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.
Dick Schaap

Also, I am driven by a wonderful muse called alimony.
Dick Schaap

Cliches and adjectives permeated my prose.
Dick Schaap

I began learning the sportswriting business very early in life.
Dick Schaap

I 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.
Dick Schaap

I 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.
Dick Schaap

I got to know Sugar Ray but I certainly would not say we were good friends.
Dick Schaap

I just can't believe all the things I did that decade.
Dick Schaap

I 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.
Dick Schaap

I 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.
Dick Schaap


I 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.
Dick Schaap

I was also in love with the English language.
Dick Schaap

I worked with Rocky Graziano and Rocky was certainly a character.
Dick Schaap

If I got paid, it was no more than five dollars a column, and I still think I was overpaid.
Dick Schaap

In fifty years of covering the sport, of course Muhammad Ali is by far the dominant figure.
Dick Schaap

It'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.
Dick Schaap

My top three were Jim Brown, Wilt Chamberlain and Bo Jackson.
Dick Schaap

My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down.
Dick Schaap

Some 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.
Dick Schaap

Sportswriters have changed more than sportswriting.
Dick Schaap