As far as being alive to see your own funeral, Rick Reilly probably did the right thing in deciding to give up sportswriting.

His farewell column on ESPN.com also included a special package with a who’s who in sports picking his favorite columns.

Glad to see there was a nice picture with Reilly and his good friend (and mine), Gene Wojciechowski. In the friends department, they don’t come more loyal than Geno–except when he’s trying to beat your ass in golf and fantasy sports.

Reilly went personal for his last column, focusing on his father and becoming a man in the business:

I am the son of a drunk, a man who was much too concerned with where his next whiskey was coming from than where I was going.

He didn’t discipline me. Didn’t advise me. Didn’t father me. Hell, most of the time he didn’t even know where I was. And my trembling mother was much too terrified of him and his sloppy temper slamming home to worry about what I was doing.

So when I got a regular byline in the town paper before my 21st birthday, I was as wild and unruly as the mop of hair on my head. I had a voice and a license to use it, but not one lesson in how. I hurt people just to make a name for myself. Just because I could.

My first beat was the Colorado women’s basketball team and I came out slashing. Until, one day, a retired coach named Sox Walseth came up to me. His hair was white, with matching caterpillar eyebrows, and he wore a cardigan. He put a hand on my shoulder and said, “Son, you’re not going to get very far writing articles like the one you did today. These people shouldn’t have to read the cheap shots you’re taking at them. You can do better than this.”

I looked right back at him, stuck out my bottom lip, and began to cry.

I was so starved for a father that this man I hardly knew was suddenly thrown into the job. I’m sure he was as confused about what was happening as I was, but he took me to his chest and hugged me.

And from the tributes, one from Peyton Manning:

Rick’s “silent treatment” article is one that sticks out to me when I reflect back on what he has written over the years. Only Rick Reilly would think of watching football with a couple of professional lip-readers. I probably wish I wasn’t one of the quarterbacks that he watched play that day and was not proud of the language that the lip-readers saw I was using in that game. As I said in the article, I knew my mom was going to be disappointed when the story came out. But it was a pretty clever idea for an article by an outstanding writer.

It was just one example of the creativity that he always had in his articles, and it’s a reason why Rick Reilly is truly one of a kind as a writer.

Andre Agassi:

I always loved it when Rick would write outside the box, give you something other writers might not try. He did a hilarious, touching one about his son. I loved it.

Now that I’m a parent, it rings truer than ever.

Dave Barry:

Well, it’s not really a column, but Rick’s piece back in the 1980s about Jim Murray is one of the finest profiles I’ve ever read. Rick has always been funny, but underlying the humor is the meticulous craftsmanship of a great writer. Also, he’s tall, which really pisses me off.

I agree. Being a sportswriter, the Murray piece was my favorite. In fact, I am going to read it now.