Feinstein's writing ability...or lack thereof.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

I'm at a loss to understand DBR speaks of Feinstein's writing in such glowing terms. I read one book early on and found it to be so sloppy and sophomoric that I was embarrassed that he had graduated from Duke. He recently said that graduating from Duke was easy. Evidently he's right if he could do it.

(Bless his heart, though.)
Love, Ima

[tux]

I agree. I thought "Season on the Brink" was quite good, but Feinstein's writing is overrated. I tried a second book (I can't recall the title --- the one about the PGA tour) and it was almost unreadable. The most hackneyed prose I've ever encountered. And very disorganized.

[hurleyfor3]

He recently said that graduating from Duke was easy.

I agree with this. Getting in is the hard part. Once you're there, you can make it as easy or as hard as you want. It is not too difficult to maintain a 3.0.

[freedevil]

He's a hack.

[Highlander]

I agree with this. Getting in is the hard part. Once you're there, you can make it as easy or as hard as you want. It is not too difficult to maintain a 3.0.

That depends on your major. For some humanities majors, that may be true. It was most certainly not true in Engineering and Science majors, where getting C's and D's was not at all uncommon.

[4decadedukie]

Is it possible that the eloquence and the incisiveness expected from most first-rate authors is less likely to be found in many newspaper reporters, especially those in the sports section?

[Reisen]

No offense to the older members on the board, but Duke University, and education in general, is a completely different place today than it was in 1977, when Mr. Feinstein graduated. The competition both to get in and as a student is far, far greater. I dare to venture Mr. Feinstein probably knows very little of what life is like for a Duke student today, 30 years after he graduated.

[mapei]

In general, I find that people who are good at writing columns have trouble with the longer form of a book. Too often, it ends up being a series of short vignettes with little in the way of organization or overall direction. I don't mind Feinstein's columns (though I wish he'd lose the bitterness toward Duke), but I can only read his books a few pages at a time.

Actually, I find this to be true of sports writing in general. I've attempted many sports books and I've almost always been disappointed by anything not written by John McPhee.

[Mike Corey]

Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball and The Blind Side, is a helluva sportswriter, as well. So too was David Halberstam, who dabbled in both sports and politics (though they aren't that different); Ernest Hemingway; George Plimpton; etc., etc.

Exceptions to the rule, of course, as are the writers for this site.

[jimsumner]

Well, I must have really been stupid. I had to work pretty hard for my 3.0. Of course, part of that was in the '60s and you know what they say about the 60s, so I may be wrong.

[grossbus]

feinstein for whitlock!!!!

[hurleyfor3]

That depends on your major. For some humanities majors, that may be true. It was most certainly not true in Engineering and Science majors, where getting C's and D's was not at all uncommon.

I was an engineering major... it wasn't a breeze, but a good chunk of it was pretty easy, and on the whole I thought high school was harder.

[dkbaseball]

No offense to the older members on the board, but Duke University, and education in general, is a completely different place today than it was in 1977, when Mr. Feinstein graduated. The competition both to get in and as a student is far, far greater. I dare to venture Mr. Feinstein probably knows very little of what life is like for a Duke student today, 30 years after he graduated.

Sorry, I'm not buying. In the 1966 Places Rated Almanac Duke was listed as the 17th most selective university, after the usual suspects such as Harvard, Cal Tech, MIT, etc. I'd venture to say it's in roughly the same place today. SAT scores started to decline in 1963, and did so steadily until 1995 when about 70 points were added to the verbal scores so that 1000 could continue to be the average score. I realize that even factoring in those 70 points the average SAT scores for Duke students today are higher than they were 40 years ago. But back then parents didn't pay for SAT prep courses. The SATs were just something people did when they came up, and didn't give much thought to.

Frankly, after having taught at the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, where average scores on standardized tests aren't quite as high as Duke but aren't too far behind, I can't believe how brain dead students today are. I honestly don't think over 90 percent of the papers I received would have gotten a passing grade in freshman English at Duke back in the day. And yet I'm expected to hand out all A's and B's. We didn't have this rampant grade inflation back then; a 3.0 gpa at Duke was a legitimate accomplishment. Though the public schools had started to decline quite a bit by the early '70s, I can just about guarantee you John Feinstein got a more rigorous education, in high school and probably in college, than most of today's Duke students.

I think John is a competent writer, not particularly notable for a distinguished prose style, but clear, readable and informed. I think in the business he's probably known for being prolific and fast, no minor virtues if you want to make a living as a writer. I can recall Tony Kornheiser marveling at how John could bat out a column, up to his usual standards, in about 15 minutes.

[Lord Ash]

feinstein for whitlock!!!!

Wasn't Whitlock the one who was talking about how much he hates all the white players at Duke, and how all of Duke's players are spoiled white boys from perfect families?

No thanks, keep both of those idiots away and let me keep Jay Bilas. Oh, and a trade for Brad Daugherty, too... "That was out-standing!" I miss him.

[cspan37421]

Grade inflation is bad at Duke and everywhere. I was class of 1985 in high school and multiple valedictorians was a rarity; a few years ago the high school in our zone had about 17 of them.

Duke Magazine did an excellent story on grade inflation many years ago. The % of grades as As or Bs was given by major. Humanities departments led the list with the highest %-ages; hard sciences at bottom, with social sciences in between. [I hit each area with 2 majors and a Certificate program]. Another part of the article profiled Valen Johnson who was a stats professor (then) at Duke; he wrote a policy book on the subject. It was ignored and he later moved on. He proposed a good idea - show the student's grade and the average grade given in the course next to it. Maybe even assign a point value to each and divide. Otherwise you're just pretending Durham is Lake Wobegon.

Do we want to make honors like summa cum laude or top 5% of class rank easiest for drama & lit majors and hardest for future scientists? Personally I don't, but that's JMO.

Feinstein: From what I've read lately at KCJ's D-I-W site, Feinstein's biggest problem is his reasoning ability, not his writing ability. But then again I have only read 2 of his books, none recent, so perhaps his recent writing is pretty lousy too. Keep in mind, though, the above points. Sports books are not where you go looking for prose with clarity, wit, and depth of thought. He's making a living seling sports books that guys get for Father's Day, not shooting for a Pulitzer Prize in nonfiction. And like everyone here knows, bashing Duke sells. And sadly, with a Duke diploma in hand, his sour grapes get extra weight.

[Atlanta Duke]

No offense to the older members on the board, but Duke University, and education in general, is a completely different place today than it was in 1977, when Mr. Feinstein graduated. The competition both to get in and as a student is far, far greater. I dare to venture Mr. Feinstein probably knows very little of what life is like for a Duke student today, 30 years after he graduated.

You of course are correct - today's students are obviously the most brilliant and burdened in history.

Duke '76

[grossbus]

"Wasn't Whitlock the one who was talking about how much he hates all the white players at Duke, and how all of Duke's players are spoiled white boys from perfect families?"

you should read his columns. he doped out what was going on in the LAX case long before most of the media and certainly before any other sports media types. i have not seen anything like you suggest.

http://www.kansascity.com/182/index.html

[SeattleIrish]

Thanks to DBR, I've had a chance to read more Al Featherston; while not a fan of sports liturature in general, I've found Featherston to be a wonderful writer, regardless of genre.

Dump Feinstein...give me more Alwyn!

s.i.

[Bob Green]

Thanks to DBR, I've had a chance to read more Al Featherston; while not a fan of sports liturature in general, I've found Featherston to be a wonderful writer, regardless of genre.

Dump Feinstein...give me more Alwyn!

s.i.

I enjoy sports literature in general and Al Featherston specifically.

Bob Green
Yokosuka, Japan

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Thanks to DBR, I've had a chance to read more Al Featherston; while not a fan of sports liturature in general, I've found Featherston to be a wonderful writer, regardless of genre.

Dump Feinstein...give me more Alwyn!

s.i.

I was waiting for somebody to say that!
Love, Ima