Or maybe his recent silence on the Paterno subject is because he'd rather let the book speak for itself and stand or fail on its own merits.
Joe Posnanski: Lord of Lists
- Thread starter John Marzano Olympic Hero
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That's a possibility, but given the timing of all this, and especially the Freeh report, either Joe never sleeps or the book and Joe stand a greater chance of failing on the merits because his attention is now on other things. I would hate that to be the case.
Maybe, but I think Joe has at least earned the right to let the book actually be read before everyone jumps on him. There are lots of assumptions that Joe defends Paterno in the book, etc, but until the book is out we don't really know, and to me it would be a shame to condemn the guy without actually reading what's supposedly condemning him.
His London coverage is up to his usual standards - good stuff.
Edit - link to Joe's Olmpics blog - http://sportsonearthblog.com/
Edit - link to Joe's Olmpics blog - http://sportsonearthblog.com/
His writings have been really good thus far. Definitely up to his usual standards, it's my first visit in the morning right now.
I actually thought his first couple Olympic posts were not great but he has rounded into form. The post on the 19 greatest Summer Olympians was vintage Pos.
Also really enjoyed Will Leitch's contrarian take on NBC's Olympic coverage today.
I have high, high hopes for Sports On Earth as I've always enjoyed Tanier too.
Also really enjoyed Will Leitch's contrarian take on NBC's Olympic coverage today.
I have high, high hopes for Sports On Earth as I've always enjoyed Tanier too.
His column on the badminton players tanking their matches was great:
Out to lose? At least make it interesting
Out to lose? At least make it interesting
Agreed with all of the above, and I thought his break down of the women's all-around was killer.
Yeah, this was great, and I barely care about gymnastics. Pos is killing it this Games, hopefully getting back some of his hard-earned rep after the Paterno fiasco.
Have you not read the last bajillion pages of this thread? Plenty of damage has been done pre-release.
Yeah, that was a phenomenal piece of "gotcha" by epraz there. I feel like I have learned my lesson. How about you Jimbo?
Poz on Handball. Awesome.
I won't clutter up the Simmons thread by comparing their handball articles, but the difference between those two could probably be summed up by comparing their takes on the sport.
I won't clutter up the Simmons thread by comparing their handball articles, but the difference between those two could probably be summed up by comparing their takes on the sport.
Pos and the Olympics are, simply put, perfect together. His piece on Lu Xiang and Derek Redmond is vintage Posnanski.
Yeah, that was legit. His Olympic work has been staggeringly awesome.
Holy hell. It may be the bourbon talking- either way it helps- but that's the sort of writing that makes you appreciate the Olympics in ways you may not otherwise.
Thanks for sharing.
Edit: I actually meant the Lu/Derek article with this.
The fact that it could be unclear which I mean shows how good he is.
As a bonus from that same article, Pos demonstrates why he's a better sportswriter than Peter King:
I wonder if King and Pos ever crossed paths. It seems odd that King (or Pos) never mentioned the other in any of his articles/MMQBs. Doesn't it? King mentions fucking EVERYONE of note that he bumps into, and Pos is usually quick to thank other professionals that do him solids, or make note of interesting things they say to him.
Pure speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some SI Writers clique that Pos was just never welcomed into.
Pure speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was some SI Writers clique that Pos was just never welcomed into.
I am not a fan of the Olympics at all, but the way Posnanski writes makes me wish that I watched the events during the last two weeks.
The last line of the story that KFP linked to really got me. And piece on the Icelandic handballer player was inspiring as well.
The last line of the story that KFP linked to really got me. And piece on the Icelandic handballer player was inspiring as well.
Looking it up would take far too much effort, but King's mentioned Posnanski glowingly quite a few times on Twitter, and did a spot on the Poscast.
Yes, I remember Pos introducing King as SI's "brilliant" or "terrific" football writer, something like that. It was funny.
On that note, I really, really, really hope the Poscast is part of this new web venture for Pos. I miss he and KenTremendous. I need them in my life, drafting things.
On that note, I really, really, really hope the Poscast is part of this new web venture for Pos. I miss he and KenTremendous. I need them in my life, drafting things.
And then there is this piece on wrestler Jordan Burroughs and tweeting.
If you want a definitive look at the 2012 London Olympics, Posnanski's blog is the place to go. I think I am more bummed that the Olympics is over because it means that Pos won't have what has been sterling raw material from which to weave his brilliant pieces.
If you want a definitive look at the 2012 London Olympics, Posnanski's blog is the place to go. I think I am more bummed that the Olympics is over because it means that Pos won't have what has been sterling raw material from which to weave his brilliant pieces.
Their loss. His Olympics columns were stellar and the Pesky piece is just vintage Pos.
Yeah, not good feelings about this:
Am I supposed to feel sympathy after reading that? I don't. Maybe in ten years I will. Probably not. Maybe if you didn't enable child rape in the pursuit of "making that name mean something", I'd give a shit.
I actually find that pretty even-handed. To be honest, it makes me happy to know that, before he died, Paterno fully realized he'd destroyed his name and was miserable.
Funny, what I got out of that was he was more concerned about his reputation than the children, which doesn't change my view at him at all.
Exactly. If that's the tone of the whole book I don't see how anyone could fault Posnanski. I don't want white wash but I don't want polemic either.
The GQ excerpt is a straightforward accounting of the week leading up to Paterno's dismissal. Pos keeps it straightforward and the picture that is painted of the coach is not flattering at all - he comes off as a stubborn, clueless old man (at one point, he is forced to read the Sandusky indictment by his family as preparation for his press conference that was eventually cancelled and he asks 'What is sodomy, anyway?'). Hardly a whitewashing of the legend of JoePa.
Agree. But it helps to know that in his last days he was a broken and miserable man.
Posnanski writes at length on the book for (I believe) the first time since the Sandusky story broke:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/story/2012-08-15/joe-posnanski-joe-paterno/57081354/1
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/story/2012-08-15/joe-posnanski-joe-paterno/57081354/1
Agreed. I also found the parts where he discusses his motivations for writing the book to be interesting:
Though this might be a bit of revisionist history on Posnanski's part, he makes it sound like he didn't set out to write The Soul of Football as I had originally feared. It sounds to me that he was ready to write a complex story about a complicated man, and then everything went to hell. In that sense, it's possible that the entire tenor of the book didn't need to change that drastically after the Sandusky scandal. Maybe he didn't really start with a hagiography and then have to scrap the whole thing. But this could be Pos simply trying to backtrack from what was originally being marketed as a Father's Day book.
My argument is the good he did was for his own selfish motivations, and for the good of his precious football program.
It was everything you could reasonably hope for as a Joe Pos fan, and of course the USA Today comments section was predictably moronic and depressing.
My hopes are high that Pos is going to acquit himself well under impossibly difficult circumstances. Can't wait for next Tuesday. This is by far the most anticipated sports book ever for me and the most eager I've been to buy a book of any kind on its release date in as long as I can remember.
I just discovered Pos recently, mostly because of this thread, and have been going through some of his recent stuff, and really enjoying it.
I just finished this: http://sportsonearthblog.com/2012/08/10/the-forgotten-story-of-peter-norman/
It feels like every article I read from him has an amazing concluding statement. I don't know if that is on purpose, but every single on of them so far has made me think, laugh, or have some reaction that leads me to think, "Man, what an awesome piece of writing." I can see why so many of you like him so much.
I just finished this: http://sportsonearthblog.com/2012/08/10/the-forgotten-story-of-peter-norman/
It feels like every article I read from him has an amazing concluding statement. I don't know if that is on purpose, but every single on of them so far has made me think, laugh, or have some reaction that leads me to think, "Man, what an awesome piece of writing." I can see why so many of you like him so much.
It is a great story. I realize noone likes USA USA stuff around here but I feel pretty good about the fact that the USOC invited him into the Olympic Village in Sydney when he was snubbed by Australia - I wish Pos had mentioned it.
NY Times review of Paterno is up: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/books/paterno-by-joe-posnanski-a-biography-of-the-coach.html?pagewanted=2&_r=3&smid=tw-nytimes
From the review. I guess the brief excerpt below requires a SPOILER ALERT although I don't think this will really spoil anything for anyone here:
The book’s primal moment arrives in its final section. Mr. Posnanski sits alone with Paterno, who has already been fired and has learned he has lung cancer, at his kitchen table. “So,” Paterno asks him, “what do you think of all this?”
Mr. Posnanski writes: “I told him that I thought he should have done more when he was told about Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy. I had heard what he had said about not understanding the severity, not knowing much about child molestation, not having Sandusky as an employee. But, I said: ‘You are Joe Paterno. Right or wrong, people expect more from you.’ ”
The author adds: “He did not try to defend or deflect. He simply said, ‘I wish I had done more,’ again, and then he descended into another coughing fit.”
From the review. I guess the brief excerpt below requires a SPOILER ALERT although I don't think this will really spoil anything for anyone here:
The book’s primal moment arrives in its final section. Mr. Posnanski sits alone with Paterno, who has already been fired and has learned he has lung cancer, at his kitchen table. “So,” Paterno asks him, “what do you think of all this?”
Mr. Posnanski writes: “I told him that I thought he should have done more when he was told about Jerry Sandusky showering with a boy. I had heard what he had said about not understanding the severity, not knowing much about child molestation, not having Sandusky as an employee. But, I said: ‘You are Joe Paterno. Right or wrong, people expect more from you.’ ”
The author adds: “He did not try to defend or deflect. He simply said, ‘I wish I had done more,’ again, and then he descended into another coughing fit.”