My Letter To ESPN's Rick Reilly

Ordinarily I just think to myself "this guy can go **** himself" and ignore his work. But something about writing a pointed and intelligent response to his irresponsible claptrap appealed to me. So here it is:


A victory for women? Kinda condescending considering the entirety of the article seemed to be focused on how his FAMILY prevailed through his wife's and mother's fights against cancer, the subsequent separation from each other and his Masters win.

Tiger may have been a stupid, cheating moron. But he's a stupid, cheating moron that says he's trying to be better. We don't have to believe him, but it's one thing to criticize and another to put forth agenda.

I know you get paid for your opinion, but this article was clearly more an attempt for you to trade on Tiger's fame by linking your name to his via criticism than an honest assessment of Phil Mickelson's rather significant achievement.

You are smart. You have a brilliant command of the language. And you know your stuff. But your constant brow-beating of Tiger Woods is getting really lame. The guy's a dope. But with all the steroids madness in baseball, the one-and-done nonsense of the NBA, and the endless fines and legalities and off-the-field shenanigans of NFL players, you could choose a plethora of battles to fight and appear more knowledgeable and cogent than you do with this Tiger Woods business.

In the end, you'll do as you please. I'm sure I'm not the only one coming at you and, in fact, I'm probably vastly outnumbered by your fans and supporters. But I'm calling bull**** on you for this anyway.

I'm not a fan. Nor am I a frequent reader. Getting people to react is your business, I'm sure. But whereas I thought you were a thoughtful addition to the ESPN writer's staff I now find you an unwelcome distraction from genuine sports reporting.

Enjoy your paychecks. I'm certainly jealous of them. But not of how you earn them. Your writing is the printed version of street-corner hustling. I visited your territory and sampled your product once out of genuine curiosity. I won't be back. And I will be better for it.


I highly doubt he'll respond, which is fine since I won't be reading his stuff any longer. Funny, that was only the second time I read a full article of his. Good to know I won't be wasting my time any further.