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Grantland Rice

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The Resume

    (November 1, 1880-July 13, 1954)
    Born in Mulfreesboro, Tennessee
    Birth name was Henry Grantland Rice
    Sportswriter for the New York Tribune
    Provided monthly ‘Sportslights’ for Paramount Picture newsreels
    Received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame (1967)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was nicknamed ‘Granny.’
    A critic wrote, ‘He was addicted to writing sentimental doggerel, of which he was inordinately proud.’
    He deliberately whitewashed the reputations of sports figures he admired. (Although as a later biographer noted, if Rice had written articles about, say, Ty Cobb’s racism or Babe Ruth’s womanizing, the papers probably would not have printed them.)

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was captain of the Vanderbilt baseball team.
    He was an artillery officer in France during World War I.
    He won an Oscar for producing the short film ‘Amphibious Fighters.’ (1943)
    Unlike many sportswriters of his era, he defended the right of football and tennis players to make a living as professional sportsmen.
    He coined the nicknames ‘the Galloping Ghost’ for Red Grange and ‘the Four Horsemen’ for the backfield of Notre Dame’s 1924 football team.
    He was called ‘the Dean of American Sportswriters.’
    He wrote, ‘When the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, He marks not that you won or lost but how you played the game.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying