Reilly takes on censorship through humor
By CRAIG NORTHRUP
Hagadone News Network
COEUR d’ALENE — Rick Reilly, long-recognized as the back page icon of Sports Illustrated before his induction into the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame, is taking a stand against injustice.
He’s making that stand where all battles against oppression and dictatorship ultimately are fought: in a library.
The Coeur d’Alene Public Library, to be exact. He’ll be there Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.
“There was this article people kept sending me,” the sportswriting icon told The Hagadone News Network on Friday. “It was about somebody going around and hiding a bunch of books about [President] Trump, and I looked at the list and yelled, ‘That’s my book!’”
Reilly’s book, “Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump” was one in a cavalcade of works targeted by an anonymous group or individual who has periodically hidden books critical of Trump, thus delaying or preventing other residents from reading them.
“It’s censorship, plain and simple,” Library Director Bette Ammon stated for the Oct. 16 article that appeared in The Press. “The public library supports the city they serve. We have a lot of interests and diverse opinions. We try to have books that represent all of those interests and opinions.”
After friends and acquaintances began forwarding an email of the article, Reilly took note. Now, he’s coming to Coeur d’Alene to inspect the paper and ink carnage the anonymous book thief has left behind. He’s coming to promote diversity in thought and the American plurality of American ideals.
Most importantly, he urged, he’s coming to shamelessly promote his book.
“I’ve never heard of anybody doing this before,” Reilly said with a chuckle. “Hiding books? It’s kind of hilarious and also kind of wrong, and I don’t mean to encourage it, but I think it’s kind of clever. He’s not burning it. He’s not stealing it. He’s not destroying it. It’s just really odd to me.”
Library staff reported the problem had persisted for at least a year, most recently in early October. The perpetrator left a calling card in August 2018, detailing his motives in a library comment card.
“I noticed a large volume of Books attacking our President,” the comment card read. “I am going to continue hiding these books in the most obscure places I can find to keep this propaganda out of the hands of young minds. Your liberal angst gives me great pleasure.”
“I don’t really care much about politics,” Reilly said. “I understand North Idaho is pretty conservative. For me, whether you’re left or you’re right, knock yourselves out.”
Which, not coincidentally, is the point of the book.
“Commander in Cheat” details Reilly’s own experiences with Trump on and around the golf courses, as well as the spare rounds others experienced with the now-Commander-in-Chief, stories Reilly said he verified through triple-confirmation.
“This isn’t about politics or the election or even about the presidency,” Reilly said Friday. “I don’t care who you are: When a guy goes around saying he’s a three-handicap … I’ve played with the guy, and he could barely break 90. A three-handicap? That’s bullshit!”
Reilly didn’t stop with his attacks on the president, citing his expertise as both an award-winning journalist and world-class golfer.
“I’ve seen him swing a club,” Reilly said. “He’s got a weird swing. His hand cramps up. There’s no way he’s a three-handicap.”
The White House declined comment for this story.
In the book, Reilly describes Trump as a habitual cheater who cannot be trusted on the golf course.
“To say Donald Trump cheats,” Reilly wrote in his book, which is due out in paperback in April, “is like saying Michael Phelps swims.”
Reilly further explained the president’s claim of around 20 club championships is mired in trickery and deceit.
“I asked him [to explain himself] on winning 20 club championships,” Reilly said. “He said, ‘What I do is, I play the first round before everybody else, so when I finish, I can say I’m the club champion.’”
Reilly said he’s not just coming to Coeur d’Alene as a figurehead in the fight for freedom. He has a plan.
“I’m coming up there, so I’ll make a move,” he said. “My idea is, I’m bringing 10 books with me. I’m going to sign them, and then I’m going to hide them. I’m going to hide one in the true crime section. I’m going to hide one in the mental illness section. I’m going hide in one in the history section next to the books about dictators. I’m going to hide them throughout the library. That’s how we’ll win this.”
Currently a screenwriter and author, Reilly was a feature writer and back-page columnist at Sports Illustrated for 22 years and appeared on and wrote for ESPN.
In addition to being voted the NSSA National Sportswriter of the Year 11 times, he has also been recognized with the Damon Runyon Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism.
Reilly’s other books include “Slo Mo!,” “Missing Links,” “Shanks for Nothing,” “The Life of Reilly,” “Hate Mail from Cheerleaders and Other Adventures from the Life of Reilly,” “Who’s Your Caddy,” “The Boz” — co-author of the best-selling autobiography of Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth, “I’d Love to but I Have a Game” — co-author with announcer Marv Albert, “The Wit and Wisdom of Charles Barkley — co-author with Charles Barkley, and “Gretzky” — the autobiography of hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky. Reilly was the co-author with Gretzky.