TimHowardsBeardJuice
Player Valuation: £35m
In 2002, Wahl wrote a cover story for Sports Illustrated about a 16 year old kid in Ohio who was rumored to be the next big thing in basketball.
Twenty years later, now wealthy and successful beyond any measure, the subject of thousands of interviews, and probably one of the most famous people in the world, Lebron James took the time to commemorate Wahl.
There have been so many tributes like this.
It was really rough to watch the American WC TV crew, including Landon Donovan, go on air the next day, trying unsuccessfully to keep their composure and talk without their voices breaking.
What’s remarkable is that Wahl walked away from the basketball beat to focus on soccer, which at the time was a niche sport, followed by isolated pockets of obsessives and European and South American expats, with no national professional league - the North American Soccer League, after a period of popularity in the late 70s, had overspent itself into insolvency by the mid 80s. It was truly a case of love for the game. Its growth here is due in no small part to Wahl, whose coverage celebrated the game and brought it to a national audience without whitewashing it- he pulled no punches when holding to account the power players in the US, whether MLS, the national teams, etc.
The speculation of foul play has died down. I guess it’s a wierd kind of tribute to a journalist, that his coverage turned so much attention to human rights abuses that it was widely believed that he might be killed for it.
Twenty years later, now wealthy and successful beyond any measure, the subject of thousands of interviews, and probably one of the most famous people in the world, Lebron James took the time to commemorate Wahl.
There have been so many tributes like this.
It was really rough to watch the American WC TV crew, including Landon Donovan, go on air the next day, trying unsuccessfully to keep their composure and talk without their voices breaking.
What’s remarkable is that Wahl walked away from the basketball beat to focus on soccer, which at the time was a niche sport, followed by isolated pockets of obsessives and European and South American expats, with no national professional league - the North American Soccer League, after a period of popularity in the late 70s, had overspent itself into insolvency by the mid 80s. It was truly a case of love for the game. Its growth here is due in no small part to Wahl, whose coverage celebrated the game and brought it to a national audience without whitewashing it- he pulled no punches when holding to account the power players in the US, whether MLS, the national teams, etc.
The speculation of foul play has died down. I guess it’s a wierd kind of tribute to a journalist, that his coverage turned so much attention to human rights abuses that it was widely believed that he might be killed for it.
