Another huge loss for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Holy moley, Gary D'Amato apparently grew so fed up with the Journal Sentinel that he left for a tiny Wisconsin golf magazine/web site. I had heard some time back that he had been sniffing around.

I've known this guy since 1976. He was the best sports writer, and possibly the best writer, I ever came across in Wisconsin. McGinn was the best reporter; Christl was the best researcher; D'Amato was the best writer. (Maraniss might have a top spot in one of those categories, but he was nationwide.)

Award-winning Gary D'Amato to leave Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in August, will join Wisconsin.Golf, Killarney Golf Media staff

Man, the implosion and decay at the Journal Sentinel over the last decade has been jaw-dropping.

 

Way more than "over the last decade." Good for Gary.

 

Those are some big shoes to fill. Wondering who the JS is looking at to replace him?

 

Who gives a shit? It won't be Gary D'Amato.

 

Do Milwaukee and Green Bay share coverage on the Packers or does each paper staff the team?

 

Actually lots of people on this board give a shit. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is an important newspaper

 

Milwaukee and Green Bay share Packers coverage now. The Journal Sentinel has gone down hill quickly since Gannett took them over. The paper is depressing.

 

Gary is a great writer but also a great person. The Journal Sentinel also lost one of their Packers writers as Michael Cohen headed to The Athletic.

 

I always thought they had an outstanding website, too, one that was ahead of its time, something you're seeing the Star Tribune doing now, for instance. But Gannett made them go to the Gannett web template, which is horrible — difficult to navigate, full of pop-ups and, worst of all, videos disguised as stories (you don't know until you click).

But, yes, the exodus of good sports talent is really depressing.

 

Is D'Amato the only general interest sports columnist in Milwaukee? Do the larger Gannett papers still have more than one general interest sports columnist?

 

They went quite a while with no columnist after Michael Hunt's departure, before D'Amato was placed in that role. Davis is going to need to do something before the Packers get going, but who knows what they'll be allowed to do by the bean-counters?

Yeah, the paper is depressing. Think about what it was 15 years ago, 10 years ago, and the second-rate shit-show it is today (by comparison). Their Wednesday morning coverage of the All-Star Game was a ridiculously huge photo; I'm sure that pleased subscribers.

 

Most of the Florida papers that now belong to Gannett used to have decent web sites. Not so anymore.

Getting back to the topic at hand. ... Gary D'Amato is a damn fine writer. Met him a long time ago (I think he worked in Racine at the time) and he was a nice guy, too. Glad he'll still have an outlet for his talent, even though it's not a big-time gig.