MALVERN, Ark. — Rick Reilly has the best job ever and he should be allowed to keep that thing as long as he wants.

For those of you who don't know, Reilly pens "The Life of Reilly" every week for Sports Illustrated. That's the column that runs on the last page of the magazine, the first thing I read each week when my copy arrives in the mail.

I love the columns, always have. Then I discovered the guy had written a couple novels. I knew he had published a collection of columns and another book in which he strolled around golf courses all over the country with famous folks. The latter I had already knocked out in a couple days. Who's Your Caddy? was spectacular. But, essentially it was just a collection of columns, they just all had the same subject.

But, just a few minutes ago I finished my first Reilly novel. (It's 1:36 a.m., but due to only having dial up internet here and not really feeling like hunting down a phone jack 'cause I'm tired I'm posting this in the morning.)

I received Missing Links for Christmas. Now, I'm not a golf guy. But you don't have to be a golf guy to enjoy Reilly's work. This book is wonderful. I'm not sure why there's not a film adaptation of this thing.

The story flows just like a movie would. The characters are all believable and it's easy to conjure up images of each in your head while reading. Reilly is a master at setting the scene with his words. You feel like you're there or at the very least you feel like you could be there.

I don't really feel like getting into a full-fledged book review on this thing. It's freaking 10 years old, so there's probably been plenty of them already written. But I just felt it was a great piece of writing and had to share that somehow. Go technology.

A literary classic? Maybe not, but still a great, great book.

The book is good stuff. I don't know how it compares to great pieces of literature, because, well I don't typically like great pieces of literature. But in Kai's world it's one of the best books I've ever read.

It's my kind of style. Pretty much just great storytelling. My goal in life is to be a great storyteller, that's what I do what I do. If I ever get to be about 1/16th the storyteller Reilly is I'll be pumped.

The greatest thing is that I've got one more Reilly novel sitting here waiting on me. This one, Slo-Mo, is a satirical look at a freakishly tall kid who is instantly turned into the next great thing in the world of basketball. I'm sure it'll be wildly funny and another great story.

But like two days from now when I'm finishing up that book, I'm going to have an empty feeling. I might have to go back to my collection of SI's and re-read some columns.

Sorry for my insane rambling here, but I love great writing and great sportswriting is even better, I had to share.