George Kimball, Irish Times Boxing Writer, Dies

[hugonaut]

Very sad to hear of the death of the Irish Times-syndicated boxing writer George Kimball. I genuinely looked forward to reading his column every week, and he never disappointed. There was a great interview in the Weekend Supplement a few years ago, had a very interesting and varied life, got up to no end of mischief! Seemed like one of the good guys.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/spo ... 00935.html

[Amz]

I'm not very big into boxing, but I always enjoyed listening to him on Off The Ball he made the sport very accessible to non-fans like myself.

RIP

[artaneboy]

Yes, a real sense of loss with me. 'End of an era' is an over used cliche, but he seems to have been from another age of sports writers. Witty, concise, knowledable. And seemed to know half the world. The Irish Times sports section has progressively become a lot less compelling over the last few months. RIP George.

[Donny B.]

Fantastic writer and a great character. 'Four Kings' is one of the definitive books on boxing. Will miss his column hugely. Was one of the few sports journalists who cut through the bullshit and hype and told it how it is. R.I.P.

[Donny B.]

The Irish Times sports section has progressively become a lot less compelling over the last few months.

Probably not the place to open a discussion on this, but I have to agree. Bought the Times yesterday and didn't even glance at the sports section. The Saturday sports section used to be unmissable, now you'd hardly be bothered.

[cormac]

The Irish Times sports section has progressively become a lot less compelling over the last few months.

Probably not the place to open a discussion on this, but I have to agree. Bought the Times yesterday and didn't even glance at the sports section. The Saturday sports section used to be unmissable, now you'd hardly be bothered.

Kimball's column was always worth reading, whether it was on boxing or American sports. A writer as much as a journalist which is always the best combo but sadly not that common these days. As for Irish Times sports reporting I think Malachy Clerkin is a fine addition and Keith Duggan is usually worth reading. Felt Tom Humphreys had been "phoning" in his columns for some time before his dismissal.

[artaneboy]

The Irish Times sports section has progressively become a lot less compelling over the last few months.

Probably not the place to open a discussion on this, but I have to agree. Bought the Times yesterday and didn't even glance at the sports section. The Saturday sports section used to be unmissable, now you'd hardly be bothered.

Yeah, same here. Didn't even open it one day mid-week. Unheard of! I suppose the domestic rugby season being over is part of it, but I'm enough of a sports nut to take an interest in curling or synchronised swimming, if the reporter is good enough! So they need to look to their laurels there in Tara Street.

[artaneboy]

Kimball's column was always worth reading, whether it was on boxing or American sports. A writer as much as a journalist which is always the best combo but sadly not that common these days. As for Irish Times sports reporting I think Malachy Clerkin is a fine addition and Keith Duggan is usually worth reading. Felt Tom Humphreys had been "phoning" in his columns for some time before his dismissal.[/quote]

I agree on Clerkin and Duggan - good writers. I know Humphreys was a pain in the ar*e with his constant anti-rugby diatribe. But I thought even he was generally of a high quality too. Particularly in comparison to some of the hacks writing for the Indo. But there has been a fall-off lately. Maybe ‘phoning it in’ is the best description.

[hugonaut]

Malachy Clerkin has integrated pretty seamlessly, I think – there are a lot of the positives of Tom Humphries about him [for example, Humphries when he was working the World Cups in 2002 and 2006 was incredibly prolific with the quantity and quality of pieces he was knocking out on short notice - match reports, interviews, press conference reports, opinion pieces, miscellany ... everything]. I felt too many of his columns over the last three or four years had a real hectoring quality though, which he would always disguise by using "we", i.e. 'we go over to Africa, we drink our Coca-Cola, we watch our football, we complain about the English and what do we leave behind etc.'

It was either venting self-disgust, or, as I felt pretty often, lecturing people over their behaviour while stemming off the cries of hypocrisy by notionally including himself in the 'we'. Anyway. That's neither here nor there.

In genreal, I must say that I think the IT sports section is really good- definitely rate Ian O'Riordan, Sean Moran and especially Keith Duggan. It just won't be the same without Kimball.

[jezzer]

The Irish Times sports section has progressively become a lot less compelling over the last few months.

Probably not the place to open a discussion on this, but I have to agree. Bought the Times yesterday and didn't even glance at the sports section. The Saturday sports section used to be unmissable, now you'd hardly be bothered.

Kimball's column was always worth reading, whether it was on boxing or American sports. A writer as much as a journalist which is always the best combo but sadly not that common these days. As for Irish Times sports reporting I think Malachy Clerkin is a fine addition and Keith Duggan is usually worth reading. Felt Tom Humphreys had been "phoning" in his columns for some time before his dismissal.

*** Edited by Mod ***