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re: The SEC is so lucky to have Wright Thompson
Posted on 5/16/14 at 1:56 pm to wmr
Posted on 5/16/14 at 1:56 pm to wmr
quote:
wmr
I have never heard someone so against Wright Thompson.
That documentary wasn't the best, but the rest of his work speaks for itself. Rarely do good writers actually choose the subject of sports.
He can make an article about curling in Norway interesting to me. I really enjoy how smooth his writing is and it's refreshing for a sports writer. In person, he is very soft spoken and nice and always willing to have a word with strangers in my experience.
FWIW, I grew up in Baton Rouge and went to Ole Miss and I'm a giant LSU fan. Sometimes people just want to leave their hometown for college. He chose journalism, I chose parties and hot women
This post was edited on 5/16/14 at 1:57 pm
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Posted on 5/16/14 at 2:13 pm to Billy Mays
quote:
IMO, he comes off as a bit douchey and cliche and times, but his actual writing of words is solid.
When he simply writes about the subject matter and doesn't bring himself into the discussion, he is one of the best in the business. The problem is lately he talks about himself constantly, like in Ghosts of Ole Miss. He had absolutely nothing to do with what happened in 1962, yet half the film was his opines about the team, Meredith, and Confederate symbolism in present day Mississippi. The real story about the players and Meredith on that team were lost, which sucks because they deserved better than that. When he tried to sensationalize and connect the James Meredith riots with someone burning an Obama sign on fire after the 2012 election, I lost all remaining respect for that dude.
This post was edited on 5/16/14 at 4:44 pm
Posted on 5/16/14 at 2:13 pm to Billy Mays
I think his writing is derivative, melodramatic and self aggrandizing...but what do I know...
Posted on 5/16/14 at 2:14 pm to TheCaterpillar
quote:
He chose journalism, I chose parties and hot women.
Between this, and their subpar baseball program, Missouri clearly aint SEC caliber.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 2:29 pm to DingDongEddieStrong
quote:
When he simply writes about the subject matter and doesn't bring himself into the discussion, he is one of the best in the business.
This means you shouldn't have:
quote:
lost all remaining small respect for that dude.
Don't judge a man on one folly. He has years of excellent sports writing under his belt that people seem to forget. He might be getting too big for his britches these days, but he still has serious skill. I am looking forward to his writing about the World Cup. He has no personal connection to it and that is when he seems to thrive.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 2:34 pm to DingDongEddieStrong
quote:
Ghosts of Ole Miss
My opinion of Thompson is not solely based on Ghosts. Not one of my favorite works... same with the movie. It was too derivative.
I liked his Mario Balotelli (Italian soccer player) piece a lot better.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 2:37 pm to DingDongEddieStrong
quote:
Lost respect for him after that self serving documentary he narrated.
I still like him.
I think Ole Miss fans are needlessly butthurt about that documentary. Yeah, it sucked, and it was self-serving, but it wasn't inaccurate.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 3:36 pm to DingDongEddieStrong
quote:
Lost respect for him after that self serving documentary he narrated.
I like his writing to an extent, but his TV work is insufferable. Both 30 For 30 documentaries he was involved with -- Ghosts of Ole Miss and Roll Tide/War Eage -- were awful.
I do find it funny that he's tried to create this ridiculous persona as ESPN's 'resident southerner' and all-knowing soothsayer of all things Southern in terms of culture and food, especially when he went to Mizzou and spent a great deal of his career in KC.
I think he's actually really good when he's not writing about the SEC or being obnoxiously valedictory about southern culture.
This post was edited on 5/16/14 at 3:41 pm
Posted on 5/16/14 at 3:39 pm to Feral
quote:
I do find it funny that he's tried to create this ridiculous persona as ESPN's 'resident southerner' and all-knowing soothsayer of all things Southern in terms of culture and food, especially when he went to Mizzou and spent a great deal of his career in KC.
Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, currently lives in Oxford. I don't think going to school and living for a while in Missouri magically disqualify him as a southerner.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 3:43 pm to DCRebel
quote:
Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, currently lives in Oxford. I don't think going to school and living for a while in Missouri magically disqualify him as a southerner.
I didn't posit that he's "disqualified" from being a southerner, just that I find it humorous that ESPN seems to trot him out for SEC- or southern-focused content in the same manner they turn to Roger Cassack when an athlete gets into trouble. He's also extremely obnoxious about it, and you need only turn to his tweets to see it.
This post was edited on 5/16/14 at 3:44 pm
Posted on 5/16/14 at 3:45 pm to TheCaterpillar
quote:I think he grew up in Clarksdale.
Lives in Oxford so I always thought Ole Miss.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 3:59 pm to Feral
quote:
I do find it funny that he's tried to create this ridiculous persona as ESPN's 'resident southerner' and all-knowing soothsayer of all things Southern in terms of culture and food, especially when he went to Mizzou and spent a great deal of his career in KC.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 4:01 pm to Diamondawg
Wright is a great dude, met him in CoMo a time or two. He's an ole miss fan through and through but will support Mizzou as well. He loves him some Pappy Van Winkle, which is definitely what you saw him drinking The Caterpillar.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 4:10 pm to FightTigers
bunch of literary critics on here, who knew..
Posted on 5/16/14 at 4:14 pm to FightTigers
You Ole Miss people need to get over your butthurtsness over "Ghosts of Ole Miss" Did you school come across looking very good in that documentary? No it did not. It wasn't supposed to. Some basd things went on at Ole Miss, and pretty much every other SEC school in those days.
I would venture to guess that all of our schools in this conference would not look very good if some documentarian did a film on admission practices before 1970. Instead of being upset about it, you should acknowledge that our schools were wrong back then and thankfully its no longer like that.
And some of you copmplained about Thompson's role as a narrator. That was the point, folks. One of the aspects of the film is one Mississippian's attempt to reconcile the past in his own mind. I thought it was a great way to put a personal stroke on the subject matter.
I will agree that Roll Tide War Eagle, when compared to the Duke/UNC and Michigan/Ohio State documentaries that HBO ran, is substandard.
I would venture to guess that all of our schools in this conference would not look very good if some documentarian did a film on admission practices before 1970. Instead of being upset about it, you should acknowledge that our schools were wrong back then and thankfully its no longer like that.
And some of you copmplained about Thompson's role as a narrator. That was the point, folks. One of the aspects of the film is one Mississippian's attempt to reconcile the past in his own mind. I thought it was a great way to put a personal stroke on the subject matter.
I will agree that Roll Tide War Eagle, when compared to the Duke/UNC and Michigan/Ohio State documentaries that HBO ran, is substandard.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 4:24 pm to sbrian3915
quote:
And some of you copmplained about Thompson's role as a narrator. That was the point, folks. One of the aspects of the film is one Mississippian's attempt to reconcile the past in his own mind. I thought it was a great way to put a personal stroke on the subject matter.
Can't remember who it was, but producer was on Bill Simmons' podcast not too long ago was trashing it as one of the weakest 30 for 30s because of the very fact that Wright tried to frame it around himself and a football team. It's a story that needs to be told, but not through the lens of a hipster writer's family and the football team of the day.
I'm not even an Ole Miss fan and I thought it was a piece of self-serving crap that left me puzzled as to what it had to do with sports.
quote:
I will agree that Roll Tide War Eagle, when compared to the Duke/UNC and Michigan/Ohio State documentaries that HBO ran, is substandard
Again, I'm an Arkansas fan and thus have no dog in the fight, but Roll Tide/War Eagle was probably the worst 30 for 30 ESPN did. It essentially reduced one of the most longstanding and heated rivalries in sports to a Updyke, Finebaum and Cam. If you knew nothing of the Iron Bowl prior to watching it, you'd think the rivalry started in 2009. It's almost as if he knew absolutely nothing about Alabama or Auburn football while producing it.
The doc that HBO did on Ohio State-Michigan was one of the best sports pieces I've ever seen, and I hate both of those schools with a passion.
This post was edited on 5/16/14 at 4:26 pm
Posted on 5/16/14 at 4:32 pm to Feral
quote:
The doc that HBO did on Ohio State-Michigan was one of the best sports pieces I've ever seen, and I hate both of those schools with a passion.
I preferred the Duke/UNC one to the Ohip St/Michigan one, but that probably because I was around for the Dean Smith/Mike K feuds which took center stage in that film. Woody was fired before I was born and I never really ayed much attention to the Big Ten untill the 90s.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 4:41 pm to sbrian3915
quote:
You Ole Miss people need to get over your butthurtsness over "Ghosts of Ole Miss" Did you school come across looking very good in that documentary? No it did not. It wasn't supposed to. Some basd things went on at Ole Miss, and pretty much every other SEC school in those days.
You need to reread all of our posts. We wanted an accurate portrayal of the events that took place in 1962, whether it be good or bad for the University. I was expecting and hoping for a film loosely based on American Insurrection. Instead we got an hour long self-indulgent narrative from Wright Thompson. Ghosts of Ole Miss sucked, and it didn't do James Meredith or the 1962 Ole Miss football team justice.
This post was edited on 5/16/14 at 4:42 pm
Posted on 5/16/14 at 4:48 pm to DingDongEddieStrong
Little known fact, Wright's first real job out of college was covering LSU Football and the four major golf tournaments for the Times Picayune. He lived in Baton Rouge for a couple of years performing this job.
He is also the writer that broke the academic cheating scandal on Lord Saban (Saban forcing teachers to give grades to LSU football players).
Wright ended up working for the Kansas City Star shortly thereafter and Saban had the Cox Center build in the wake of the scandal.
He is also the writer that broke the academic cheating scandal on Lord Saban (Saban forcing teachers to give grades to LSU football players).
Wright ended up working for the Kansas City Star shortly thereafter and Saban had the Cox Center build in the wake of the scandal.
Posted on 5/16/14 at 5:01 pm to Feral
I get what you're saying.
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