Best National Sports Columnist?

Weiner -- who do you inspire?

Honestly, I am not even sure if they are great columnists out there anymore. Most columnists are way too negative. I follow Minnesota sports and I read the Minnesota sports newspapers. You would be suprised at how negative the sports columnists are. Jim Souhan is solid, but the rest are bad. Tom Powers and Patrick Reusse are way too negative and they seem to have an agenda. Bob Sansevere is a clown.

I would be hard-pressed to find anyone good.

I would go with Michael Wilbon as my favorite columnist. He is funny, entertaining, and right on the mark. Jason Withlock is good too. He is fun to read. Most overrated columnist? Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News. Has he written an insight in recent years? All he does is rip Isiah Thomas and bash the Yankees all the time.

Sam Smith out of Chicago is still solid. He was a Jordan follower for many years, and wrote a couple of controversial books. He's intelligent and witty.
Minnesota columnists have a reason to be negative... look at the teams there!  :)

Michael Wilbon is the best columnist that is left in the country. He is witty and funny, but is still able to provide an educated view on a variety of topics in the sporting world. He also has the ability to speak on the typical sporting issues, and he has the maturity and ability to speak on the topics that go beyond the world of sports.

Too often now days, the top sports columnist get credited being for being great, when all the really are are a rip artist. They spend the majority of their time trying to rip and tear down every sporting icon and team in their city. Or they spend the bulk of their time trying to be some sudo cool hiphop guy.

Wilbon provides a contrast to these style of writers, and gives us a throwback to the way columnist used to be when people actually read the paper.

All of my favorite journalists are dead except me and Jason Stark (but we both get dorkier by the day) Hunter S Thompson, Ralph Wiley, Dick Schaap in that order.

The best sports columnist out there, and there isn't even a close second, is Bill Simmons. Noone out there is as funny and informative, not to mention he still writes from a fans point of view and isn't jaded by years spent in a locker room. The most overrated is easy too. Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly. Don't gewt me wrong I read his column every week, but more out of habit than anything else. He has reached a point in his career where he has gotten too famous for his own good. Most of his columns come off sappy like he is trying too hard. When he does a humorous piece it is usually some dumb cliche about Barry Bonds doing steroids. How this guy wins national sportswriter of the year every year is beyone me. For underrated I am going to say the Page 2 staff at ESPN.com most of them haven't made a name for themselves outside of Page 2 yet but they usually come up with some pretty entertaining stuff. Of course I also have to give a shout out to Peter King but everyone already knows who he is.

Peter King is pretty good, but his ego is getting to large. As far as overrated, whomever on ESPN's sports reporters these days deserve that honor.

Joebook: NO question Minnesota sports teams deserve it, but this is too much. Patrick Reusse goes over the line with his anti-Viking stuff. Here is an example:

http://pacif...-at-our.html

Here is another one: http://pacif...marties.html

BTW, Mike Vaccaro used to be great when he used to write for the Newark Star-Ledger, the paper that I subscribe daily. Now, he has gotten worse since moving to New York POst. He has write stuff for the sake of writing headlines and promoting reaction.

bob ryan by far

I thought that was a sports columnists job..to write stuff for the sake of writing it and to promote reactions. And Arizona's paper is the worst ever.

There is a time and place to do so, Kelsdad. With that said, you can't write negative articles just for the sake of writing negative articles and getting reactions. As an aspiring sports columnist, I like to write based on what I see and hear. That's what sports writers do. You don't see that often anymore.

Scoop Jackson. He brings up issues that others are afraid to discuss and gives a unique point-of-view. Mike Lupica's days are numbered. Only good for ripping Isiah and writing negative articles from a completely bias point of view. Overall, there has been a dropoff in sports writing in general. They need to start paying us for the quality articles we write on this blog!!!

Manny: Ed Price now works for the Newark Star-Ledger. He covers the Yankees for the paper here. He is a solid writer. As for Scoop, I read one of his pieces and I stopped reading after that. He does not make any points and his stuff is unreadable like the retired Jerry Izenberg of the Newark Star-Ledger.

Who said anything about negative writing?

previous question was mine. Sorry about the anonymous part

You mentioned to write stuff for the sake of writing it and to promote reactions, Kelsdad. I figured this is negative writing. That's what most columnists do. I know the Twin Cities columnists definitely does that.

You shouldn't assume.