According to Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Mike Jensen, there will likely never be another Mike Jensen.
No, Jensen is not an egomaniac nor is he saying he’s God’s gift to sports journalism. And from my experience chatting with him, he doesn’t often refer to himself in the third person, either.
What Jensen is implying has nothing to do with his writing prowess or originality — which, if you enjoy college basketball in the city of Philadelphia, you know are both incredibly proven — but more to do with the state of the union, the signs of the times, the realities that plague some newspapers throughout the country.
“Nobody who starts tomorrow at the Philadelphia Inquirer is going to be there for 35 years, I presume,” Jensen said. “The business models for newspapers change so completely… It used to be, you go to a local paper and work your way up. That’s not really the path (anymore).”
Jensen has been the man on campus(es) covering this game of roundball (and many others) for over three decades. He’s written about more Philadelphia basketball games than you’ve probably seen, and he’s published enough columns to build a real Cathedral. Speaking of, you can find his face prominently plastered on the Palestra walls, specifically encased in a Hall of Writers display that pays homage to the notable journalists that covered so many illustrious Big 5 battles.
This year, much to the chagrin of many Inquirer subscribers, Jensen decided the ink on his pen had finally run out. Luckily though, he plans on replacing that pen with a pencil. A pencil to scribe an upcoming book about Philadelphia basketball, a gargantuan task that I’m sure will need multiple trips to the sharpener.
What does a prolific journalist do when they’re retired? Write a book, I suppose.
Jensen got his real start as a journo at the University of Vanderbilt in a flourishing SEC that is always rife with stories. He jokes that his first ever assignment, a university rugby game, ended with a keg getting rolled out and a cup of beer getting handed to him. “That, of course, never happened again,” he said.
His love for writing and basketball were intertwined, long before his start at the Inquirer.
“Going back to a kid, it was both. Both tracks,” Jensen said. “I was a really bad 6 foot 5 high school JV back-up center. Played everyday, just wasn’t good at it. My family always had four or five newspapers, my mom was the big sports fan in the family.”
Much like many sports writers do, certainly myself included, I think it’s fair to say that he came to the realization that he was much better at telling the story around sporting events than actually playing in them.
Not to say I wouldn’t like to see Mike Jensen as a second big behind Joel Embiid when load management minutes get really tight, but I think I speak for many fans of college basketball and far beyond that we are all glad he had that realization, and more importantly, decided to act on it.
I don’t know Mike personally, but when I asked him for an interview, which ended up being 40-or-so minutes, he was incredibly generous with his time and eager to collaborate despite getting nothing really back in return.
Someone who does know him is Jeff Neiburg, another Inquirer columnist covering the sport that has spent many games sitting next to Jensen.
“He has chronicled a lot of wild happenings over the years in sports,” said Neiburg. “He’s covered pretty much everything and done so as a great professional, a great writer, and a great person to me personally.
He’s a friend, a mentor, someone who has helped me immensely. I will miss having him in a work environment, but we will still get lunch and beer together.”
Hopefully Jeff doesn’t have too many beers with Mike Jensen at lunch, as he’s got a lot of writing to do in his future and you never want to be the hungover guy in the press box.
In seriousness, if you read the Inquirer it’s clear to see that our college basketball coverage is in as good of hands as any. I look forward to continuing reading Jeff’s work as he does a phenomenal job setting the scene, painting a picture, and recounting old tales or narratives to masterfully fit them in a new college basketball landscape.
So many people in this area have had their stories told by Mike Jensen.
Thank you and congratulations to Mike Jensen on one of a kind journey. As mentioned, there will never be another.
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