Fear and Loathing in Texarkana

Regardless of whether you are a running fanatic or not, most likely you have heard of Steve Prefontaine. He is still an icon, who is directly relatable to all of modern American sports, as well as being a mystified image within American Running folklore. He tells a story; starting with a humbled beginning with a heroic rise to the top of the sport. He held a charismatic persona, which contained the mentality of a lion, a unique swagger peculiar to his particular era, and a philosophical outlook on the sport in which he illustrated with his journey. Below, I have uploaded the Sports Illustrated article which gives the readers a glimpse at the uniqueness of Pre(fontaine). The article title, The Freshman and the Guru, was written in 1970, which focuses on him being a freshman phenomenon. The writing style found within the article contains beautiful elements, which are not seen in modern journalism. The story contains an abundance of emotion, a glance at Pre’s personal preoccupation, and a creative portrayal of the dynamic atmosphere that surrounded him as an athlete. However, the last thing that is found completely different from modern day sports articles is the language. Of course, language has “evolved” per say in the past 40+ years, but the simplicity of the sentence structure (the irony) allows the article to fully be captured. This is an extremely rare Sports Illustrated edition. It is a great article regardless of your thought process while reading it. The totality of the article is a great reference point for how a story on an athlete should be presented. It should contain the writing components that fully explaining to the readers how the particular athlete is special, which will keep the readers interested and understand the specificities of the athletes through their individual lenses. How do interpret the article? Do you notice the textual beauty found within the article that makes this description of this legend more appealing to the modern eye – while lacking modern language?

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