Geoff Calkins, Memphis Sports Columnist

Geoff Calkins has been called a muckraker. He’s been accused of not supporting the hometown sports teams enough. He’s been called overly critical and too quick to jump on a negative story. An opportunist.
I should know. I’ve said all of these things about him myself. Worse, in fact.
But Geoff is also the first to find the human story within the sports story. He reminds us that athletes and coaches are real people, not just machines programmed to give us our desired adrenaline rush every few days or weeks. Even his «negative» stories are negative only in that they call out those who seem to place their own ego over team, or their own selfish ends over ethical concerns. He reminds me that the reason I like sports is not just the competition, but the connection that they give me to my brother, my dad, and others to whom I am close.
Geoff is a top-​notch writer (ps: he can be pretty freakin’ funny, too). He may well be the best columnist – not just sports columnist, but columnist, period – that our local paper has.