Idiots Write About Sports

Sad news to report: Ralph Wiley passed away this weekend. You may know him best from his most recent gig as a Page 2 columnist at ESPN. Me, I also enjoyed his work on Sports Reporters and the regrettably canceled Classic Sports Reporters, both airing on the Worldwide Leader and its assorted offshoots. Unfortunately, his Oakland A’s beat coverage for the Oakland Tribune was a little bit before my time — I think that by the time my family migrated to Northern California, Wiley had already moved on to Sports Illustrated — but working in the media myself, I’ve always been fascinated by his rise from copy boy at the Trib to nationally recognized sportwriter. And of course, we’d be remiss if we did not mention Wiley’s excellent writing dealt with topics beyond the world of sports.

Anyhow, go over to Page 2 and read through some of his old articles there or run a Google search and see if any of his material pops up. Your efforts will be rewarded with some stellar writing from a guy who always had something interesting to say and had an interesting way of saying it.