The Red Smith Hall of Fame message: “No matter who we are, or what we’ve accomplished, we should always strive to be better”
Mark Cline |
April 29, 2010 2:21 p.m.
Life, it is often said, is just a collection of moments. During the opening of the APSE Red Smith Hall of Fame this past Saturday night, my personal cache added a few such moments.
As soon as I walked into the new shrine dedicated to sports greatest scribes, I was greeted by the famous words of the award’s namesake, Red Smith.
“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” Fittingly, the words are emblazoned in dark red.
While a computer’s keyboard has replaced the typewriter, the message still holds true, perhaps more now than ever. In a time where readers are turning into viewers, a writer needs to be as versatile as a utility infielder. Now is when we must give the most of ourselves. Our passion needs to bleed onto the page.
With pictures so crisp and clear you feel as though it’s you scrapping your feet across the back of the end zone; with videos streaming in high-definition across the Internet just seconds after the latest gravity-defying dunk, now, more than ever is when we, the next generation of journalists, need to remind the world that the action makes it good, but the words are what make it great. In a world where there is a mountain of information, it is our job to guide the readers like a sports sherpa.
It was a hard nerve to control, standing in a room among some of the best present-day writers. These are the men and women we usually read in class, not bump into and rub elbows with. Remarkable was the reaction of even the greats, momentarily gawking at the wall of award-winners as if they too were just star-struck students.
Those in attendance Saturday night felt the presence of all the past Red Smith winners. Some were there physically, others RSVP’d in spirit. It was a powerful moment, to watch the captains of this industry stop and stare at plaques immortalizing those considered better than us mere mortals. Most importantly though, it served as a reminder that no matter who we are or what we’ve accomplished, we should always strive to be better.
The man who conceived the idea of a Red Smith Hall of Fame, APSE President Garry D. Howard, said it best by simply stating, “There is no denying it is the greatest collection of sports journalist ever.” This newly minted Mount Olympus of sports journalism just became the greatest classroom on the IUPUI campus. I consider it a privilege to have witnessed the marriage of sports journalism’s past and sports media’s future.
In his keynote address, Bill Plaschke had many stirring points and stories. But what touched me the most was him saying, “I want to end with a message to all of those future sports journalists out there. The Red Smith Hall of Fame is not a museum. It’s a classroom. It’s not just about them or us. It’s about you. It’s a living, breathing challenge to those who still want to work in a business that has been battered by the bankers and kicked by the economists and at times has seemed to be abandoned by everyone except the most important person of all: the reader.”
I accept this challenge…here is my blood.
Mark Cline is a sports journalism student in the IU School of Journalism.
As soon as I walked into the new shrine dedicated to sports greatest scribes, I was greeted by the famous words of the award’s namesake, Red Smith.
“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” Fittingly, the words are emblazoned in dark red.
While a computer’s keyboard has replaced the typewriter, the message still holds true, perhaps more now than ever. In a time where readers are turning into viewers, a writer needs to be as versatile as a utility infielder. Now is when we must give the most of ourselves. Our passion needs to bleed onto the page.
With pictures so crisp and clear you feel as though it’s you scrapping your feet across the back of the end zone; with videos streaming in high-definition across the Internet just seconds after the latest gravity-defying dunk, now, more than ever is when we, the next generation of journalists, need to remind the world that the action makes it good, but the words are what make it great. In a world where there is a mountain of information, it is our job to guide the readers like a sports sherpa.
It was a hard nerve to control, standing in a room among some of the best present-day writers. These are the men and women we usually read in class, not bump into and rub elbows with. Remarkable was the reaction of even the greats, momentarily gawking at the wall of award-winners as if they too were just star-struck students.
Those in attendance Saturday night felt the presence of all the past Red Smith winners. Some were there physically, others RSVP’d in spirit. It was a powerful moment, to watch the captains of this industry stop and stare at plaques immortalizing those considered better than us mere mortals. Most importantly though, it served as a reminder that no matter who we are or what we’ve accomplished, we should always strive to be better.
The man who conceived the idea of a Red Smith Hall of Fame, APSE President Garry D. Howard, said it best by simply stating, “There is no denying it is the greatest collection of sports journalist ever.” This newly minted Mount Olympus of sports journalism just became the greatest classroom on the IUPUI campus. I consider it a privilege to have witnessed the marriage of sports journalism’s past and sports media’s future.
In his keynote address, Bill Plaschke had many stirring points and stories. But what touched me the most was him saying, “I want to end with a message to all of those future sports journalists out there. The Red Smith Hall of Fame is not a museum. It’s a classroom. It’s not just about them or us. It’s about you. It’s a living, breathing challenge to those who still want to work in a business that has been battered by the bankers and kicked by the economists and at times has seemed to be abandoned by everyone except the most important person of all: the reader.”
I accept this challenge…here is my blood.
Mark Cline is a sports journalism student in the IU School of Journalism.
June 7th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
As much as I admired Red’s work, that thing always bugged me. This job isn’t supposed to be about bleeding. It’s supposed to be fun.
Have fun, Mark.
Keep your blood.