Life of Reilly: Moving On

My dad started getting Sports Illustrated years ago (well, he got all but one issue, which my mom would intercept at the mailbox each year and dutifully deposit in the recycling bin). After reading each issue, my dad would leave the magazines in a basket in the bathroom. Once, when I was sitting on the toilet and particularly bored, I opened up an issue and thumbed through. Nothing caught my eye until I saw an article on the back page. The story was about a handicapped boy whose teammates carried him across the goal line to score the winning touchdown of a game, while the opposing team sat back and watched and cheered. I cried. From that moment on, I was hooked. Each week from then on out I looked forward to flipping to the back page and reading Reilly's column. When Reilly moved on to ESPN the Magazine, I did, too. Now, after 12 years and two magazines, "Life of Reilly" has come to an end.

Reilly wrote the following at the top of his latest column in ESPN The Magazine:

Note to readers: My math says this column puts me over one million published words. And that doesn't count books (No. 11 coming up in May), screenplays (two), sonnets, ransom notes and quilts. This is one million too many for many citizens, but the fact remains.

Ironically, this is also my last column for The Mag. I'm going to try my hand at a weekly 90-second essay on "SportsCenter" beginning this spring. I'll still write longer pieces for The Mag, write my ESPN.com column, host "Homecoming," cover golf for ESPN and ABC and anchor "SportsCenter" once in a while.

You can read the final column here and one of my favorites from the archives here.