Rick Reilly Leaving SI For ESPN

[MisterE]

http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2007/10/22/...pn-they-want-m/

Rick Reilly on Leaving Sports Illustrated for ESPN: 'They Want Me for the Column'

Posted Oct 22nd 2007 3:13PM by Michael David Smith

Filed under: ESPN

Longtime Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly and ESPN made it official today that Reilly is joining forces with the Worldwide Leader. But while you can expect Reilly to appear on your TV set soon, he says he's still a columnist first and foremost.

"They want me for the column," Reilly said on a conference call today. "Pam Anderson can play the harpsichord, but that's not why people date her.... Believe me, with this nose I know what works best for me and the No. 1 thing is writing this column."

That was Reilly's answer when I asked him what he thought of the comments John Feinstein made in this Big Lead post. Feinstein says what Reilly does best is write, and ESPN won't get the best use of his talents. Reilly insists that he won't change as a writer, he'll just appear in ESPN the Magazine instead of Sports Illustrated and add some TV work on top of that.

But I think most people find that a little hard to believe. ESPN is rumored to be paying Reilly in the $2 million a year range ("the money was ridonkulous," Reilly said), and money like that usually goes to TV guys who write a little on the side, not writers who do a little TV on the side.

Reilly mentioned on the conference call that he has two homes, one in Denver and one in Los Angeles, and that the new L.A. studio ESPN is building is "just a 20-minute drive from my beach house." Sounds more like a TV guy to me.

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As long as he still has his column, I will cope with this decision. I usually find Sports Illustrated superior to ESPN but I don't mind reading either (It helps I have a free one-year subscription to ESPN). I'm one of those people who turns to last page of SI whenever they pick up an issue but I can continue to do just that while giving another magazine more of a chance for whenever that free subscription runs out.

[floydnimrod]

I'm pretty excited about it. Can't wait for Reilly and Bill Simmons to be in the same magazine.

[tBBP]

So long as he doesn't become the blatant (and sometimes overly annoying) homer that Bill Simmons unapologetically is...yes, I can agree with that.

[HedleyLamarr]

I didn't know Pam Anderson could play the harpsichord....

[AndrewPF]

I'm a SI "backwards" reader as well...ah man what else is gonna replace that column?

[Sec19Row53]

I'm a SI "backwards" reader as well...ah man what else is gonna replace that column?

Dan Patrick

[patsox]

I love his column. This is bad news for me.

[Drew22]

Just in time, my SI subscription is almost done, and I don't have the 60 bucks they want for a year.

[capsfan1000]

I'm pretty excited about it. Can't wait for Reilly and Bill Simmons to be in the same magazine.

My thoughts exactly.

[DEAD!]

So basically ESPN traded Dan Patrick to SI for Rick Reilly?

I didn't know Pam Anderson could play the harpsichord....

... yeah, I would have thought she could play the saxophone.

[DEAD!]

So basically ESPN traded Dan Patrick to SI for Rick Reilly?

I didn't know Pam Anderson could play the harpsichord....

... yeah, I would have thought she could play the saxophone.

[pcgd]

Just in time, my SI subscription is almost done, and I don't have the 60 bucks they want for a year.

And mine just renewed...fantastic.

[HedleyLamarr]

So basically ESPN traded Dan Patrick to SI for Rick Reilly?

I didn't know Pam Anderson could play the harpsichord....

... yeah, I would have thought she could play the saxophone.

Or the flute.....

[Mac the Knife]

So basically ESPN traded Dan Patrick to SI for Rick Reilly?

That's what Patrick was essentially saying on his radio show today.

[DDR]

So long as he doesn't become the blatant (and sometimes overly annoying) homer that Bill Simmons unapologetically is...yes, I can agree with that.

Tell me about it. Bill Simmons used to write funny and relevant columns. Now he writes amusing anecdotes and basically a "Boston Thoughts" column. I don't care that his buddy T-Bone does a great impression of the floor manager at a Vegas casino I've never been to. It seems as though once his popularity exploded, he bought into his own hype. I loved reading Simmons as recently as a year ago, but since then....I don't know.

[DGivens87]

Rick Reilly going to ESPN from SI is the equivalent of putting perfume on a pig. The mag will still be nothing but an oversized collection of ads and mind-numbing features and tidbits. Does he give it some credibility now? Yeah, but I won't cancel my subscription to SI because he's gone. SI has far superior content and writing, IMO.

And to add two pennies to the Bill Simmons convo - I'm a Boston fan, and his act is getting old. He's a great writer, but whenever he references a buddy I just want to "boil some water and pour it down my throat."

[spyboy1]

Reilly's columns are really good, but I'm still not over SI's loss of Steve Rushin. His were brilliant time and time again and I really can't imagine how the bosses at SI feel about losing another columnist in such short order.

[leedsunited]

So long as he doesn't become the blatant (and sometimes overly annoying) homer that Bill Simmons unapologetically is...yes, I can agree with that.

Tell me about it. Bill Simmons used to write funny and relevant columns. Now he writes amusing anecdotes and basically a "Boston Thoughts" column. I don't care that his buddy T-Bone does a great impression of the floor manager at a Vegas casino I've never been to. It seems as though once his popularity exploded, he bought into his own hype. I loved reading Simmons as recently as a year ago, but since then....I don't know.

Oh god, if I read more more "hilarious" anecdote about his idiot townie friends, i'm gonna barf. Seriously.

Even his bread and butter, the running sports diary, has become a tired, tired retread of its once-funny self. Dude. Get a new schtick. Now. No wonder he didn't last long on Jimmy Kimmel's writing team.

He's as unreadable as Scoop Jackson.

The only ESPN.com columnists I even bother to read are Gene Wojciechowski and Pat Forde (who writes an insanely good weekly college football column )

[Brendan]

This sucks, Reily was the best part of SI.

[infrared41]

So long as he doesn't become the blatant (and sometimes overly annoying) homer that Bill Simmons unapologetically is...yes, I can agree with that.

Tell me about it. Bill Simmons used to write funny and relevant columns. Now he writes amusing anecdotes and basically a "Boston Thoughts" column. I don't care that his buddy T-Bone does a great impression of the floor manager at a Vegas casino I've never been to. It seems as though once his popularity exploded, he bought into his own hype. I loved reading Simmons as recently as a year ago, but since then....I don't know.

Simmons is the only writer I know that can make me sick to my stomach and crack me up at the same time. He can be every bit as annoying as he is good. The guy is a mixed bag. When he's on he's really on but when he's not I just want to beat him with a hammer. Lately it's been a little more hammer than not with me.

Oddly enough his Boston columns aren't the ones that annoy me. He's a lifetime Boston fan and I respect that about him. It's when he tries to regale us with tales of his exploits with his "crew" that make me want to kick his ass. Leave the dorks on parade column for another magazine like say Tiger Beat or 16.

Stick to sports Bill. No one cares about a bunch of pussies who went out and had a beer. Every time he writes about his "buds" he loses a little more credibility. The dude's got game but I agree with the notion that he's let his hype go to his head.

As far as Rick Reilly goes, I think it's a shame that he left SI. I've never been much of a "The Magazine" reader but I guess I'll have to check it out when Reilly moves over there.