In our continuing series, SportsBusiness Daily/SportsBusiness Journal asks top sports personalities for their thoughts, ideas, aspirations and likes. Today, Runner's World Editor-In-Chief & Rodale Active Living Group GM DAVID WILLEY.
What I Like…
An insight: Print isn’t dead. I swear I was saying that four years ago, too. Business models and distribution platforms are evolving quickly and radically. But plenty of people still love and want to read magazines.
An influential person in my career: CHARLIE HUFFORD, a college friend and fellow Michigan Wolverine fanatic. He was killed in a car accident during our junior year, and speaking at his memorial taught me the emotional power of words. I didn’t quite realize it at the time, but that’s when I decided I wanted to be a writer.
An out-of-the-box idea: Organic stadium food (beer, too).
A business deal: Some friends and former colleagues have developed a joint venture between USA Today and MLB.com. Should be interesting …
A sports facility: I like historic venues that have been modernized with care and an appreciation for what makes them unique. Places like Fenway Park, Michigan Stadium and Hayward Field. I lived in Chicago for two years in the early ’90s and went to lots of games at Wrigley Field and the old Comiskey Park and the old Soldier Field. But it kills me that I never saw MICHAEL JORDAN play in Chicago Stadium before it was torn down.
A sports event: The Boston and New York City marathons. They’re unique in their own ways but both are a thrilling mix of sublime athletes (a 2:03 in Boston last year?!), huge, knowledgeable crowds and citizen runners with their own goals and causes.
A strategy: Creating great digital content -- and charging for it.
A hire: JURGEN KLINSMANN as coach of the U.S. national soccer team. I respected BOB BRADLEY, and Klinsmann’s record has been mixed so far. But he’s taking his time to build something right, something he knows will last and set a new standard.
An innovation: High-performance prosthetic legs, which have enabled thousands of amputees to chase their athletic dreams.
A pro league or team business initiative
: Throwback unis. And the New York Road Runners youth running program, “A Running Start.”
A story that bears watching
:
BOBBY V in Boston …
TIM TEBOW in New York … Will
OSCAR PISTORIUS run in the Olympic Games (not the Paralympics)? Were the Saints really the only team in the NFL that put bounties on opposing players?
An idea or invention I wish I had thought of
: Nothing But Nets, which sends mosquito nets to malaria-stricken areas, particularly in the Third World. A simple idea that saves lives every day.
A fantasy job: Center field for the Red Sox.
What I Like About…
My job: Finding and telling great stories, and bringing new runners and cyclists into “the pack.” And getting to run or ride just about every day -- and legitimately call it work.
Sports: They are pure and simple fun -- but also so much more than that. They are a great way to bond with people, either as fans or teammates. They also are a rabbit hole of arcane (but essential!) knowledge that makes life more interesting. And to paraphrase the late GEORGE SHEEHAN, sports are a way to see who you are. They provide a theater for heroism.
Sports business: When, against so-called conventional wisdom, someone proves that class and tradition can be made profitable, as in the evolutions of Fenway Park.
Sports media: In some ways it’s become a little too omnipresent but I do love being able to live-stream Red Sox games no matter where I am, or see LIONEL MESSI's latest goal with the click of a mouse.
Sports technology: Concussion-fighting football helmets. I played from sixth grade through college and got my bell rung more times than I can remember (and there’s probably a connection there).
Sports fans: Their insatiable desire to be amazed.
What I Would Like To …
Change: More people commuting by bicycle. Also, if universities and the NCAA make so much money from athletics, athletes should be paid something.
Change in what I do: Spend less time at my desk and more time seeing the world.
See more of in sports business: A return to (at least some) day games during the World Series, so my kids could watch and I could go to bed before midnight.
See less of in sports: Football players celebrating like it’s Mardi Gras after they simply make a tackle.
See different: Someone needs to figure out how to make distance running -- especially marathons -- more compelling on television. It’s been done with cycling and even yacht racing. It can be done for marathoning, too. There’s so much drama and athleticism and strategy, and so many great stories. But the stories aren’t being told and the races aren’t being covered in a way yet that will attract and keep a big audience. The Olympic Marathon in London will be very compelling. It’s a dramatic, spectator-friendly course that winds through the city with lots of turns. It won’t be world-record fast (Olympic marathons almost never are) but it will be an incredible race, and there are some Americans who have a shot at medaling. I’ll be very interested to see how NBC approaches it.
Eliminate: The last four minutes from my marathon PR so I would qualify for Boston.
What I Don’t Like …
Pet peeve: Constantly mistyping M and N on my iPhone. In sports: LEBRON-like narcissism, which seems to be spreading.
In business: Dishonesty. If you tell the truth, it generally doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass.
About sports fans: How they can turn violent. And also talk excessively on their cellphones during games. Really, it will be OK if you power down and just take it in.
What I Like …
People: Runners. I honestly think that if we only elected runners to public office, we’d be in a much better place.
That would surprise those who know me: Colleagues in the running industry probably wouldn’t guess that I played football in college (albeit Division III, and as my coach, DICK FARLEY, used to say, “There ain’t no Division IV.”) Also, I have never run with the bulls.
Above all else: When one of my kids does something funny I know I’ll remember 20 years later.
About myself: That I am a dad.
Heroes: Good teachers, who are woefully underpaid in this country.
Players: I became a Red Sox fan because my best friend was related to DWIGHT EVANS. So I’ll always have a soft spot for him, and I loved watching him throw frozen ropes from right field. These days, I love BIG PAPI's spirit and presence, and JACOBY ELLSBURY's energy and athleticism. When I was a kid, WALTER PAYTON was my other favorite. I had posters and cut-out photos of him all over my room. I wore No. 34 in Pee-Wee football. I was saddened by the recent revelations about him and reminded of how careful we should be about idolizing athletes off the field. They are as fallible as the rest of us.
Teams: The Red Sox and Michigan Wolverines.
City: Chicago, which was “the city” when I was growing up. Boston on Patriots’ Day, when the marathoners are coming in from Hopkinton, the Sox play early, and the entire city seems to come out of hibernation. Because I lived there for 13 years, New York will always feel a little like home.
Possession: My uncle DOUG’s Hamilton wristwatch, which my aunt gave me after he died when I was young. I still wear it every day.
Memento: A baseball I got at Fenway Park the day I hit the Green Monster during a “fantasy day” for the Jimmy Fund.
Time of year: The fall. It’s bittersweet because it means summer is over and winter is on the way, but it’s football season, baseball’s postseason, and the best time of year to be outside -- to be a runner in particular.
Music: Varies widely, but I grew up on [BRUCE] SPRINGSTEEN. I’ll also use this space to crow about radio (or, as it’s known today, audio). I grew up listening to BOB UFER announcing Michigan football games and ERNIE HARWELL doing Tigers games, and I still love listening to baseball. Plus great stuff like “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!” on NPR and BILL SIMMONS’ “B.S. Report” podcast.
Books: Recently, I really liked the ESPN book, “Those Guys Have All the Fun,” and the novel “The Art of Fielding.” When my running starts to feel stale, I pick up “Once a Runner,” by JOHN L. PARKER JR.
Magazines: I still read SI religiously and also like ESPN The Magazine for entirely different reasons. But there are terrific sports stories published in niche mags like Runner’s World, Bicycling, and Outside.
Websites: Beyond the obvious ones, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately on Longreads and Grantland.
Gadgets: I’m not a big gadget guy. But I keep my iPhone and iPad busy, and I love my Garmin GPS watch.
IPad app: I’m spending more and more time with Flipboard and the Atavist.
Chores: When you have three young kids, chores and life just kinda blend together. It’s all good.
Hobby: Fly-fishing.
Trip: Six-week honeymoon with my bride (even though I did separate my shoulder while boogie-boarding in Hawaii).
Movies: My favorite is “Diner,” which is tangentially about sports (the ALAN AMECHE question!). Other favorite sports movies: “Bull Durham,” “Without Limits,” “Hoosiers,” “Rocky,” “Breaking Away.”
TV: “HBO: Real Sports,” “Baseball Tonight,” the first four days of March Madness. There are very few sports-related sitcoms or dramas, but I was addicted to “Friday Night Lights” and also liked AARON SORKIN's "Sports Night.” Non-sports shows: “The West Wing,” “The Wire,” “Up All Night.”
Artists: I love KADIR NELSON's paintings, especially the baseball ones.
Food: Corned beef reuben from Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, after a game at the Big House.
Dessert: Chocolate cake.
Drink: Bell’s Oberon Ale.
Scent: Yawkey Way before the first pitch.
Vacation spots: The Lake Michigan shore; the Maine coast.
Singer: My wife, KIRA, who writes and records amazing kids’ music that parents love listening to as well (no more Wiggles!).
Quote: “If we did all of the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” -- THOMAS EDISON
