The Fury Files: Peter Richmond

Welcome to the latest edition of the Fury Files, which are currently defending themselves in a million dollar lawsuit brought by Rockford. Check out all the previous editions with Tom Linnemann, John Millea, David Brauer, Joe Posnanski, Pat Coleman, Kevin Van Valkenburg, Michael Kruse, Chris Jones, Chris Ballard, Roland Lazenby, Will Leitch and Patrick Reusse.

This week’s guest is Peter Richmond, a former newspaper reporter who went on to become one of the country’s best magazine writers at GQ and is now a best-selling author. He’s also been a planning board member in a small village in New York.

Richmond graduated from Yale, where he studied under the legendary John Hersey and David Milch. I’d say more about that but I’ve already given away too much and Richmond talks all about it below. Richmond’s been honored numerous times in the Best American Sports Writing series and his 1992 story about Tommy Lasorda’s son, Tommy Jr., who died of AIDS, earned a spot in The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. If anyone ever produces a book called The Best American Sports Writing of the Millennium, the Lasorda piece will find its way there as well (the story is now available online on the Stacks section of Deadspin and has been anthologized in the BASW series and in the book Fathers & Sons & Sports).

The author of numerous books, Richmond is currently working on a biography of Phil Jackson. Previous efforts include My Father’s War: A Son’s Journey, a book that detailed Richmond’s efforts to discover just what it meant when he heard his late father (who died when Richmond was a young boy and had won two Silver Stars in World War II) described as a war hero. In 2010, Richmond wrote Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden’s Oakland Raiders. Among his other works? Ballpark: Camden Yards and the Building of an American Dream, and Fever: The Life and Music of Peggy Lee.

Richmond has a style that makes writing look easy, which disguises the fact his stories only read like that because of his talent and the exhaustive work that went into reporting his pieces and books. While he spends most of his time these days working on books, his words still pop up elsewhere. Check out his Grantland piece about how America can’t build a decent sports stadium. Or his story for SB Nation Longform about the world championship of blind baseball. And here’s his 1990 piece about Bill Murray. This past week he wrote on Bronx Banter about Hall of Famer Bernard King and his forgotten arrests, and I can only imagine the angry letters he received from Knicks fans. A devoted New York Giants fan — he also wrote a best-selling book with Frank Gifford about the famous 1958 title game — Richmond hosts a radio show about Big Blue, which was the subject of a New York Times story. And be sure to check out Richmond’s website.

Here, Richmond talks about studying under legends, the badass Raiders, the mysterious Phil Jackson, Phish, his writing style, why Cincinnati hated him, why Tommy Lasorda stopped talking to him, his evolution as a writer and much more. Thanks a lot for your time, Peter.

The Tapes: May 18

Summer is officially underway at the SoDak branch of TVFury as school is out … just for the summer, Alice Cooper, not forever. Predictably, the number of weird police reports has spiked.

I witnessed a couple of skinny yahoos attempt to pull off the old “The Program” stunt where you lay down in the middle of a four-lane road. We breed geniuses by the bulk, in these parts.

And, now, in less dangerous news, The Tapes:

* There’s a new No. 1 on my list of best Justin Bieber stories. And, yes, that means I’ve read more than one meaning that I just might have Bieber fever. This one comes from Drew Magary, best known for his no-holds-barred work at Deadspin, and was published in GQ.
I’m not often a fan of celebrity pieces, especially those in which the writer interjects himself, but this one was wholly entertaining.

* Allow me to draw your attention to a pretty major and progressive project that is officially underway in Sioux Falls. Sanford Health, supposedly the largest rural, non-profit healthcare system in the country, broke ground this week on the Pentagon, a state-of-the-art facility at the center of a massive sports complex. The $19-million venue will hold nine basketball courts and aspires to become one of the premier training destinations in the country. The folks behind it have had meetings with David Stern and are modeling some elements after Tim Grover’s renowned complex in Chicago.
Their goal: To make it an offseason, training hideout for NBA players. Yes, in Sioux Falls. It’s going to be interesting to watch it progress.

* Fury here. Aside: What if the only NBA player who ever shows up to train at the Pentagon is Stiemsma? New York Magazine had its annual TV issue this week, but one of the other stories was on comedian Patrice O’Neal, who I was not that familiar with. But he was apparently the comedian’s comedian, and a guy other comedians were afraid of because his brutal honesty and devastating verbal attacks. O’Neal died last year after suffering a stroke.

* Charlie Pierce took on the high school team who forfeited a baseball game rather than play against a girl. I have a story about being run over by a girl while playing baseball when I was like six. (Note to self: Future TVFury blog post).

* For geeks and shut-ins: How to never lose at Battleship.

 

The Tapes: March 23

Terry’s back in Sioux Falls, I’m back in NYC, things are getting back to normal in the TVFury bureaus. So during this period of stability, let us present this week’s links.

* Longtime magazine writer Pat Jordan profiled Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma for Deadspin. It’s an entertaining read about one of the most successful coaches in sports history, but a guy who seems to lose fans as fast as he wins titles.

* Jim Souhan spent a week with Ricky Rubio for a Star Tribune feature. Unfortunately, it was a week that ended with Rubio tearing his ACL. But the Timberwolves have been just fine in Rubio’s absence, right? Moving on.

* SI.com profiled Stephon Marbury, who wanted the SI cover before agreeing to speak. I could read Marbury stories all day.

* Obviously lots of stories on the Saints bounty scandal, although as far as I know none of them have addressed whether the Vikings will be retroactively awarded the NFC’s Super Bowl berth from 2010, setting up a big game against the Colts, who will have to take Peyton Manning back. But this story from Slate’s Josh Levin focuses on Sean Payton’s responsibilities in the fiasco.

* Our boy, Brandon Sneed, if we can call him that, made his debut in GQ this week with a piece about a rabid North Carolina fan. Sure, you could mock the guy. But that’s too easy. What’s more interesting is how sincere he is about everything, professing that seeking love never really crossed his mind because it would forever alter his fanhood. Some people are just wired differently.

* The flag is flying at half-mast this week at TVFury in honor of Chaleo Yoovidhya. The Red Bull co-founder passed away this week of natural causes. Again, natural causes and not a caffeine overdose. The Washington Post chronicles his background. Among the fascinating facts: The energy drink has (sort of) been around since 1962, initially flopped and now sells 4.4 billion cans per year.

The Tapes: Feb. 24

Time for the latest edition of The Tapes. I’m making last-minute preparations for my trip to Cape Town. But nothing – nothing – comes before TVFury. Onward:

* Ricky Rubio had a horrific game on Wednesday against the Jazz. The Wolves made their comeback with him on the bench and he hit only 1 of 6 from the line. I don’t care. He’s still awesome to watch, is a huge reason for the complete turnaround of a woeful franchise and has them in position for a playoff run. Also, he did this dance last night.

* This quarterback from the Broncos received a bit of attention this season and GQ writer Michael Silver did an oral history of this QB’s season. This is the piece famous for Brady Quinn’s supposedly insulting quotes about this particular overshadowed quarterback.

* From The Onion: Great Team Chemistry No Match for Great Team Biology.

* Big week for TV’s employer as it began implementing a paywall on its Web site. It’s part of a company-wide move by Gannett. All of its American papers other than USA Today will go to a similar model in 2012.
Time will tell how this will work out, although I think even the tightest of wads can agree that it was an inevitability. Giving away your product isn’t a sound, long-term business model. What’s been most interesting in the short term are all the logistical questions from readers. Hopefully, that means they’re still interested.

* Apparently, there’s a new form of caffeine hitting the market … the breathable kind. That’s right, no need to sip or chug, anymore, the latest trend in energy ingestion is, well, huffing. To be honest, I’d probably prefer a pure, concentrated liquid form. The idea of purposely breathing in a chemical makes me think two things: 1) a gangly 10-year-old boy clinging to an inhaler during gym class and 2) this dude in Fargo who was notorious for sniffing silver paint in a downtown park.
As much as I’m dependent on caffeine, I think I’ll pass on this method if only makes the habit seem more detrimental.

The Tapes: Feb. 10

A quickie Tapes for this week, as I’m about to pass out from chugging Nyquil to battle a cold I came down with. My wife’s half-a-world away, otherwise she’d make me soup or something. I’d feel bad making her fly all day back from Africa just to heat up some chicken noodle.

Onward:

* I’m linking to two pieces I haven’t read, which is violating an unwritten TVFury rule. Both deal with the case in Ohio when a troubled man let loose his exotic animals before killing himself. Police were forced to shoot tigers and bears and other creatures that had been released. Esquire’s Chris Jones wrote about it, as did GQ’s Chris Heath. I’ve heard both stories are good but quite different. There is also some inside baseball going on as it’s odd for two writers at rivals to be working on a story like this at the same time in the magazine world. This New York Observer article explains some of it. I haven’t read either story because I’m waiting for each magazine in the mail. Old school.

* Bill Simmons did a podcast with his sports hero, Larry Bird. Even as a Lakers fan I enjoyed the piece, primarily because it’s fun listening to a basketball genius like Larry talk hoops, even if you have to wade through way too much talk about the 1986 Celtics and how if Kevin McHale had been healthy in 1987, he would have blocked Magic’s skyhook in Game 4 of the Finals.

* TVFury readers will remember Kevin Van Valkenburg, who did a Fury Files in December. He just started working for ESPN the Magazine but penned a goodbye to his old paper, The Baltimore sun. A good read.

* Up next, not poetry, but candid words from a situation that’s a total cluster: The University of North Dakota nickname debate. Without getting into too much detail, the NCAA deemed the Fighting Sioux bit “hostile and abusive.” Boosters bristled. Laws were changed. And now the issue is threatening to cost the school future conference affiliation.
This story by Tom Miller from the Grand Forks Herald includes the most candid in-house comments maybe ever on the subject. That’s one of the things I miss least about living and working in North Dakota – the potential to be assigned to update that fiasco. It sort of makes me want to jam a pen into my eyeball the way this dude in Fargo once did after his arson-for-insurance scam was uncovered.

* Are you ready for the latest breakthrough in energy-drink can technology? Meet West Coast Chill. It comes equipped with a button that causes the temp of the swill to drop 30 degrees. I think about how much the world needs this every time I work in the office, my soda turning room temp before I can finish it. Yuck. And pouring it into, say, some sort of insulated thermos will make it go flat.
This entry will fit perfectly in my upcoming book, “I would have been totally screwed if I live in the 1800s.”