Columnist, Eugene Oregon

Of course, in today's market, it might be a different story. Not too many newspapers in a mood to bid high.

 

Knight-Ridder paid great salaries back in the day, especially at the Star-Telegram, which had to be one of the chain's most profitable, if not the most profitable, newspapers. When I was there several years ago, we had a single high school writer covering each of the schools in Arlington and Northeast Tarrant County. One per school.

Ridiculous. People are floored when I tell them that.

 

Columnists have always lied about their salaries.

 

I don't think columnists lie, I think other people get carried away with rumors. It is nice, though, to consider there are some more-than-comfortable journalism salaries out there, and not just the APSE Top 10 metro columnists.

I like bragging about my first full-time sports salary. $9.25 an hour. Doesn't seem that low, I realize, until you consider it was 2001.

So if this was one of the best 10 gigs posted on SJ in the last year, what were the other nine?

 

The well-paid columnists don't usually admit they make as much as they do; it stirs all kinds of resentments.

Imagine if you're one of three columnists in Fort Worth or Philly or San Jose, back in the day, and you suspect that one columnist makes $50,000 more than you do.

 

Having met Bellamy a few times, he seems like a good guy. The Register-Guard is a very good paper, and it's in a great part of the country.

 

eugene, great? haven't been there often, have you? might be close to a great part of the country, but eugene great? naw.

 

The Rogue River Valley is pretty. Portland's just a stretch of auto and strip malls away. The Eugene area itself is flat, relatively green in the summer and rainy from late fall to early spring.

The real downer is the women, or so my cousin up there says. The average Eugene chick, he swears, wears her toenails long and yellow. Doesn't shave anything. Thinks letting herself go is a way to get back at men. Hates penises and is on the street recruiting fresh new coeds every day.

I can attest that there are, at least, some women in Eugene like that after covering a local women's "pro" football game last year. One player barked at me.

 

Eugene itself is ok, but it's in a great part of the country. You're not too far from the coast, Portland, skiing, etc.

 

Tom Petty — SportsJournalists.com's resident buzzkill since February 18, 2006.

 

Eugene is a great city for its size. The university influence assures at least a little culture (as well as a lot of over-the-top behavior). Some cool neighborhoods. Last I heard, all bars were smoke-free. Climate perfect for someone who doesn't want extremes (pollen count being the notable exception). Close to the coast (1 1/2 hours). Close to the mountains (2 hours). Great short-season Class A baseball stadium (authentic retro rather than imitation retro).

As for the women being unshaven, unshowered, man-hating, castrating Medusas ... well, there's more than a few of them, too. That's not unique to Eugene, either. I think Eugene's horde views Portland as a step up the Gorgon organizational ladder.

 

well fuck dude, maybe you should think about moving to northwestern nebraska. i hear the nightclub scene there is awesome as is the landscape.