Jeff Pearlman is likely one of the most profitable sportswriters of his technology. His must-read articles appeared in Sports activities Illustrated and ESPN within the 2000s earlier than he converted to penning best-selling books on the whole lot from Bo Jackson to the 1986 New York Mets to the Showtime-era Lakers, the latter which was became the current HBO sequence “Winning Time.” His biography of Tupac Shakur is scheduled for launch in October.
And but final month, Pearlman introduced he was embarking on an altogether completely different form of mission: to write down about Orange County politics. Speak about a depraved curveball!
As a trustworthy reader and lifelong Orange Countian, I instantly signed up for his web site, The Reality OC. There, on a close to day by day foundation, Pearlman makes use of the identical puerile-yet-potent invective in opposition to native conservatives and President Trump that he as soon as reserved for sports activities fools.
Huntington Seashore Mayor Pat Burns? He’s “Bull Connor meets Bobby Knight meets Officer Krupke.”
Laguna Woods Republican Membership president Pat Micone? Belongs to the “genre of person who needs to be told, repeatedly, not to answer her cell unless she recognizes the number.”
Pearlman already scored a scoop by unearthing a video that went viral of Capo Valley trustee Judy Bullockus utilizing the N-word throughout a board assembly. Whereas I used to be pleasantly shocked by Pearlman’s pivot, he’s a much-needed chronicler for a area of three.2 million that has served as a political bellwether for many years but has a a lot smaller press corps than earlier than.
Nonetheless, Pearlman writing about O.C. politics appears a bit like Gustavo Dudamel quitting the L.A. Philharmonic to moonlight as a drummer on the Dresden Room. Shohei ditching the Dodgers to hitch an area pickleball league.
“I’m profoundly down” about nationwide politics proper now, he mentioned after we lately met at a restaurant close to Chapman College, the place he lectures on sports activities journalism. Gawky and bespectacled however with the brio of a scrapper, Pearlman was dressed like a quintessential sports activities geek: black-and-yellow Pittsburgh Pirates hat and Pittsburgh Maulers shirt, the latter a long-gone skilled soccer staff. Flip-flops. Sweatpants that regarded like denims.
“Like, these are not happy days for me. But every time I write a new post, I feel really good,” he mentioned. “Every time I see people reading and the subscriptions keep going up, I’m like, ‘All right, this is a way to feel a little like you’re doing something.’”
Different sports activities journalists additionally often opine on politics, lengthy a no-no of their career. However Galen Clavio, director of the Nationwide Sports activities Journalism Middle at Indiana College in Bloomington, feels that what’s particularly fascinating about Pearlman’s newest focus is that the majority of his friends “aren’t going into hyper-local things, because most followers will think, ‘I don’t believe you’re really into this, so why bring it into the equation?’”
“I wish I didn’t have to do this … but this feels more important,” the fast-talking Pearlman replied once I requested him why he’s now specializing in the micro as a substitute of the macro. He lately lined a wet Friday afternoon pro-democracy rally exterior Irvine Metropolis Corridor, for chrissakes. “We don’t need another me screaming about Trump, which I do a lot. It doesn’t really resonate. There’s a million people screaming, but there’s not that many people screaming about local politics.”
I questioned why he didn’t simply volunteer for an area Democratic membership, or write a verify to a politician, as a substitute of devoting time and power to one thing he’s doing free of charge.
“This is important — I’m being serious,” he shot again. “I want people to know that not everyone is doing sh-t for the money. Like, I’m just doing it because I’m mad.”
Jeff Pearlman attends the premiere of HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty” at The Theatre at Ace Resort in Los Angees in 2022.
(Tommaso Boddi / Getty Photographs)
The East Coast native moved along with his household from New York to South O.C. in 2014 after years of visits for his work, which included masking the 2002 World Collection that noticed the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants (he thinks the Halos are the worst franchise in Main League Baseball). “We wanted a yard for our kids,” he cracked. Pearlman was initially the traditional O.C. suburbanite, preferring to give attention to the great life as a substitute of native issues. However he at all times saved in thoughts the experiences of a very good good friend.
“She used to tell me what it was like to be a Black person in Orange County and being stopped here” by police consistently. “And I’d notice weird things, and she was like, ‘Well, that’s Orange County.’”
In 2018, Pearlman got here throughout the phrases of Huntington Seashore-area Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, lengthy an outlandish determine who as soon as mentioned throughout a congressional listening to that dinosaur farts triggered international warming (he later claimed it was a joke). “I never actually never had exposure to people like this,” the 52-year-old mentioned. “I had read about them, but that was it.”
He began a web site that tracked among the crazier issues Rohrabacher mentioned, which I remembered as being humorous however probably not revelatory. In hindsight, Pearlman was personifying the awakening of O.C. liberals, who made historical past in 2018 by electing an all-Democratic congressional delegation for the primary time ever two years after making Hillary Clinton the primary Democratic presidential nominee to take Orange County because the Nice Melancholy.
“That was a real turning point,” Pearlman mentioned. “And I didn’t think [Orange County] would ever go back for red.”
Trump’s triumph final 12 months (though not in O.C., which he has by no means gained), coupled with native election victories for MAGA acolytes, snapped Pearlman again into motion. Shortly after the election, he went to an area assembly of liberals.
“They were very nice people, but basically the whole vibe of the meeting was, ‘Who wants a hug? You need to get in touch with our feelings.’ And that’s just not me at all. I’m not saying I don’t have feelings. But to me, you have to punch them [MAGA nation] in the face.”
His pugnaciousness jogged my memory of O.C.’s oldest political weblog: Orange Juice Weblog, which started in 2003. Writer Vern Nelson began off because the resident loudmouth in its full of life feedback part earlier than turning into a contributor, then taking up Orange Juice altogether in 2010.
He hadn’t heard of The Reality OC till I instructed him, and he requested if he may learn some posts earlier than providing his opinion. When Nelson known as again, he was laughing in appreciation.
“He’s doing a lot of good stuff,” Nelson mentioned. “We need another good political blog. I’d say to use his previously existing fame, but he’s probably going to piss off a lot of his old readers.”
Pearlman thinks his sports activities background truly makes him perfect to write down about politics.
“We deal with people who are mad at us all the time, and we have to come back the next day,” he mentioned. “And, like, you have to write fast. You have to turn around copy quick. You have to make it punchy. Like, it can’t just be flat.”
Jeff Pearlman, best-selling creator of a number of books about sports activities, speaking at L’Orange Cafe in Outdated Towne Orange. His elbow is resting on a replica of a e-book by Huntington Seashore Councilmember Chad Williams.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Instances)
He admits to being a “community college student, second semester freshman year” when it got here to understanding about his new beat. He knew not one of the historic names I threw at him, and nothing about Santa Ana, the place a brand new technology of Latino voters are bringing L.A.-style progressive politics to town. When Pearlman tried to rationalize the conservative leanings of his neighbors — “I think my neighbor is upset about his taxes. I don’t think he’s upset about a Black family here” — I retorted that his neighbor could be up in arms if it was a Mexican household, and he conceded the purpose.
“But I’m taking whatever people have to give me,” he added. “I’m open to learn.”
Pearlman doesn’t understand how lengthy he’ll do The Reality OC and even admitted, “I know I’m definitely gonna burn out. That doesn’t mean I won’t keep going.” However he hoped that his instance will carry consideration and vigor to a political scene that desperately wants each.
“You’ll go to these [local Democratic] meetings and they’ll be like, ‘All right, guys, tomorrow we’re going to have a letter-writing campaign to Young Kim’s office, and we’re going to send 100 postcards. And it is done earnestly and with very good intentions. I’m not bashing anywhere, but it’s not f—— working.”
He stayed silent for a second — a lifetime for Pearlman.
“I sent 50 bucks to [Rep. Hakeem] Jeffries’ office. It’s another 50 bucks he has. What’s it going to do, buy 100 postcards?”
A half-second of silence.
“What these people [politicians] don’t like is being embarrassed.”
