26yr Sports Illustrated Sr Writer: 47 cover stories, 9xBestAmericanSportsWriting, 5 books. New: "The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse"
“You don’t even have to be interviewed by a real journalist anymore. If you want to be on the cover of Vogue, chances are, if you’re a big enough star, they’ll let a friend interview you or they’ll let you write an essay yourself.” - @MattBelloni https://t.co/SPzjycan3B
Former Sports Illustrated reporter Dan Greene arrives at the New Yorker. Tip o' the cap.
Message:
SI alums won't be kept down long. And they come up swinging.
You don't grow lacrosse (or any business) by trying to capture the audience you already have.
The white, Wall Street, frat boy crowd is not the solution to the ailments of the wider lacrosse world. Getting sticks into the hands of players who have never played the game is.
“The magazine and website are owned by Authentic Brands Group and are managed by an outfit called Minute Media. It’s a telling name. Attention spans have never been shorter. Both outfits are going to find out that less is less, and that cheaper is cheaper, in every way.”
Love this brand-new Talk of the Town piece by Charles Bethea on Dusty Baker, talking about his new book "Crossroads," out in a week, and also talking about the lost art of hanging. Just hanging. https://t.co/fN6iIKbliy
On Friday, Sports Illustrated released their entire golf crew. That sucks.
Not only because incredibly talented and experienced journalists like Bob Harig are now (temporarily) out of work. But one of the largest sports media empires is cutting virtually their entire coverage of the sport we all love.
Storytelling is the greatest asset a sport has to drive engagement and fan interest. If there are less reporters at the events and fans have to rely on questions from tour employees, media who are financially linked to the tour they cover, or media who are represented by the same agencies as the players, then output is inevitably going to be sanitised.
Professional golf is already boring when it compares to other sports. The legendary characters of Arnie, Seve, Chi Chi etc are long gone and now the vast majority are media trained robots who offer very little in the way of a story unless it’s pulled out of them by a willing journalist. That’s only going to get worse the more great writers become unemployed.
I haven’t been in the golf media game for long, but I have learned one very important lesson. Authentic storytelling is paramount to the success of the sport and elevating stars.
I’d like to wish every single one of the great journalists that was released by SI all the best for the future and I hope they land in another important role within the sport as soon as possible.
For those who may not know joyful Brazilian former World #1 (2000) Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten, who cheered for Joao Fonseca today, Guga won Roland Garros in (1997, 2000, 2001) + World Tour Finals (2000). He had a ✨ one-handed backhand, and was the first to draw a🧡 in the clay at RG
Great to see the French versions of my books on Nadal and Federer still getting some shelf space in #Paris at the @Fnac Beaugrenelle amid the #WorldCup books
Merci to French translator @YCochennec
And if McEnroe was in a Barkley role at a studio desk, that would probably be better. But having him blathering in the booth for hours is not a good use of whatever gifts he has.