This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

An editor I worked with many years ago once remarked the following of sports columnists: If 50 percent of the readers love you, 50 percent hate you, then you're probably doing your job.

Gordon Monson is doing his job.

Love him or hate him, you do read him. His columns generated more than 2.6 million page views last year, and that's just online readers. He enjoys a vast readership in print as well, and for years he's hosted Utah's No. 1 afternoon sports talk radio show.

Be it a coach, an athlete, a GM or a reader, everyone has an opinion. Which is exactly what Gordon wants.

"There are so many people who think there should be agreement — agreement about everything. If we don't agree, it's bad," Monson says. "I don't think anything could be further from the truth. Creating agreement isn't what I do. It's creating discussion. Different points of view are a good thing, in sports and in life."

Sports fans are a rabid bunch, and one of the most difficult concepts for many is that professional journalists don't root for the teams they cover. Monson is not a fan. Although it is true most sportswriters enjoy sports and have a high level of expertise in them, they are vested in serving their news organizations, their readers and the truth. A homer won't have much of a career.

Monson's professionalism was honed during a decade with the Los Angeles Times, then as now considered among the nation's elite sports sections. And he grew up in Delaware, just outside of Philadelphia, definitely not a sports city for the weak. Monson brought that big-city experience, sophistication and attitude to Utah and believes sports fans here were ready for it.

"There's been an evolution," he says. "As opposed to the view that you're either writing in favor of a team, or against a team, there's a more balanced view, a more realistic view.

"When I first became a columnist, I talked with some of the best in the nation who were doing it. And they all said the same thing — have a point of a view," he explains. "So I've always done that, and I've got the scars to prove it. I don't manufacture my opinions. I do the research, I do the reporting, and I actually believe the nonsense I write."

He remembers a conversation with Larry Miller years ago.

"Larry didn't always agree with me, but he told me many times he appreciated my opinions. I asked him why once, and he said that you sometimes write things that people in the institutions you cover don't want to hear. But they need to."

The question Gordon is most often asked is where he went to school. The answer is BYU. And, yes, he is LDS. The father of five daughters, he served a mission in Germany and today, in fact, is a member of his stake high council.

Although he jokes he's an "oxymormon," he believes his experience gives him unique insight. Indeed, his most read column of 2011 took BYU to task for the fashion in which the university dealt with Brandon Davies last March. In his church role, Monson has experienced many disciplinary situations, and he felt passionately that BYU got it wrong.

"I've been part of the LDS culture since I was born. I understand it, and I get the way it works," he says. "I don't put myself above the standard, nor am I perfect. I know I fall short of any perfect standard."

Monson believes religion and sports are the two topics that, if they are not the most important to people in Utah, certainly bring forth the most passion. And he believes The Tribune has a responsibility in the way it covers them.

"Some people want to run from the truth. It's important to have discussion and thought. ... There has to be an independent voice. It's as true in our sports coverage as it is with the rest of our journalism. Fairness and accuracy are meaningful to people here. No one has ever told me what to write, what not to write. The Tribune has empowered me without censorship."

So if one day you find yourself disagreeing with Monson, know you're in good company. Gordon says his own mother routinely takes him to task.

"I don't claim I'm right all of the time, just most of the time," he says. "I tell her the same thing."

Michael A. Anastasi is a Tribune managing editor. He can be reached at manastasi@sltrib.com.