Official Sportswriting Hall of Shame Inductee: Rick Reilly

We hinted at and introduced the concept of the PCHA Sportswriting Hall of Shame earlier in the year, but it’s time to start the process in earnest with our first official induction.

There’s a lot of terrible sports writing out there, and I dithered about these past couple months, trying to figure out who the first inductee should be. There have been so many terrible, ignorant, pompous, ill-conceived articles and columns out there, but the first inductee is special. The first inductee should make a statement about what the Hall is all about. He or she shouldn’t get in on the basis of just one (or several) terrible pieces, but on a body of work that’s so established as putrid, contaminated trash that it’s impossible to deny. The first class in baseball’s Hall of Fame included Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Honus Wagner and Walter Johnson. This should be no different.

So ladies and gentlemen, I give you the inaugural inductee to the Pop Culture Has AIDS Sportswriting Hall of Shame:

Richard “Rick” Paul Reilly.

Congratulations, you magnificent bastard.

The Media Reaction to BYU and Brandon Davies

I don’t want to write about BYU dismissing Brandon Davies from its basketball team for violating the school’s honor code (by making love to a lady). I want to write about writers writing about it.

Specifically, ESPN’s Pat Forde, who we’ll use as a case study because he expresses an opinion I’ve seen a lot of in the media: that BYU was justified.

I can’t relate to the Brigham Young University honor code. But I can respect it.

Forde & company’s argument goes a little something like this: