Gladwell on sports
In case you needed another reason to love (or hate) author and New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell, he’s a big sports fan, despite the fact that, as he tells ESPN.com’s Bill Simmons, he grew up without TV and most of what he learned about sports came from reading Sports Illustrated in the Elmira, Ontario library. He also points to writers Bill James, Thomas Boswell, and Roger Angell as his formative influences on baseball. And if you know the work of those men, it seems like they were pretty influential on his writing, too.
This two-part series is long and basketball-heavy, but totally enjoyable. Here’s the last part of the exchange:
Simmons: … [H]ave you ever pitched a ridiculous story idea with limited appeal to the New Yorker, just to see if you could get away with it? Do you walk into the offices and tell them, “You know what? I’m writing 20,000 words about [hapless New York Knicks centre] Eddy Curry this week and you guys are gonna LIKE IT!” And by the way, I don’t care what the answer is, as long as you don’t switch to writing about rocks for the next 20 years like John McPhee did.
Gladwell: Wait, is anyone still reading at this point? This has gone on longer than one of Rickey Henderson’s at-bats. All I can say is that if I asked David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker, if I could do 20,000 words on Eddy Curry he’d probably say yes. But not because there’s anything special about me. David is a huge sports fan. For an intellectual, he’s got a great low-post game, serious length, and the kind of upside you just don’t see in fortyish Pulitzer Prize winners. How long do you think before [hapless New York Knicks general manager] Isiah Thomas signs him?
Related links:
Click here for part one of the ESPN.com interview with Malcolm Gladwell
Click here for part two of the ESPN.com interview with Malcolm Gladwell
