The Billiken's Bluff

SportsCenter was on in my living room this morning and I heard the news, muffled through the wall, that Wiley had died. I first thought of Rick Reilly Sports Illustrated columnist, but after going into the living room I found out that in fact, Ralph Wiley age 52, had died of a heart attack. Naturally, when a 52- year-old healthy man dies it comes as a shock.



Wiley wrote regulary for ESPN.com, Sports Ilustrated, and was author of several books including, "Serenity: A Boxing Memoir" and "What Black People Should Do Now: Dispatches from Near the Vanguard". He co-wrote "Best Seat in the House: A Basketball Memoir", with Spike Lee. And at the time of his death, he was working on the script to Spike Lee's follow-up to "He Got Game."

Rico always made fun of my affinity for Ralph Wiley's writing. And its true I really did love to read his work. Wiley brought a unique style of writing to sports journalism. He was outspoken about social issues pertaining to sports. He was an intelligent and polished writer, and yet he was unafraid to write in the vernacular. In an October 2003 column Wiley wrote:

"Sometimes ESPN.com will sponsor a chat, and invariably, with all the good sports questions that come in to me, there will be some that, how shall I say this, express "social concern." They accuse me of being racist, talk of how I and some of my occasional writing styles bring down the quality of writing for good educated people. Invariably, I will post one of those replies in the marathon chats, just to remind, not the readers, but myself, that some people can't get past color to performance, no matter what you do, no matter how well you perform. I know that I have forgotten more about composition than any of the hateful posters and their descendants will know in their lifetimes. And yet I end up defending my credibility again and again simply because of a trait I can't even see unless I look in a mirror."

It may sound silly to mourn a sports journalist's passing, but I was an avid reader of his ESPN.com column for the past 3 years and when you read so much of someone's work you feel as if, to a certain degree, you know them.

Peace Ralph Wiley.