Dick Schaap's Quotes
Born: 1934-09-27
Profession: Journalist
Nation: American
Biography of Dick Schaap
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.
Tags: Art, Journalism, StoryCliches and adjectives permeated my prose.
Tags: Adjectives, Cliches, ProseI got to know Sugar Ray but I certainly would not say we were good friends.
Tags: Friends, Good, SugarI just can't believe all the things I did that decade.
Tags: DecadeI 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.
Tags: Loved, Sports, WantedIf I got paid, it was no more than five dollars a column, and I still think I was overpaid.
Tags: Dollars, Five, PaidIn fifty years of covering the sport, of course Muhammad Ali is by far the dominant figure.
Tags: Far, Fifty, FigureMy writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down.
Tags: Good, Read, WritingSportswriters have changed more than sportswriting.
Tags: ChangedSugar Ray Leonard was as close as anyone came after Ali to being Ali, but he wasn't Ali.
Tags: After, Anyone, CloseI 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.
Tags: English, Game, LanguageI 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.
Tags: Athlete, Choose, VoteI 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.
Tags: Mistakes, Place, WritingI think on balance, Don King has been bad for boxing. I think he's done some very good things and I think he did a heck of a job of promoting Ali but I think I could have promoted Ali.
Tags: Bad, Good, JobIt'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.
Tags: Greatest, Hero, SportsSome 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.
Tags: Boxing, Him, LoveSugar 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.
Tags: Book, Fake, WritingSugar 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.
Tags: Boxing, Lose, Win