{"id":147,"date":"2016-08-16T21:48:07","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T01:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/?p=147"},"modified":"2016-08-16T21:48:07","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T01:48:07","slug":"journalist-i-admire-phil-taylor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/journalist-i-admire-phil-taylor\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist I Admire: Phil Taylor"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently discovered Phil Taylor and his work with Sports Illustrated after he was mentioned in an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary I was watching over the summer. I began reading his work from the 90\u2019s and some of \u00a0his more recent pieces and I\u2019ve never witnessed a more brilliant storyteller.<\/p>\n

What Goes Up … Must Come Down, Or So It Seems<\/a> was an article written by Taylor in 1995. He begins the piece by referring to Michael Jordan basically as a powerful and almighty God. The entire piece is speculating Jordan\u2019s return to the NBA. He describes the anxiety of the fans and how Jordan\u2019s return will rock the basketball world all over again.<\/p>\n

As I was reading this article, it felt as if it was a tale about a mystical figure rather than a realistic human being. Taylor is able to dramatize his stories just enough to get the audience on its toes and make us feel like we\u2019re a part of something spectacular. He compared Jordan\u2019s return to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I felt excited as if Jordan was going to descend from the heavens into my living room that very moment.<\/p>\n

Taylor has a gift for scene setting, and to me, he\u2019s the best at it. I\u2019ve always struggled with scene setting or anecdotal ledes, making them too clich\u00e9 and wordy. I admire Taylor\u2019s writing because he takes you there without you even realizing that you\u2019re being sucked in.<\/p>\n

He shows this talent best in his Sports Illustrated article Mixed Messages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This piece was on homosexuality and the challenges athletes face trying to keep their secret hidden and what they are faced with after they come out. This article was written 6 years ago and although times were changing, homosexuality was still taboo in the sports world. Thus, it was also rare for a heterosexual black man to write such an endearing piece about their struggles. It made me feel proud, like the world was becoming a little less awful.<\/p>\n

The article was based on Austin Hendrix, a cross country runner at Eastern Michigan who came out to teammates. Although the feature story was based around Hendrix and his journey, Taylor made it relatable and personable to many. Whether homosexual, heterosexual or somewhere in between, he places the reader in someone\u2019s shoes that they probably wouldn\u2019t have related to in everyday life. That\u2019s a gift.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently discovered Phil Taylor and his work with Sports Illustrated after he was mentioned in an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary I was watching over the summer. I began reading his work from the 90\u2019s and some of \u00a0his more recent pieces and I\u2019ve never witnessed a more brilliant storyteller. What Goes Up … … Continue reading Journalist I Admire: Phil Taylor<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":267,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11,21],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-glenda","category-module-1","tag-hero"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MY21-2n","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":711,"url":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/jordans-team-project-budget\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":0},"title":"Jordan’s Team Project Budget","author":"Jordan Hill","date":"September 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My piece of the high school transfers team story, along with being the editor of the overall project, will be a profile on Grayson High School football coach Jeff Herron. Herron is a veteran coach in the state and is now in his 27th season as a head coach with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "High School Transfers"","block_context":{"text":"High School Transfers","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/category\/high-school-transfers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":704,"url":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/jordans-personal-story-memo\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":1},"title":"Jordan’s Personal Story Memo","author":"Jordan Hill","date":"September 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a famous statistic in college football that since the Southeastern Conference created the SEC Championship Game in 1992, 21 of the 23 coaches who won it played for the title at least once in their first three seasons in the SEC. 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I found it very interesting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Module 7"","block_context":{"text":"Module 7","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/category\/module-7\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":357,"url":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/high-school-archives-southwest-dekalb\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":3},"title":"High School Archives: Southwest DeKalb","author":"Glenda Dowdy","date":"August 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"About 99% of the archives I found about my high school Southwest DeKalb were about sports, mainly football. SWD has always been a worthy competitor in Georgia high school sports, so I was not surprised. The most interesting story I found was written by Shannon Owens of the Orlando Sentinel.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Coursework"","block_context":{"text":"Coursework","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/category\/coursework\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":759,"url":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/sportsenterprise\/jordans-updated-story-memo\/","url_meta":{"origin":147,"position":4},"title":"Jordan’s Updated Story Memo","author":"Jordan Hill","date":"September 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 I wasn't exactly sure how much information was needed in the update, so I tried to add in any new developments to the original post I made about my story. 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