessarily writers being forced to pander to the lowest common denominator, but rather the technology with which we deliver our news has grown at such an accelerated pace that writers have had to compromise by watering their stories down. I don’t think I’m alone when I say I believe that a lot of writing today has become clichéd and staid.

Frank Deford hit the nail on the head when he said, “There are more good sportswriters than ever, although there may not be good sportswriting.”

It’s not because I’m pessimistic. It’d be an honor to know that some kid in the Midwest is eagerly awaiting to thumb through the rest of the paper only to come to the front of the sports section, their eyes lock onto our byline, and they read every word with a reverence normally reserved for religious texts.

The sad thing is, every time there is a good sports writer that seems as if he’s going to break the mold of today’s conventional sports scribe, they’re taken from us. I always loved reading anything John Dellapina wrote about the New York Rangers when he was with the Daily News, until the day came that someone in the NHL front office realized that his brilliant writing was the product of a brilliant mind that understood the game of hockey like few others, and off he went to work for Gary Bettman.

Did I feel betrayed? I’ll admit, there was a tinge of anger. But I wasn’t upset at Dellapina as much as I thought I would be. This was -- sadly -- the natural progression of the business these days. You can't fault the guy for wanting to go after a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

My only hope is that there’s still a diamond in the rough out there -- one who is going to be recognized for what s/he truly is: a master of their craft who can not only give you the score, but tell you why sports are more than just a game.