Florida beat in Orlando

Sounds like a great hire and the best of luck to Rachel. But I don't know why anyone in their right mind would want to cover Urban Meyer and deal with the Gestapo SID staff at Florida. Meyer threatened to punch out Jeremy Fowler, so maybe Rachel should wear a helmet to interview the Urban Myth. Better yet, make that an Arkansas helmet.

 

I've heard covering UF is a nightmare, but the paper's last five UF beat writers have parlayed that gig into jobs covering the NFL or national gigs. Harry went to cover Bucs then Fanhouse, Schad went to cover Dolphins then ESPN, Darlington went to cover the Dolphins, the one kid went to TSN and Fowler went to cover the Vikings. Other than Harry, none were on the beat more than three years.

 

Slightly amused that Mizzou has a mental block and cannot name Dave Curtis.

 

I wish Ms. George the best on an outstanding job. Here's my thought, however. The further away I get from sportswriting, the more I feel (not think, feel) that every outstanding job I hear about is something I wouldn't want to do under any circumstances. Spend all my time with Meyer and Donovan? My life's too short, thanks.
I realize that is a philosophical issue that is not relevant to this entire section of SportsJournalists.com, but I had to say it somewhere.

 

The myth about this job is that it's competitive.

It used to be. It's not anymore.

The hometown paper breaks some stuff, 99 percent of it being things that the school spoonfeeds them.

David Jones does an outstanding job. But nobody reads him.
Tampa doesn't have a writer in Gainesville anymore.
The Jacksonville writer is a good guy, but hasn't broken anything of significance in almost a decade on the beat.
St. Pete is insignificant on this beat.
The South Florida papers are insignificant as well, and that wasn't always the case.

Orlando owns the beat by default. That's not to say the writers aren't great, but the last few years since Staples left Tampa for SI.com have left the beat pretty uncompetitive.

 

Amusing take.

 

They got some pretty high-profile applicants. Greg Aumann from the SP Times was up for it as well.

 

He's the only one in that group who I've never met. Great writer, but that's the second time in a week I couldn't think of his name. Alzheimers at 36, I guess...

 

I'm guessing that UF gig must pay pretty well. Scott Carter is great and will do a great job.

 

You mean the school is going to break its own news?

 

Tarheel: I was just going to ask the same question. I would think the site might get a lot of news, but it certainly will be only the news the Gators want to release.