Rhetorical Analysis Of Why I Love My Job By Rick Reilly

“Why I Love My Job” Precis Rick Reilly, in his ESPN column (2007), contends that sports competitions are more than simple games, instead, they are events capable of bringing people together in unique ways. He reinforces his contention by integrating inspirational anecdotal evidence, bold syntax, and unvarnished diction. Reilly’s purpose is to point out the importance and humanity of sports in order to convince a college professor and readers of sports magazines that sports writing is indeed an advanced and valuable profession. He assumes a humorous tone (“...most important- sports is the place where beer tastes best”) for an audience of sports magazine readers, but more specifically, a professor that told him that he was “better than sports.”

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3) AND “...guys.” (para. 4) AND “...mercy.” (para. 6) AND “...unscripted.” (para. 9) AND “...honor.” (para. 11) AND “...heart…” (para. 14)

Link to argument: Throughout his writing, Reilly incorporates basic, simple, unvarnished diction in order to establish a casual, humorous tone, to appeal to his audience of sports magazine readers, and to draw a parallel between his language and the accessibility of sports. By opting to utilize simple words like “real,” and “guys,” he appeals to individuals that enjoy reading sports magazines. Sports magazines are usually considered to be easy, casual, light reads, and had Reilly chosen to write with vocabulary of a higher level, he would have lost the interest of his primary audience. Not only does Reilly’s selection of simple language appeal to his audience, it helps to drive home his point that sports are able to bring people together. This is because, while not all people can understand high level literature and vocabulary words, everyone can understand casual language. By writing on a level that all people can understand, Reilly makes the world of sports even more accessible and enjoyable for everyone to experience