11/05/24
February 21, 2005
'So long and Mahalo': In his final column for ESPN, the late Hunter S. Thompson touted shotgun golf, his newly invented sport, in a late-night call to Bill Murray. "I see it as the first truly violent leisure sport. Millions will crave it."
As a long time HST fan, I gotta say, this sucks.
posted by fabulon7 at 10:40 AM on February 21, 2005
It seems almost as it should be - to paraphrase - "A mutant creature, too dangerous to be mass bred, too unique to be forgotten." Terrible news, we are poorer with the loss.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 10:54 AM on February 21, 2005
kottke.org, rcade?
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:26 PM on February 21, 2005
Page 2 has a small retrospective. How long before the Sports Guy moves to Page 3 just to get out of the Page 2 Death Pool?
posted by yerfatma at 12:27 PM on February 21, 2005
One of my all-time favorite pieces of sportswriting is Hunter S. Thompson's "The Temptations of Jean-Claude Killy". Originally commissioned by Playboy, and never published there because they thought he was, ah, unforgivably blunt, it is considered by many to be his first published piece of gonzo journalism. It preceded his better-known and more widely-read piece on the Kentucky Derby, and IMO it is the prescient business-of-sports piece of its time, and indeed, has stood the test of time in the interim, as the business of sports has grown bigger than nearly anybody could have guessed. It's available in The Great Shark Hunt and is a worthy read for any fan of sportswriting.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 03:44 PM on February 21, 2005
Nope, wc. Read about his death in the paper and went to ESPN to see his final column.
posted by rcade at 05:31 PM on February 21, 2005
Thompson ruined my mind even before I got to the drugs and booze. I still thank him regularly.
posted by billsaysthis at 05:35 PM on February 21, 2005
K, rcade. Shotgun golf rules by the way. Live by the shotgun, die by the shotgun. Man. I don't know what fueled the man's rage, but I guess there was nothing that could put it out.
posted by worldcup2002 at 06:58 PM on February 21, 2005
"a lot of people in the mood to play golf are also in the mood to shoot something" Legend. .
posted by JJ at 03:40 AM on February 22, 2005
posted by yerfatma at 11:05 AM on February 22, 2005
Apparently (and perhaps not surprisingly), HST had been planning his suicide for some time. It seems a little cold to do it while you're on the phone with your wife, though, huh?
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:12 AM on February 25, 2005
Yeah it does. It seems so selfish too. I understand his body was falling apart, but that's still not fair to everyone else. Which may be square with HST's rules for life, but it's not cool.
posted by yerfatma at 11:21 AM on February 25, 2005
All the comments from his son, who is the only family member I've seen quoted, indicate the family is no angry over the suicide or the method used. So why should we be second guessing?
posted by billsaysthis at 03:35 PM on February 25, 2005
Made me sad to see this as the first thing in bloglines this morning. I really came to the Good Doctor through ESPN's Page 2 to start (though I knew of him previously) and that inspired me to find out more. Hate to lose an original voice, especially now that everything's so vanilla.