“My favorite player growing up was Penny Hardaway. Even though he was shy and didn’t talk very much, he had that ‘Li’l Penny’ character — those commercials he did with Chris Rock. That was funny. It’s the same now with those LeBron James commercials. You want to find out who these people actually are. You don’t want to hear them say, ‘I work hard,’ and all that stuff. Everybody has that story. I’d rather know what someone eats for dinner or what they order at Starbucks.”
Then read his blog.
1 comment:
I guess I'm being a literature snob with my anti-Klosterman feelings. His book, "Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" was reviewed as the next big thing for 20 somethings, stupid Gen-X references. The book is cute if you're 19 and really really into myspace and on-line games and working a dead end job (that's the bulk of his book right there with one good story about coaching Little League). He's not that good a writer and I'm surprised how far he's gone on the strength of that one book. Writing sports for the Times is something I thought was reserved for grown ups or people who write real books about sports. I'm assuming that they let him write the Arenas article because Arenas' blogs and that's such a kooky young person's thing and who better than today's kookiest young person than Klosterman? Bah!
He didn't insert himself which is good but there wasn't much depth to the article either. Arenas' blog is filled with good material that a good interviewer could have gone after. The guy has done all the work for you, all you have to do is ask about stuff and see if it's all schtick or is he really a bit nutty. I like Arenas, but I think a lot of his quirks are a put on but that makes it that much better.
I'll send this to the Times along with an application for Klosterman's position.
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