A Riff for Reilly

One of my favorite writers of all time is packing in at Sports Illustrated. Rick Reilly the great writer that has been writing for SI for 23 years is packing it in with the famous sports magazine. Reilly's writing which has been on the "back page" of SI for as long as I can remember has brought me to laugh, to tears, to astonishment, and to joy. One of the main reasons I have been subscribing to SI for the past 15 years is because of Reilly. His story lines can come from anything from his hate for Barry Bonds, to a man from Tennessee that golfs 90 holes a day, to a kid in Mass. that has cerebral palsy that can't dribble but won't miss from the foul line. Also, his comedic adventures where he would write his experience as a rodeo clown, teeing it up with Tiger Woods, and even him driving an Indy car at the Indianapolis 500. Every week I always looked forward to his column, most often it would be the first page I turn to. Reilly has also done features, notably one about a week spent with Marge Schott that ultimately helped lead to her suspension from baseball. Reilly has also wrote six books, been named Sportswriter of the Year 11 times, and was the writer that went up to Sammy Sosa and ask him to take a drug test because Sosa was very assertive that he "Would take a drug test if someone offered one". With that Sosa went off on Reilly even threatening the columnist. As of June 1st Reilly will be taking a job with ESPN that will include some more writing and even some time on tv. It's too bad for Sports Illustrated that they are losing Reilly, because they might lose some subscribers as well.