So I've never been a big reader of Rick Reilly (I switched from SI to The Sporting News about 10 years ago), but I can say that for the most part, Reilly's written work for ESPN has been abhorrent.
Therefore, when I was watching an episode of The Colbert Report on Tivo (hear that Pnoles, TIVO!), and saw that Reilly would be the guest, I fired up the ol' laptop and set the keyboard to callously cynical. However, much to my surprise, Reilly was not there to talk about ESPN, golf, Brett Favre, or even sports at all. Rather, he used the entirety of his interview time to talk about the charity NothingButNets, a non-profit UN organization that provides mosquito nets to Malaria stricken parts of Africa.
Maybe there's some sort of sinister reason for Reilly to do this (tax write off, impending divorce, he owns a net factory), but I thought it was a pretty stand up thing to do. Also, Mariotti would never use a guest spot on Colbert for any reason other than to talk about how The Blizzard of Oz is a pox upon the city of Chicago.
So in summary:
Tip of the Hat: Rick Reilly, for promoting a charity when he could've used the time for smug, broad generalizations and lame jokes.
Wag of the Finger: Rick Reilly, for using his columns for smug, broad generalizations and lame jokes.
He's been a big supporter of this charity for a few years, having written a column about it back in 05 or 06 that generated the most response he sys he's ever had. it's the one thing that keeps him from moving into the "total douche" category.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, how about everyone who reads this blog and everyone who writes on this blog chips in $1 per month to me for Tivo, and I'll contribute the other $4 for the $14/month package, and this can be a non-issue in the future mmmmmkay?
ReplyDeleteSaw the same show, nice pick up Jack
ReplyDeleteThanks for the promo of our blog kids!
ReplyDeleteJ.S.
Reilly is all about that charity and I know he did a follow up to that a few weeks later and the results were astounding at how many people chipped in to help the charity out.
ReplyDeleteJust like Darth Vader, there is still some good left inside of him.
I just made a Darth Vader reference on a blog. I have hit total proverbial loser-dom.
I think "callously cynical" is the only setting on my keyboard.
ReplyDeleteExcept, perhaps, "overtly malicious".