He writes, he scores!

Though it draws mixed reviews now, Sports Illustrated helped move sports reporting beyond a working-class diversion, with thoughtful pieces by writers like George Plimpton and Roy Blount Jr.

That kind of writing is less abundant in American journalism thanks to TV, argues Mr. Deford. A defender of the need for humanity in sports reporting, he says it used to be easier to pitch interesting stories about a third-string quarterback, for example. Now the famous guys get all the coverage. "We've become, in some respects, a handmaiden to television," says Deford, a commentator for National Public Radio and Sports Illustrated.

Sportswriters say that over the years, a number of things in addition to TV have influenced how they do their jobs - things they often spoof in columns and articles. While at one time athletes and reporters were able to strike up relationships, more often now the athletes, whose salaries have zoomed well past those of the people writing about them, view sportswriters as a hindrance rather than a help.

"It's become more and more adversarial" says Gene Collier, who left sports writing a few years ago to become a general columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He quit, he says, in part because "there seemed to be an incredible sense of entitlement among the athletes. They bring this sense that they've always been the center of attention, and they always will be, and that's how the culture should work."

Another problem is the sheer mass of people now seeking access to athletes, making it tougher than it once was to get the interviews reporters need - and making events feel more managed and stale.

"For members of the press - who are seated around an elevated authority figure, cannot speak until called upon, and wear their names on cards hung from their necks - the press conference resembles in every way a third-grade classroom, only with dumber questions," quipped Sports Illustrated columnist Steve Rushin last year.

Two of the most difficult places to report are the Super Bowl and the Olympics, say Deford and others. At this year's Olympics, there are 3,000 members of the print media and 6,000 representatives of broadcast media from around the world who are credentialed.

One thing that has changed is the presence of women among those hordes. The number of women columnists and writers has increased since the 1970s, but is still not large, with the good ones often scooped up by TV, observers say. Women encounter fewer problems with sexism and access to players than they did in the '70s and '80s, and are now regularly in locker rooms and press boxes.

"I've never had a problem. Of course, I dress in lingerie," jokes Ms. Glock, who has written on sports for GQ and ESPN, and has been featured in "The Best American Sports Writing." "As far as access goes, it's been really easy, in fact I think it's probably an advantage to be a chick. There's not a set of expectations that precede you."

Even so, some observers argue that mainstream sports magazines don't tackle women's sports regularly. "None of those magazines are badly written. But if you're looking for precise reporting about women's sports, it's not there," says Jennifer Crispen, an associate professor of physical education at Sweet Briar College.

That won't be a problem at the Winter Olympics, where the figure skaters alone will up the quotient of women discussed. Sports writers differ on whether more people actually read during the heavily televised Olympics, but they do not deny that the games are geared toward women.

It will be the first Olympics for veteran Arizona Republic sports reporter Paola Boivin. Like others, she has had to read up on unfamiliar Olympic sports. She says it makes sense that journalists do more profiling of the athletes and their stories during the Olympics, because they are involved in sports that few readers know.

"I don't think during the course of the year people are reading about who won the skeleton [similar to bobsledding]," she says. But once the Olympics are here, "they are caught up in the spirit and faces behind it."

• E-mail campbellk@csps.com

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