I know this isn't exactly music-related, but since what we do here at Stylus is most definitely journalism (though some of you might not always agree), I felt it was appropriate to express just how unbelievably saddened I am to hear about the passing of former Sports Illustrated writer and ESPN2 columnist Ralph Wiley. Pro sports and indie rock are little more than two ships passing in the night for most people, but I'm a huge fan of both, and I count Wiley as one of my biggest influences as a journalist even though I've never written a line of sports copy in my life. You didn't have to be a numbers junkie or a stat head to appreciate his work, because he dug deeper than almost any other sportswriter, getting at the personalities behind the highlight reels and trying to understand sports as more than just a game but a cultural phenomenon, a mirror of society and especially of race. His writing was thick with ideas, but always remained direct and highly readable. He broke down barriers between journalist and reader, constructing an open dialogue in everyday speech rather than declaiming from some high horse or pedestal. I continue to try and follow his example in my own writing, and if someday I can be half as good a music writer as he was a sportswriter, or hell, just a writer in general, I'll be really onto something.