Jump to content

Jim McKay 1921-2008


Big_Iron

Recommended Posts

..

Jim McKay, a longtime television sports journalist, has died of natural causes in Maryland.

There's nothing I can really add here that would sum up what McKay meant to the world of sports journalism. I have spent my entire career in that field, 24 years, and I have no clever or superlative phrases to explain or express the importance of this man in this field.

I urge you to read about his achievements and imagine a young person in total awe and, subsequently, how that would influence his style and career.

Even if you have no clue who this man is, many of the announcers and writers of sports that may mean something to you are experiencing an emotional day.

If I could convey just one point of his importance, like Al Michaels nearly two decades later at The Bay World Series Earthquake, he showed that us jocks have capabilities outside the world of sports during the 1972 Munich Olympics. It brought a great deal of credibility to sports journalism and changed the perception that we were just the shallow people who worked in the toy section of the department store.

This was only one of a myriad of things he did but it might be the most profound.

It doesn't matter if you liked him or not. The sheer importance of his legend is significant enough to know that your favorite sports journalist is examining his career and what might be his legacy today.

.. and realizing, on a very humbling and personal level, that he'll be coming up short of Jim McKay ..

BI

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...