Sometimes Reusse has used name calling in his columns. Does he have regrets about that?
“That’s always the big debate, whether it’s personal or whether it’s observation,” he answered. “When I get attacked in return, I never take it personally. I find it extremely humorous that people take a shot at somebody and then get offended when they take a shot back at you.”
Reusse said Twins relief pitcher Joe Nathan is upset with him. Reusse criticized Nathan’s performance in the playoffs. “I said ‘choked,’ and you looked at him on the mound against the Yankees and he couldn’t breathe,” Reusse said. “Now is that personal? Or is that observation of an athletic performance? That’s what the debate becomes.
“He’s outraged, and that’s fine. He should be. He’s told guys ‘I am never talking to him again.’ I am not going to think any less or any more of him either way. People don’t believe that but really I don’t. Somebody wants to say that ‘he’s a fat SOB,’ there’s no denying the fat part. I am not very defensive at all about stuff I’ve written.
“Sure, there’s regrets. A lot of them have been patched up. Harvey Mackay (friend of ex-Gophers coach Lou Holtz) and I were mortal enemies during the Holtz era, and now I get along with him fine. Louie Nanne (ex-North Stars president) is a former turkey of the year (Reusse’s annual Thanksgiving column) and I consider him a good friend, and a character.
“What the hell. You can’t write 250 columns a year for 30 years until the last year and not say, ‘God almighty, was I stupid.’ Of the feuds I’ve allegedly had, yeah, maybe the Holtz one (Reusse labeled him the “Music Man” after the character in the Broadway show). He came in and he started bullshitting and I got kind of offended. Now I look back at him and I should have adopted him as a unique character.”
Reusse recalled how he was critical of former Vikings coach Bud Grant and Twins owner Calvin Griffith. His observation was that “everybody” was required to patronize Grant so much it drove Reusse nuts. “So when I started writing columns, I would take some shots, whatever I could,” Reusse said. “Then through the years I came to appreciate he’s one of the most unique Minnesota guys we’ve ever had. Calvin, too, I went from taking shots at him every chance to thinking he was one of the greatest characters of all-time. So I guess I regret some of the early observations I made of some people. …”
Reusse grew up in southwestern Minnesota and later graduated from Prior Lake High School. He was a liberal arts major at the University of Minnesota but dropped out long before he could earn a degree. His dad had a friendship with a Minneapolis Tribune writer and Reusse signed on as a teenager for an entry level part-time position in the sports department in 1963.
The Tribune was home almost at first sight. “God, it took me about two weeks to say this is the greatest,” Reusse said. “I just loved the hubbub and the crazed Friday nights, and the angry people, and the hard drinking people. (People) screaming at each other and taking calls. You go to work and you were probably working a six-hour shift back then and it was over in 10 minutes. …”
At age 20, Reusse headed for Duluth and a job with the daily newspaper there paying $76.08 per week. The work didn’t require a degree and journalism positions were easier to come by in the 1960s than they are now. “Hell, it was between me and some wino off the street, probably for the job,” Reusse said. “Who are you going to hire for that kind of money?”
A few months later Reusse was writing sports for the newspaper in St. Cloud. His salary increased to $110 per week for 52 hours in an “anything goes” sports department atmosphere. Reusse’s memories include befriending a couple of St. Cloud State athletes with plenty of favorable publicity. They were also old enough to buy beer for him when he wasn’t of legal age.