Sports Media's Revolutionaries

Grantland Rice’s legacy is celebrated with every Sunday Night Football game broadcasted, every score report published, and even every Saturday when Lee Corso puts on a new mascots’ head. However, even though you may recognize each example I just gave, you may not know who Grantland Rice truly is. Grantland Rice is the man you can thank for the sports news you receive from the media each day, as he was the first popularized sportswriter in the United States. Not only that, he was the first “play by play” announcer carried live on the radio for the World Series Game in 1922 (New World Encyclopedia). By using these abnormal mediums to promote sports, Rice initiated the domination that sports now have in America. Whether that was through newspaper publications or his revolutionary creation of the sports broadcast, Rice made sport a part of mainstream American culture. For instance, a century ago, the United States went through some of its most prominent economical hiccups in history. This was also around the time that Rice’s work started to catch some steam. So, instead of the 1920’s being known as just a rough patch in American history, it can also be called the “Golden Age of Sports” because of Rice’s impact (Hollywood Walk of Fame). From this point on, the media was changed because sports was now a part of it. This shift was made possible solely by Grantland Rice’s initial efforts, and has been continued now by writers such as Bill Simmons. Simmons was known for oftentimes breaking the outline that Rice had such a big impact creating, but he is now worth over $70 millions dollars (Wealthy Genius). All of that money was generated by sports media, the industry that Grantland Rice created.