Columnist, Eugene Oregon

I don't know George. I've never read his stuff. But why does working in Oklahoma in a football-heavy town exclude him from being a good columnist? Are you going to tell me Tom Verducci wouldn't be a good college football writer? Would Selena Roberts not do a bang-up job on preps? Just because somebody has been working one beat doesn't mean they don't have the ability to work another or write columns.

 

I know George (I'm not him, though right now I wish I was). He's a good guy and does good work.
I think this is a great hire.

 

Basil...have you been to Eugene? I'm guessing not, because you would know that most of Eugene (and, hell, the I-5 corridor of Oregon) doesn't give two shakes about baseball. Oregon hasn't even had a team since 1981. (Yes, perhaps you're referring to Oregon State's run, but even that isn't a big deal in Eugene...)

 

Awww SNAP!

 

Oh, goodness -- so many responses, so little time:

First of all, what everyone seems to be reading as a rip is skepticism. I was hoping folks would chime in with some of his greatest hits, rather than a round of the "great hire" chorus, but no luck, it seems.

I'm with you, SCEditor -- don't know him from Adam -- and yet where he's been makes this an unorthodox hire. In fact, SC, your name-drops of Verducci and Roberts underscore my point. Roberts succeeded at a lot of spots on the map and worked her way up at the Times to the current gig. Verducci has been a NY guy all along, and again worked his way up the ropes before getting a column.

Here, though, you have a guy who's worked in a 200-mile radius for his entire career. Now he's going, what, 2000 miles away, and not to be a beat guy but the first new columnist at the paper in decades and, thus, the main face of the sports section. As I say, an unorthodox hire.

As for you, Ducky, I have been to Eugene but not often or for long. I was thinking Ems, not Ducks, when writing that, figuring that Bellamy had to churn some kind of summer column while school is out. But your point (UO rules here and screw the rest) is well taken. I'll take that smack.

 

When in-state rival wins back-to-back NCAA championships in anything, I'm sure they'll start to give "two shakes" about it.

 

I wonder if Phil Knight had to sign off on this hire?

 

Football is important in Eugene, too. So is basketball, and with the 2008 Olympic Trials coming up Eugene will be hopping.

Bellamy's a smart guy. He wanted to shake some things up with this hire, I think, and bring in a new perspective, and it appears he has done that. He has some mighty big shoes to fill, passed down from Blaine Newnam to Bud Withers to Bellamy.

Congrats to the new hire. A wonderful new world of microbrews awaits, if you're interested. Hope he makes it in time to attend the Country Fair, which would be an appropriate welcome to fringe element of Oregon culture.

 

I'll repeat myself...

GREAT FUCKING HIRE!!!

 

Oklahoma City and Little Rock are within a 200-mile radius!?!

 

Not that this is the only indication of somebody's work, but the guy has several APSE top fives in feature writing.

 

So does this mean there's an opening in Oklahoma?