All of journalism is a shrinking art. So much of it is hype. The O.J. Simpson story is a landmark in the decline of journalism.
Dick Schaap
2
Cliches and adjectives permeated my prose.
Dick Schaap
3
I began learning the sportswriting business very early in life.
Dick Schaap
4
I came up with new leads for game stories by being observant and clever, by using the many gifts of the English language to intrigue and hook a reader.
Dick Schaap
5
I did not choose necessarily on the basis of significance. If you have a vote for the most significant athlete, then you have Ali, then you have Babe Ruth, then you have Michael Jordan.
Dick Schaap
6
I got to know Sugar Ray but I certainly would not say we were good friends.
Dick Schaap
7
I hate repetition and I love challenges, and that is why I've jumped from newspapers to magazines to books to television to radio to public speaking.
Dick Schaap
8
I think my mistakes were kind of common - leaning on cliches and adjectives in the place of clear, vivid writing. But at least I knew how to spell, which seems to be a rarity these days.
Dick Schaap
9
I wanted to be a sportswriter because I loved sports and I could not hit the curve ball, the jump shot, or the opposing ball carrier.
Dick Schaap
10
I was also in love with the English language.
Dick Schaap
11
I worked with Rocky Graziano and Rocky was certainly a character.
Dick Schaap
12
If I got paid, it was no more than five dollars a column, and I still think I was overpaid.
Dick Schaap
13
In fifty years of covering the sport, of course Muhammad Ali is by far the dominant figure.
Dick Schaap
14
It's kind of ironic that the two sports with the greatest characters, boxing and horse racing, have both been on the decline. In both cases it's for the lack of a suitable hero.
Dick Schaap
15
My top three were Jim Brown, Wilt Chamberlain and Bo Jackson.
Dick Schaap
16
Some people who love boxing might love Mike Tyson, but people outside of the sport are generally repulsed by him and therefore, repulsed by the sport.
Dick Schaap
17
Sugar Ray and talked about doing some articles together or writing a book together but dealing with Sugar Ray was a lot like fighting him. He would fake you in and then he'd drop you.
Dick Schaap
18
Sugar Ray Leonard was as close as anyone came after Ali to being Ali, but he wasn't Ali.
Dick Schaap
19
Sugar Ray Robinson was at the top of the boxing world during the 1950's when it seemed that he would either win or lose the championship about every three or four months.
Dick Schaap
20
There is never going to be another Ali.
Dick Schaap
21
You need heroes like that for a sport to surge the way basketball did with Michael Jordan. Now he's gone and that sport is having problems.
Dick Schaap
