Longform

Episode 485: Jackie MacMullan

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Jackie MacMullan is an NBA journalist who has written for The Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated and ESPN. She hosts the podcast Icons Club for The Ringer.

“[Athletes] think they don't need journalists—and they're wrong. And I tell them all this. I'm like, ‘I know you think you've got your own production company, but we can tell your story better than you can.' That's just the truth. No one tells their own story the best. It's the people around them that tell the story the best. And nobody wants a whitewashed version of you. They want warts and all. That's what makes you lovable. That's what makes you interesting. ... There are great journalists out there that can tell your story—and it might not be exactly the way you want it to be told, but it'll have weight and it'll have legacy to it.”

Show notes:

  • MacMullan's Sports Illustrated archive
  • MacMullan's ESPN archive
  • Jackie MacMullan says goodbye to Around the Horn
  • 01:00 "Journalism Pioneer Jackie MacMullan, Former Globe Columnist, to Retire From ESPN" (Chad Finn • Boston Globe • Aug 2021)
  • 18:00 Bird Watching: On Playing and Coaching the Game I Love (Larry Bird, Jackie MacMullan • Grand Central Publishing • 1999)
  • 21:00 When the Game Was Ours (Larry Bird, Earvin Johnson, Jackie MacMullan • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt • 2009)
  • 22:00 Shaq Uncut (Shaquille O’Neal, Jackie MacMullan • Grand Central Publishing • 2011)
  • 24:00 Icons Club (The Ringer • 2022)
  • 27:00 ESPN Daily (Pablo Torre • ESPN)
  • 27:00 The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy (Bill Simmons • ESPN • 2010)
  • 39:00 The Last Dance (Netflix • 2020)
  • 49:00 "When Making the NBA Isn't a Cure-All: Mental Health and Black Athletes" (ESPN • Aug 2018)

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