I think there are more good sportswriters doing more good sportswriting than ever before. But I also believe that the one thing that's largely gone out is what made sport such fertile literary territory - the characters, the tales, the humor, the pain, what Hollywood calls 'the arc.'
Interpretation
Sportswriting is rich with characters and stories, but has lost its essence over time.
In this quote, Frank Deford reflects on the evolution of sportswriting, acknowledging that while there are many talented sportswriters producing work today, the depth and richness that once characterized sports stories—such as the intriguing characters and emotional narratives—have diminished. He emphasizes that the elements that made sports a compelling subject for writing, including humor and personal struggles, have largely been overshadowed, suggesting a need for a revival of these essential qualities.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of storytelling in journalism.
So much about big-time college sports is criticized. But the worst scandal is almost never mentioned: the academic fraud wherein the student-athletes, so-called, are admitted without even remotely adequate credentials and then aren't educated so much as they are just kept eligible.
Sport is an art: it has incredible appeal everywhere on this earth, and it fills so many human hearts with passion that it's impossible to dismiss.
People write memoirs because they lack the imagination to make things up.
We tend to regard history as true and 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' as untrue. That's always puzzled me.
Look, man, we'd probably most of us agree that these are dark times, and stupid ones, but do we need fiction that does nothing but dramatize how dark and stupid everything is?
It really matters to writers to find and treasure readers, all the more when they're on the other side of the world.
A lot of people have no idea that right now Y.A. (young adult). is the Garden of Eden of literature.
Most of the female characters I admire come from science fiction and fantasy, maybe because there's more permission to shake up gender roles in genre.
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