The National Sports Daily

No doubt it aided EA's international visibility. But they were pouring money at an astounding rate down a very deep hole, and were acting as if the deadline/distribution issues would be overcome/take care of themselves. Make no mistake -- I liked the paper, and it was a writer's ultimate fantasy.
But no one was at the wheel.

 

First: Azcarraga was already an international figure. He owned a string of TV stations in the northeast. Opening The National had nothing to do with his public profile; closing it had a lot to do with maneuvering his partners out of the jackpot he was about to create with an IPO.

Second: I never believed, nor did McKenzie believe, the $150 million figure. That came out of somebody's head. But, absolutely, whatever the number was, it was big.

Third: no one ever believed, or acted as if, the distribution problem would solve itself. The size of that job was underestimated from the start by the publishing neophytes doing Azcarraga's bidding. When it was clear that distribution-by-hitchhiking plans would not work, there were a dozen fix-it schemes tried and another dozen suggested. But when Davila realized that the only workable plan was to build a distribution system of our own -- trucks, drivers, dealers -- El Tigre said, "No mas."

 

And the real problem with that, from what I recall, was that Emilio said something along the lines of: "If you think our own distribution system will solve the circulation problem, let's do it. Show me a plan for one of our cities and we'll try it."

And the city the business side of the building planned it around was ... (drumroll, please) ... Detroit!

Not mass transit superhubs NYC, DC or Chicago -- or even SF -- but Detroit.

The plan never got rolling and likely was one of the final straws.

And Dave is correct: It wasn't Feinstein's cats and the Concord. (It was the elevator that killed us. :)

 

P.S. If anyone has any corrections/additions for The National list that I've kept updated, please send them along via PM or e-mail.

Thanks.

 

Dave Kindred, thanks for setting the record straight on what really went down at The National ...

OK, I did my best coming up with a list of who was doing what at The National, culled from my staff list of January 1990 and the final masthead in June 1991. Some people have more than one job because, well, things changed a lot. Let me know if I missed anyone ...

EDITORS
Frank Deford - Editor
Van McKenzie - ME
Vince Doria - Exec editor
Susan Kamb - AME, administration; associate editor
Rick Jaffe - AME
Tim Tucker - DME
Rob Fleder - exec editor
Dave Kindred - associate editor/national columnist
D. Tom Patterson - AME, copy desk; national writer
Lee Gordon - Agatollah /senior editor; AME
Ellen Thornley- AME, national writers
Reid Laymance - senior editor, copy desk; national editor
Dave Tepps - senior editor, copy desk; national editor
Rick Sayers - senior editor, copy desk
Pete Wevursi - exec news ed
David Granger - senior ed, special projects; exec features ed
Steve Clow - LA bureau chief ; west coast bureau chief
Pete Alfano- NY bureau chief
Bobby E. Clay Jr. - LA copy chief; senior editor, copy desk
Chris D'Amico - senior editor, copy desk
Mark Godich - news editor; senior editor, golf
Mike Bevans - senior editor, national writers
Dan McGrath - senior editor, baseball
Michael Knisley - notre dmae/colleges, chicago; senior editor, nfl
Kathleen McElroy - senior editor, copy desk
Al Vierra - copy editor; senior editor, copy desk
Dave Whitehorn - layout; senior editor
Paul Palazzo - copy chief; exec news editor
Rod Goldblum- national editor, copy desk
Reid Grosky - national editor, copy desk
Mark Hohmeister - Chicago copy chief; national editor, copy desk
Frank Kelly - NY copy chief; national editor, copy desk
Richard McSweeney - national editor, copy desk
Larry Miraldi - national editor, copy desk
Jim Pavia - national editor, copy desk
Scott Robson - national editor, copy desk
Athan Atsales - night news editor; national editor, layout
Matt Healy - night news editor; national editor, layout
Steve Marcus - national editor, layout
Cindy Boren - national editor, copy desk
David Cooper - national editor, copy desk
Tim Guidera - national editor, copy desk
Mike Huguenin - national editor, copy desk
Alex Kimball - national editor, copy desk; senior editor, baseball
Jim Luttrell - national editor, copy desk
Robin Melen - national editor, copy desk
Paul Mitchell - national editor, copy desk
John Moore - national editor, copy desk
Mike Moretti - national editor, copy desk
Humberto Perez - national editor, copy desk
Neil Scarbrough-senior editor, copy desk
Mark Wollemann - national editor, copy desk
Joe Walpole -AME, production

 

WRITERS
Norman Chad - TV columnist
Scott Ostler - national columnist
Mike Lupica - national columnist
Charles Pierce - centerpiece writer; national columnist
Steve Buckley - Yankees beat, NY; boston columnist
Gordon Edes - AL beat writer; miami columnist
Terry Egan - Rangers beat, NY; DC columnist
Tom Friend - LA columnist
Jay Mariotti - new york columnist
John McGrath - chicago columnist
Al Morganti - national writer, NHL; Phila. columnist
Steve Pate - Mets beat, NY; Dallas columnist
Ray Ratto - SF columnist
Bud Shaw - Chicago bureau chief, Detroit columnist
Gary Caruso - national writer; Olympics writer
Sam Donnellon - national writer, boxing
Larry Dorman - national writer, golf
John Feinstein - national writer, college basketball
Ted Green - national writer, NBA
Ed Hinton - national writer, auto racing
Phil Taylor - national writer, college basketball
Chris Mortensen - national writer, NFL
Peter Pascarelli - NL beat writer; national writer, baseball
Johnette Howard - centerpiece writer
Peter Richmond - centerpiece writer
Ian Thomsen - centerpiece writer
Jeffrey Marx - investigative reporter
Sonny Rawls - investigative reporter
Lester Munson- investigative reporter
Lyle Spencer - NY columnist
Ed Werder - AFC beat writer; national writer, NFL
Charles Chandler - national reporter, atlanta
Jeff Horrigan - national reporter, boston
Tom Keegan - cubs beat, chicago; national reporter, chicago
Keith Dunnavant - GA writer; sports business writer; national writer, cincinnati
Mike Towle - national reporter, dallas
Jim Carley - raiders beat, LA; national reporter, Houston
Dennis Dodd - national reporter, KC
John Czarnecki - rams beat, LA
Lisa Dillman - kings beat, LA
Ken Gurnick - dodgers beat, LA
Steve Lowery - angels beat, LA
Eric Sondheimer - ucla beat, LA
Larry Starks - clippers beat, LA
Dave D'Alessandro - Nets beat, NY
Henry Hecht- GA/college, NY
Ian O'Connor - jets beat, NY
Sherry Ross - Islanders/Devils beats, NY
Lenn Robbins - Giants beat, NY
Mark Fainaru - national reporter, SF
Steve Rosenbloom - blackhawks beat, chicago
Mark Vancil - bulls beat, chicago
Chuck Culpepper - big ten beat, chicago
Brian Hewitt - bears beat, chicago
Jim O'Donnell - horse racing, chicago
Doug Cress - lakers beat, LA
Steve Guiremand - usc beat, LA
Brad Free- horse racing, LA
Sheldon Spencer - GA writer; national reporter, seattle
David Steele - knicks beat, NY; national reporter, DC
Kim Cunningham - gossip columnist
Nick Dolin - writer-reporter
Liz Greco - admin asst; writer-reporter
Sean Plottner - writer-reporter
Elizabeth Comte - reporter, media
Richard Shook - national reporter, detroit
Tony Moton - white sox beat, chicago; national reporter, minneapolis
Mike Smith - horse racing beat, NY
J.E. Vader - page 2-3 writer; national reporter
Gary Ferman - national reporter, miami
Larry Johnson - editorial cartoonist

 

PHOTO
Carmin Romanelli -photo director
Don Norkett - senior photo editor
Eileen Miller -editor
Cecilia Bohan -editor
Barry Jarvinen
Kent Kriegshauser
Chris Covatta
Mike Goulding
Anthony Casale
Greg Foster
Dan Levine
Brad Mangin
Ben Van Hook
Ben Weaver
Frank Becerra

STATISTICS, SUPPORT
Ken Carpenter - senior editor, statistics
Howard Courtney - statistics editor; deputy statistics editor
Reid Walmark - statistics editor
Jeffrey Gruber - statistics editor
Barry Hauptman - statistics editor
Mike Helfner - statistics editor
Hilary Kraus - statistics editor
Chris Lentine - statistics editor
Tim McManus - statistics editor
Sam Puathasnanon - statistics editor
Aaron Radin - statistics editor
Jason Rescigno - statistics editor
Laurence Tobin - statistics editor
David Carnoy - ed asst
Christine Flynn -- admin asst
Michelle Papertsian --admin asst; artist
Jennifer Glickman -- admin asst
Julie Deardorff - ed asst
Elias Eliopoulos - ed asst
Melissa Hatz - ed asst
Diana Howe - admin asst
Bruce Sarkisian - ed asst
Carolyn McCarthy - admin asst
Jane Murphy - ed asst
Greg Gonzalez - ed asst, LA
Jeanette Lach - ed asst, chicago
Susan O'Donnell - ed asst
Ann Wong - ed asst
Paul Wong - ed asst

GRAPHICS AND DESIGN
Don Demaio - graphics editor
Karl Gude - art director
Craig Winston - senior editor, graphics
Nancy Eato - artist
Reid Brown - artist
Amy Catalano - artist
Heather Eatman - artist
Jonathan Massie - artist
Frank O'Connell - artist
Terrea Shaffer - artist
Amy Stahl - artist
Michael Viggiano -artist
Robert Dominguez - asst art director

 

Since I'm a little too young to really remember the National ending, I'm wondering, what happened to all the journalists? I mean, so much talented, all unemployed at the same time... Did major papers create jobs all of the sudden? Did their former papers take them back at better jobs? I can't even imagine..

 

Do you really remember what 1991-93 was like? I didn't have cable. If I was lucky there was one game to watch. So I read my local paper, but I read the National whenever I could.

 

Yes, I do remember what it was like. I also remember getting cable around 1978 and I wasn't close to being early on that.

Again, people who are in the business, or have enough interest in it to visit a site like this, are not the average consumer.

 

To Dave and all the ex-Nationals: I've always been curious about something. I worked with a couple of people who went to the National, and they landed on their feet after it folded, but I've always wondered if they (or you) would have taken the job had you known about the distribution problems. I know, it's a 20/20-hindsight question, but I just wonder.

I certainly would have been honored to work for such an all-star staff, but, 15 years later, it strikes me that a lot of talented people jumped into the project blindly. I don't mean that to be critical; I can't help but shake my head at how brilliant and innovative the editorial side was, and how slap-dash and slipshod the distribution plan was.

 

I was a grown-up. I always counted the whole thing as a high-risk operation 10 times more likely to fail than succeed. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat. How often do you get a chance to reach for the stars?