Steve Rushin is Done at Sports Illustrated
Uncategorized February 17th. 2007, 5:02pm
Multiple sources have confirmed to The Big Lead that Sports Illustrated columnist Steve Rushin is out at Sports Illustrated.
Sources told The Big Lead late Friday night that Sports Illustrated approached Rushin this week and wanted him to stop writing his colum. He refused, and he is no longer with the magazine. It’s unclear whether he was fired or resigned. [Update - A source says Rushin was not fired, but rather he quit.]
The crazy kids over at Sportsjournalists.com are all over it.
We’ve long been fans of Rushin – about five years ago, we thought he surpassed Rick Reilly in terms of relevancy in the magazine – and this is a brutal loss for SI. On the heels of two other departures, this makes a total of three, with supposedly three more to come.
No word how his wife, former Connecticut basketball star Rebecca Lobo, is taking the news, but Rushin isn’t expected to remain out of work long. The early guess here is that he winds up at Sportsline.com.
Steve Rushin (Wikipedia)
Rushin Out at SI (Sportsjournalists.com)
[Update: Rumors are rampant as to why Rushin would walk away from a salary reportedly in excess of $400,000 just because the magazine wanted him to 'do other things.' Though we've been unable to verify it on SI.com, we're told that Rushin wrote only for the magazine and not for the web, and that was a place the magazine wanted him to contribute to. We're also told Rushin was one of the most well-liked members on staff, and the consensus is that he may have had the most talent at the magazine. Now that former SI scribe Jeff Pearlman appears firmly ensconced over at Page 2, could Rushin follow him?]
39 Responses to “Steve Rushin is Done at Sports Illustrated”
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February 17th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Maybe he’ll start blogging.
February 17th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
I can’t agree with your fawning over Rushin. He and Reilly both write mostly misses with maybe one hit a month. This is after Reilly has gone downhill in the last few years. At least Reilly can be humorous. I’ve never understood why SI would give Rushin prime territory in the front of the mag.
February 17th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
if you really believe a guy making 400K a year quit just because SI wanted him to contribute to SI.com, well, i’ve got some magic beans i’d be willing to sell you.
anyway, he lost me after that column he wrote about lobo. he skeeved me out and made me puke in my mouth.
February 17th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
I don’t read them every week these days but I do know this…
Road Swing > Who’s Your Caddy + Slo Mo! + Shanks For Nothing
February 17th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Please don’t let him go to the Four Letter.
February 17th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Bummed to read that Steve Rushin is done at SI. I agree with the post by dave: there is definitely more to his departure than we know. As a former state government staffer for a Northeast state, and a small fries freelance sports writer, I am convinced those without inside information know about 50 percent of the story, tops. He is very talented, but one in three of his columns bored me, and I spent less time reading it than scratching my nuts on occasion. Maybe Jenn Sterger is going primetime — lol!
February 17th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
I’ll side with Fan’s Attic, but I’ll take the under. Rushin & Reilly put out one good column per year, no more, maybe less.
February 18th, 2007 at 1:23 am
I preferred Rick Reilly the first time, when he was named Dan Jenkins.
February 18th, 2007 at 1:25 am
I don’t really think this is that big a loss for SI. I quit reading Rushin some time ago – the column became at best a one out of four sort of thing, kind of like Reilly. If he’s making that much putting out that little, I don’t blame the suits for canning him. The difference with Reilly is that when he hits his one, it’s really worthwhile while Rushin’s is just so/so.
February 18th, 2007 at 2:40 am
I usually skip his column too. II’m sure he’s a nice guy but I’ll probably forget his name in 2 months.
February 18th, 2007 at 2:51 am
Who reads SI anymore? Investigative reporting of Barry Bonds? Please. That mag is as done as Rushin, he is just getting out while he still has a name to sell. I would read Rushin on a blog, hopefully he can produce more than one story a week. Does anyone know if his wife is running the Derby this year?
February 18th, 2007 at 8:32 am
This is not a big loss, Rushin was pretty sappy in my view & I started skipping over his column a few years ago, about the same time I got tired of Reilly’s dated Catskill routine.
February 18th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
more people are leaving SI?
(praying) please let Peter King be one of them!
February 18th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
Rushin was ok, I’d much rather see Riley gone as I think he contributes far less then Rushin and Rushin didn’t contribute much.
February 18th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
I’ve never been a fan of Rushin’s columns, but he’s more than just some schmuck who stumbled into a good job– he did win Sportswriter of the year last year.
I think the problem is that he got bored and became overly reliant on stupid puns, rather than putting a lot of heart into the writing. Same thing with Reilly. He’s got his formula that helps him get his job done, even if it is a mediocre job.
February 19th, 2007 at 12:49 am
“anyway, he lost me after that column he wrote about lobo.”
Which time?
February 19th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Now who’s going to write silly puns and obvious and unfunny jokes? Oh wait, they still have Reilly.
February 19th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
rushin + reilly = way too much social commentary… we want sports.. not all this PC, let’s change the world BS.. stop with your moral highgrounds and sob stories. it’s ruining sports and take john amechi with you. he’s already tired.
February 19th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
why do you have a picture of Larry Miller up?
February 19th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Rushin would have been a big loss a few years ago, but lately it was easy to tell that he was phoning it in. Clear sign of a writer either hurting for ideas or bored with his job (or both).
February 19th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Rushin was a terrific feature writer in his pre-column days. He was fearless (some would say shameless, but they’d be wrong) about trying to show the reader a good time with all the puns and wordplay–he delighted in throwing the cheese–but he could hit the deep notes when he had to. I lost interest in his column and have no desire to read him blog, for the same reason: that speedy cycle calls on the worst elements of his cleverness and the most maudlin aspects of his deeper stuff. If he winds up writing longer pieces somewhere, I’ll follow.
February 19th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
Nice Larry Miller reference! I thought the same thing…. Did Rushin ever do a column about a talking goat on a ski slope?
February 19th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
Rushin is a terrific writer and it was apparent he put far more into his columns than Reilly does. Reilly tends to be predictable. Tear-jerker one week, wanna-be stand-up the next, followed by a George Plimpton take-off followed by pontificating about something IMPORTANT. I never knew what to expect with Rushin, his columns came out of nowhere and had a rhythm and structure to them that never seemed scribbled in a rush between radio spots or a chance to ride with the Blue Angels or be a rodeo clown. Rushin’s recent piece on sports and philosophy was more brilliant, funny and insightful than anything Reilly’s done in a while.
February 20th, 2007 at 3:56 am
Geez, what’s with all the snarky comments? Rushin and Reilly are both excellent writers and good columnists.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:22 am
rushin was wildly overrated. no great loss for SI.
February 20th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Rushin gone? Hooray. I never could stand him, but I think he jumped the shark when he married Lobo. In the past couple years, there were weeks I never made it past the title of his column, let alone the first paragraph. Glad to hear I’m not the only who thinks Reilly went downhill, too. I used to read his column first every week, but if I want sappy stories, I’d read women’s magazines. Oh yeah, and to whomever said they hope Peter King is next — I agree wholeheartedly. The guy is too self-important and I’ve had enough of his root, root, root for Boston teams.
February 21st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Are you guys kidding me? Rushin wrote circles around Reilly. This is a very big loss for SI. Rushin is also one of the nicest guys you will ever meet.
February 24th, 2007 at 11:09 pm
I can’t believe Rushin is leaving. I always appreaciated the insights he gave about his various topics and especially loved when he wrote about being “Minnesotian”. I wish him the best in his future endevours.
February 24th, 2007 at 11:43 pm
I am now convinced that if you put up something in a blog about anybody, 90% of people are going to hate on it. I can’t believe most of the comments here. Steve Rushin is such a great writer. Reilly used to be……..Rushin’s word play was brilliant at times. I’m really going to miss his column.
February 25th, 2007 at 2:30 am
Rushin is good but he has lost a little something over the past few years….but Reilly has long since gone over the edge with his misguided PC BS. They both should be writing no more than a couple of columns per month and probably less. Rushin is best when he’s doing the word play thing and he’ll surely show up somewhere else….
February 25th, 2007 at 3:21 am
I agree with those wondering where some of these comments are coming from. When I get my SI, I read Rushin and Reilly and I throw the rest away.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Rushin will be a loss. The sports and philosophy piece (and his longer pieces) were all top notch. I think the philosophy angle is an interesting one; I sort of see Rushin as a guy who’d have been a pun-loving Philosophy Professor at the University of Minnesota in another life (but instead, he somehow wandered into the world of sports, to the benefit of us readers). Hell, who else continuously works references to the Classics into their SI articles??? No one. Really looking forward to reading mid-length or longer articles from him somewhere in the future….the one pagers are good, but I think his longer stuff is great.
March 2nd, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I can’t believe people are trashing Rick Reilly for writing about things that truly matter. Yeah, let’s fire his ass and get another athlete worshipper who writes whatever the team’s publicity department tells him to and glorifies athletes as gods instead exposing them as the schmucks they are. I say keep guys like Rushin and Reilly and get rid of that dull, tree killing waste of paper Golf Plus section.
March 2nd, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I can’t believe people are trashing Rick Reilly for writing about things that truly matter. Yeah, let’s fire his ass and get another athlete worshipper who writes whatever the team’s publicity department tells him to and glorifies athletes as gods instead of exposing them as the schmucks they are. I say keep guys like Rushin and Reilly and get rid of that dull, tree killing waste of paper Golf Plus section.
March 7th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
maybe intelligence and sports reporting don’t mix. or maybe in these days of call-in radio, unedited e-mails in print and blogs, no one wants the challenge of reading an artfully composed essay. maybe rushin’s talent is wasted on a topic as trivial as sports. but what do i know? i like reilly and golf plus most of the time.
March 10th, 2007 at 8:47 am
It’s really annoying when a writer has an indefinate amount of time and uses it to say absolutely nothing (a la Scoop Jackson). It’s even more annoying when a columnist has only 800 and uses that limited space for nonsense and frivolity. I’ve been a subscriber to SI for years and only liked Rushin for about 2 months of that time. Why was it for such a short time? Because it shouldn’t take more than 8 columns to realize when someone’s repeating the same nonsense week after week.
March 16th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I’m amazed at all the negative comments, but they seem to be coming from some stereotypical sports fan. As someone who actually thinks about the impact sports has on our society I appreciated the perspective Rushin brought.
March 16th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
The lowbrow comments on Steve Rushins departure from SI don’t really surprise me. Those idiots couldn’t keep up with him and it’s normal for the intimidated to strike out at those who remind them of their own shortcomings. Especially the cheap shots at his wife. What a bunch of low lifes.
July 13th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Umm, and how many of you bashing Rushin and Reilly have ever written ONE decent column, let alone one a week for years? C’mon…Even Peyton Manning only plays 16 games a season