Failed Attempt at a Book Review: All Those Mornings...At The Post [I go rambling on...]

FEDORAS!!!

This past April, I had the pleasure of meeting George Solomon, and the Povich brothers, Maury and David. After reading this collection of columns collected from the Washington Post, I feel as if I've met Shirley, too.

Who is the voice of Washington sports today? I'm thinking Dan Steinberg.

In the 20th Century, such is hogwash. Yes, hogwash.

Shirley Povich was the dominating sports writer in the Nation's Capital until his death on June 3rd, 1998. ALthough I had never read his columns in full context until this book, I've gotten to know Povich. It was almost like a novel; a fictional story of a sportswriter who went from small-town farm boy to the voice of sports.

Povich had seen it all from the Dempsey-Tunney fight in 1927 to his final column discussing Mark McGuire and Thomas Boswell (a fellow Post columnist).

In that final column, its quite obvious that this was pre-asteriks and injections.

"[McGuire is] bulked up by strength coaches and Nautilus weightlifters, plus the new diet of "nutrition shakes" popular in the clubhouses..." Povich writes.

In a modern day paper, "nutrition shakes" immediately registers alongside "juice". (I didn't add the quotations) That is, if Mark McGuire didn't.

Can you imagine what Shirley would have had to say in this era? He always had something to say. He wasn't afraid of the public's reaction to his writing. He wrote what he thought, not to impress. He earned respect through respect. He wasn't loud or annoying like so many sports writers (and broadcasters) today. He wrote about (sports related) social issues and "attacked Washington Redskins owner George Preston Marshall for having an all-white team [in the fifties]."

If it happened, Shirley wrote about it.

ALL THOSE MORNINGS...AT THE POST BY SHIRLEY POVICH. PUBLIC AFFAIRS IN PUBLISHING, 2005.

next post: what happened to the Yankees? Hockey? Why the NBA Finals champions are underrated?