Death of the general sports columnist?

This is exactly correct.

 

Well, a fan's voice is an expert to the fan and at least one newspaper I've seen acts like the fan's voice should be catered to (and who the hell called a citizen journalist an expert, but they're getting used.) Bloggers? Anyone can blog.
Sounds as though this kind of "get rid of the general columnist" talk is another pitch from the penny-pushers who want to cut something else. So the truth is: general columnists cost too much. Right, all you in the board room?

How can you people work for such monkeys?

 

Come to think of it, since Harvey Araton and others at the NYT -- the place where SE Tom Jolly has his doubts about general sports columnists' as a job category into the future -- are older and surely well-compensated, this philosophical approach might be driven by the dollars again.

This way, it seems high-minded and thoughtful to turn thumbs down on a traditional category of sports journalism, rather than 'fess up that the outlook is driven by the fatter salaries or the advancing years of those in the crosshairs.

Get a load of the faces on the Times' sports home page these days -- doubt there's anyone over 40 among the league and beat writers. This used to be a destination paper, where paying dues through several previous stops qualified you for the big career step. As for readers, an increasing percentage must know more about the teams, the sports, the personalities and the perspectives on it all than the alleged experts covering them.

 

Tom Jolly is applying the Money Ball principles to the sports news business. For the price of a star columnist you can get 3 solid feature writers and and agate clerk.

 

joe, i know how you feel about young writers at the ny times, but howard beck (knicks/nba), judy battista (nfl) and jack curry (mlb) are all older than 40. tyler kepner (yankees), who worked at in riverside and in seattle before the nyt, is probably close. mets writer ben shpigel worked in dallas, atlanta and wilmington before the times, according to the bio on the times' baseball blog. juliet macur is close to 40 and most will agree her work speaks for itself. john branch (olympics, GA) worked at other papers -- fresno and colorado springs -- before the times.

 

It still is - only it's the place where the bastards at the top of the bean counting, the CEOs of this "great" nation...who come to rest here and plan their retirement off the backs of people who may retire to the streets.

It's hard to be a person of faith and wish nothing but burning hell for these people. I equate them in my affection list with terrorists.

 

Getting kind of long in the tooth then, with a few raises under their belts too to make them doubly expendable. Time to back up the truck. More kiddies please. Only editors get to be old anymore. And sometimes not even them.

 

Murray Chass on the end of the Sports of the Times:

http://www.murraychass.com/?p=933

 

I absolutely hate the analogy in the lede. Hyperbole and rubbish.

 

that was horrible.

"harvey says i was the sixth columnist. let me say that again."

"dave anderson would come to ME. then i would tell him what to write. because i'm the only guy who knows anything."

"i'm murray chass. get that? chass."


just...wow.

 

Murray's Sunday baseball notes column was god awful. Most times carried some players union position or anti Yankee rant . The fact that Jolly killed it was a good thing.

 

If anyone ever thinks assignment or backfield or "first-read" editors don't serve a purpose, please re-read this Chass posting.