Hardy Vision: Hunter Thompson gives hope to bad sportswriters

FOOTBALL SEASON IS OVER -- Opening line of the note Hunter Thompson wrote his wife, Feb. 16, 2005, four days before his suicide

If you were a sports reporter, which event would you most want to cover while on a full expense account?   22%  Super Bowl VIII     17%  The Kentucky Derby     14%  The Honolulu Marathon     6%  Bowling in Puerto Rico     13%  The Mint 400 desert race     28%  Ali Foreman Rumble in the Jungle     Total Votes: 102

Even if you've never read one story written by Hunter S. Thompson, you know what he's famous for.

He invented Gonzo journalism and gave political reporting the scare of its life. He didn't invent drugs, but his public persona was defined by them.

Yet behind the mad genius was a rabid sports fan. In fact, he might have devoted more of his writing to sports than to any other topic. He covered the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and Muhammad Ali fights.

So why don't we think of Hunter Thompson as a great sportswriter?

Probably because many of his attempts at sports journalism were spectacularly flaming failures.

He missed deadlines. I don't mean by hours or days. We're talking months and years for some magazine pieces -- if he ended up filing anything at all. Rolling Stone sent him to Zaire to cover the Ali-Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle." They got nothing in return because he spent the night of the fight luxuriating in the hotel pool amid a pound and a half of marijuana that he dumped in.

His landmark The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved barely mentions the race. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas stems from the fact that he completely flubbed a Sports Illustrated assignment to give them 250 words to accompany a photo essay of a desert auto race.

"It was like falling down an elevator shaft and landing in a pool full of mermaids," Thompson once said of his fortune for being hailed as a genius after submitting an article he thought would kill his career.

The reason why I know a thing or two about HST is because one of my journalism professors at the University of Florida, William McKeen, likes writing books about him.

Actors Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro researched their roles in 'FALILV' to the fullest extent. (Getty Images)

His first Hunter book came out in the early '90s. In the wake of Thompson's 2005 suicide, McKeen wanted to write a book that separated the cartoon Gonzo persona from the lifetime of accomplished writing. Outlaw Journalist (W.W. Norton, $27.95)) hit bookstores July 18, which would have been HST's 71st birthday.

It's not like I have to slurp McKeen to get a good "History of Journalism" grade any more, so take my word for it: Outlaw Journalist is a wild mix of all the stories I've heard from him through the years: The classroom lectures about Thompson's place in literary journalism history; the office-hour bull sessions about what it takes to write something of significance; and the after-hour drinkathons at The Salty Dog about how much cocaine Hunter could inhale and still be coherent.

Before McKeen headed out on his book tour, I chatted with him on the phone about my "failed sportswriter" theory. Here are some highlights from the conversation that took place between me in Columbia, S.C., (I like to refer to my home office as "Gainesville North") and McKeen's office in Weimer Hall, where he is chair of UF's journalism department.