Post by TW on Jan 2, 2016 12:48:30 GMT -5
Don Riley was 92 years old. He was a sports writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He was one of the best writers I've seen. To those of us who lived in Northwestern Wisconsin, he was special. He was an agitator who had nothing but smarmy comments about the Packers. He referred to the Packers as The Greenbush Packers. On a daily basis, Packer fans would read his articles and just plain boil over it.
Funny thing is, Don lived in Wisconsin, just across the river from Minnesota. Yes, he was a Vikings fan, but his job was to pull in readers to his daily articles, and he did just that. Nothing about Wisconsin, the Badgers, or the Packers, was off limits to him. He was merciless. He was the equivalent of Jim Murray, who was writing for the Los Angeles Times. He was just as good as Jim, and I thought Jim was great. Someone had to be the anti-Christ of sports, and those two guys were exactly that. They made us think, and that's what counted.
I, for one, will miss Riley, just like I missed Murray, after his articles were no longer available in syndication, and after his death. These were the two guys from the past, that made us aware of the fact that being a "camp follower" to a team wasn't what anyone should be. I guess they rubbed off on me. I'll never be a fan who looks at everything through rose colored glasses.
Funny thing is, Don lived in Wisconsin, just across the river from Minnesota. Yes, he was a Vikings fan, but his job was to pull in readers to his daily articles, and he did just that. Nothing about Wisconsin, the Badgers, or the Packers, was off limits to him. He was merciless. He was the equivalent of Jim Murray, who was writing for the Los Angeles Times. He was just as good as Jim, and I thought Jim was great. Someone had to be the anti-Christ of sports, and those two guys were exactly that. They made us think, and that's what counted.
I, for one, will miss Riley, just like I missed Murray, after his articles were no longer available in syndication, and after his death. These were the two guys from the past, that made us aware of the fact that being a "camp follower" to a team wasn't what anyone should be. I guess they rubbed off on me. I'll never be a fan who looks at everything through rose colored glasses.