This story is a powerhouse of facts, statistics and emotions. 

Natalie Weiner and SB Nation make me thankful that there are still writers who can report the heck out of a story, and that there are publications that make time and space for it. 

The reporting of this story is fantastic because, not only does it reveal information I did not know until I read it, but it also evokes fantastic quotes and narratives from the subjects. The writing is descriptive and sharp without being overdone, without the writer inserting herself. Weiner lays bare the language of tragedy and triumph, all while vividly bringing her audience into a world most of us don't know. 

My students would learn much about style and reporting if they read it. I'm better for having read it. We all should read it. 

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I read this column years ago and happened upon it this week. It is so brilliant, simple, perfect. 

It sings of the glory of Jim Murray, a man I never met but felt like I knew.

It makes me remember the words he wrote and where I was when I read them, how I felt right at that moment. It makes me miss living in Southern California and being part of the Los Angeles Times organization, even if for just a small outshoot in Orange County.

It makes me think of the Dodgers, and the Lakers, and the blackened chicken burritos at Taco Mesa in Costa Mesa. 

It makes me remember my sports writing career -- watching Carson Palmer, then a senior in high school, playing volleyball, sitting at the Laguna Beach High School baseball field wondering how I got to be so lucky. It makes me recall watching the Steelers' offensive line clear a path to my left that Willie Parker streaked down in Super Bowl XL, remember watching Ichiro throw a ball to third base from right field. 

Brilliant, simple, perfect. 

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