How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying)

How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying)

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No. 240: NORM MACDONALD, TWITTER & ME / We exchanged dozens of dead-of-night messages across two years, but I waited for the right moment…
I'm not killing my account on X for one reason only--I'm hoping Norm Macdonald picks up our conversation where we left off & this whole "death" thing is…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 142: TOM LANDRY & ME / How my first big assignment went sideways ... to the point where I was lucky not to get arrested.
I was a complete greenhorn but I'm sure that I went where no other reporter had gone before with the legendary NFL coach. (Added value: This chapter was…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 137: BILLY MARTIN / The Yankees went to Detroit in 1st place in June '88, but Martin had already entered the downward spiral. I was…
I was an innocent bystander in Tiger Stadium's visiting clubhouse when the skipper flipped the banquet table and the post-game spread hit the wall. He…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 124: JOHN SCHENK / "You would not have picked him out of a police line-up as one of the good guys."
I met John when he was the Sun's hard-living cop reporter and I was a clueless punk. Thirty years later Reader's Digest sent me to Albania where he was…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 109: MICHAEL JORDAN & WILLIAM BEDFORD / The write-around in Chicago, Part II. When MJ wouldn't talk, who'd have something to say about…
Yesterday's dive into my story about Jordan's retirement explained how I wound up talking to Jim Brown. Better than Brown though was a high-school hoops…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 108: JIM BROWN & MICHAEL JORDAN: The write-around in Chicago, Part I. When MJ wouldn't talk, I had to find another who knew such…
Back in '98, when MJ was retiring for the second time, I sought out another whose star shone so brightly, who walked away at the very top.
 • Gare Joyce
No. 105: CHRIS ROWLEY / This he'll defend. Rowley wants minor leaguers to get a fair shake. That his path to the majors was so unlikely and…
I profiled a West Point grad who set a goal of making the majors. The Gulf Coast League seemed a long way from the majors, but he'd wind up farther away…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 103: MILT DUNNELL & JAMES MELROY / When the In Memoriams don't make the cut. Sometimes gone really is forgotten.
There's no truth to the "fade away" stuff--old sportswriters die. Unfortunately young ones do too. A couple of life stories, previously and…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 101: CHRIS SNOW / The guy who actually figured out how to succeed in sportswriting & walked away
Chris Snow inspired my whole "how to succeed in sportswriting" theme and then he completely wrong-footed me.
 • Gare Joyce
No. 97: A JOB-HUNTER NAMED "FRED" / On the Road ... and then on the sidelines. The work of hockey scouts is never done, at least until their…
When a player doesn't make the cut with an NHL club, he's looking to get sent down to the minors or checking out other options. For a NHL scout, though…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 98: SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION / How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying): The memoir that started this whole mess is now…
A perfect gift if your son or daughter wants to become a sportswriter. How to Succeed in Sportswriting will be enough to scare them into law school. And…
 • Gare Joyce
No. 299: BOB PULFORD & LARRY BROOKS / Sentimental goodbyes to not exactly sentimental guys
We've crossed over to a demographic in which where-are-they-nows must give way to in memoriams.
 • Gare Joyce
No. 298: BILL TAUGHER / The Kingston blacksmith's son was supposed to have replaced Georges Vezina in the Canadiens' net. My tortuous …
It wasn't a passion project, but rather a network of wormholes I landed in without a compass or map to help me to the exit.
 • Gare Joyce
No. 297: TOM LANDRY, CHRIS SCHULTZ & THEIR PHOTOGRAPHER'S SECRET LIFE / Curt Newbury, I barely knew you
My first road trip in the business had a few improbable and unforgettable turns--but nearly 40 years later I'm just finding out about the guy wielding…
 • Gare Joyce
How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying)
How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying)
The life of a journeyman critic of the perspiring arts. Yes, some of the essays will be sport-ish. Others, however, will delve into matters beyond the sandbox. Writing about writing, sports or otherwise. Trying to avoid self-inflicted type-casting.
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How to Succeed in Sportswriting (without Really Trying)

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