READ TODAY'S STORIES AND E-EDITION SUBSCRIBE |  CONTACT US |  SIGN IN
Sports Extra!



SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

FOR THE RECORD
LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US
BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA


Print story only Print story with comments Email Twitter Facebook Pinterest
Pat (Tillman) on the back
Published: 9/14/2006 9:39 AM
Last Modified: 9/14/2006 9:39 AM

I wanted the baby to live, but you'll have to read the story yourself to see what happened because I don't want to ruin it for you.
Gary Smith wrote a story in the Sept. 11 issue of Sports Illustrated about Pat Tillman, who gave up an NFL career to be an Army Ranger and was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
One of Tillman's best friends in the military named a baby son after Tillman. The baby was born with a heart defect and multiple surgeries were needed.
After reading the story, my thought was this: You are supposed to be objective when writing stories and maybe you are even supposed to be so cold-blooded that you don't care about the subjects in the stories.
But there's not a thing wrong with making a reader care about about the subjects in your stories and, while reading Smith's story, he made me care about what happened to Tillman and the baby. Well done.
One other thing: Smith's story at times makes the military and the Bush administration look bad. You never like it when your country looks bad, but I am glad we live in a country where freedoms are such that Smith's story could be published. There are many countries where this story never would have seen the light of day. I read the story and it made me want to be better.





Reader Comments


To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.


Games People Play

Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

Follow Jimmie Tramel on Twitter

Subscribe to this blog


Archive

 
Jimmie Tramel's Blog Archive:

2/2013  1/2013  12/2012  11/2012  10/2012  9/2012  
8/2012  7/2012  6/2012  5/2012  4/2012  3/2012  
2/2012  1/2012  12/2011  11/2011  10/2011  9/2011  
8/2011  7/2011  6/2011  5/2011  4/2011  3/2011  
2/2011  1/2011  12/2010  11/2010  10/2010  9/2010  
8/2010  7/2010  6/2010  5/2010  4/2010  3/2010  
2/2010  1/2010  12/2009  11/2009  10/2009  9/2009  
8/2009  7/2009  6/2009  5/2009  4/2009  3/2009  
2/2009  1/2009  12/2008  11/2008  10/2008  9/2008  
8/2008  7/2008  6/2008  5/2008  4/2008  3/2008  
2/2008  1/2008  12/2007  11/2007  10/2007  9/2007  
8/2007  7/2007  6/2007  5/2007  4/2007  3/2007  
2/2007  1/2007  12/2006  11/2006  10/2006  9/2006  
8/2006  





Home | Contact Us | Search | Subscribe | Customer Service | About | Advertise
Copyright © 2013, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.