JH: I didn’t really catch flak for the ice dancing or the one about Sheryl Swoopes. The columns that generate the most response are always the ones you don’t expect. When I ripped ice skater Sasha Cohen for her terrible performance [at the 2006 Winter Olympics], that drew enormous response. My voicemail was full. I was Lucifer to most people. And I naively thought readers would agree with me, that Cohen choked. But I forgot most people were getting the sugary-sweet NBC version of what happened. And no matter how old they are, we tend to always see figure skaters as little girls. Anyway, they weren’t happy, but I found the whole thing sort of amusing.

And, of course, any time you write about race, people get incensed. I recently wrote a column saying that there is just as much evidence against Lance Armstrong as there is [against] Barry Bonds, and part of the reason there is this extraordinary benefit of the doubt extended to Lance is because he’s white. That’s not the overwhelming reason, mind you. Just a factor in the whole equation. I got a ton of mail about that one, even though I posed the racial element in the next-to-last graf of the column.

But I’ve pretty much heard every racist and sexist insult there is. That stuff doesn’t bother me because I know it doesn’t represent our total readership.

LCB: I noticed you dabbled in a bit of media criticism in a recent column about golfer Michelle Wie. You wrote, “Wie failed to qualify for the men’s U.S. Open, but the way it was characterized by many media types, you would have thought Wie was the Hindenburg at the Canoe Brook Country Club in New Jersey.” Can you elaborate on that, on which “media types” you were referring to and on what you think they were doing/do wrong?

JH: Well, the tone of a lot of columns and other pieces written about her were that she was this huge failure. It’s an understandable and justified opinion because of her talent and her track record of not closing out tournaments. But given her age and the short time she’s been a professional, it’s unreasonable to expect that she’s got everything figured out at 16. She’s still growing into her game. Plus, she owes it to herself to try to compete on the highest stage, which is the PGA Tour. What people fail to point out is that the PGA Tour is not a men’s tour. The language about who is eligible to compete is not gender specific.

LCB: In addition to your columns, you write a series of pieces called “Riding Along with Jemele Hill” where you interview sports figures while riding along in their vehicle of choice. For example, you queried Buffalo Bills (and former Miami Dolphins) tailback Willis McGahee about, among other things, “What’s more troublesome, an ex-wife or a baby momma?” while driving around in his black BMW 645. This strikes me as a sort of fantasy come true for a young sports fan — riding in a sports star’s car and casually asking him/her questions (and getting paid to do it). Did you pitch this idea? And what is the purpose of it, for readers? Finally, who would be your dream “ride along” — any public figure, in sports or not?

JH: Yes, this was my idea. I thought it would be cool to get a sports figure in their own vehicle and ask them questions about politics, relationships, whatever comes to mind. I didn’t want a Q&A where I just asked them about their sport or their statistics. I was thinking of something like Craig Kilborn’s 5 Questions — something funny, off-the-wall, with a hint of the ridiculous. I wanted to bring a sense of humor to it, and in turn bring out the real personality of sports stars. Even though sports writers are with athletes a lot, most of us don’t know them that well or what makes them tick. This was a good platform because it put us on their turf. Besides, most athletes are obsessed with their cars and love showing them off.

As for my dream “ride along,” I’d have to pick Oprah Winfrey. She’s the most brilliant woman of my generation. I’d really like to ask her about her stance on hip-hop, why she never had children on her own, if she could ever be convinced to run for president, and what it’s like to be so rich that you could literally set a million dollars on fire and not miss it. Now if I could pick someone who is deceased, it would either be Frank Sinatra or Zora Neale Hurston, my favorite author of all time. Although, I’m not sure if most of Frank’s answers could be printed.

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