I reached the finish line

That was one of the most enjoyable posts I've read on here. You saw some great stuff, lived a lot of people's dreams, and survived this crazy industry. Kudos to you!

 

Thanks, Joe, for getting it.
I have worked for 13 sports editors in my career. A quick plus/minus tally came up with 7 good and 6 bad.
People who know me know who the asshole SE was who turned me from writer to deskman to laid off in 1995. The kicker was the layoff came while I was on vacation in Maui, which probably made it an even more joyous occasion for him. He was just one of those guys whose mission in life is to fuck with people. (My wife, a dental assistant, had a boss like that, too).
The staff was united in hating him. One staffer got laid off and sued the paper. The SE uttered a racial slur about another staffer's wife, which HR had to investigate yet did nothing even though there were a half dozen witnesses. It was also obvious that there was some sexual harassment going on. At one point, HR brought in a psychologist to determine why the sports staff was so dysfunctional. Although the staff was unanimous in pointing the finger at the SE, management sided with him.
When this guy was announced as the incoming SE, I asked a couple of colleagues at his former paper about him. One said, "Uh, no comment. I'll let you find out for yourself." Another said, "Personally, I get along great with him. But if he was my boss, I'd quit."
I found out more in 2 brief conversations than management found out in its entire interview process.

 

I was talking to a friend who is still in the business (I'm not) and he made reference to your original post. He said, "I just want to reach the finish line on my terms."

To do that, he'll have to keep going for another 20 years, so hopefully, he's able to get there.

 

Outrageous that newspapers crusade against racism, discrimination and harassment, yet still look the other way when it involves their own newsroom managers.

Integrity lost.

 

I worked in newsrooms at big papers with some of the most racist, misogynistic, homophobic people you could imagine. Places where the c-word was liberally thrown around multiple times per night.

We used to laugh when the SE would ask the writers, "How come you never come into the office at night?"

 

I always feel like listing things like "being able to leave the company on my own terms," "living to fight another day," and "still having a job here a year from now" when we're asked to list our career goals on the annual review. It's almost like every day that passes without announcements of layoffs or downsizing is a small victory.

I have about five years until I "reach the finish line on my terms." It may mean having to survive on cat food in a frugal retirement, but even that would be preferable to being escorted from the building by security after being laid off.

 

I used to think that, too, and still do, in some cases, to an extent. In fact, when I was interviewing for jobs out of the business for the first time, that was my practiced answer for why I left. And it was an honest one.

But I don't think it's a very nuanced one.

The work that we - well, you guys - produce, is not just a chronicle of others' accomplishments. Done right, it is an accomplishment unto itself, and that accomplishment is providing something very rare in a world in which almost everyone's opinion is bought and sold, mine very much included. And that something is an unvarnished, theoretically untainted, spin-free, no-strings-attached version of the truth for the public's consumption. That matters a great deal, and it matters perhaps even more now in a world where news sources oftentimes communicate with the public in carefully pruned, P.R.-vetted 140-character dispatches designed to make them look good.

Congrats on the tremendous career, Chris. Happy trails.

 

Why would anyone leave the business for this reason?

It should be something we all understand very early.

 

I have a ton of respect for the people who leave the business on their own, especially from decent journalism jobs.

I would bet 90 percent of the people who have left the business since 2006 did not do it willingly, and I'm including buyouts in that group.

 

Many reasons. For one thing, up until a certain age, the accomplishments of athletes are your accomplishments. There is a great study out there in which Indiana University basketball fans were probed about their self-esteem both after a Hoosiers victory and a Hoosiers loss. Their self-worth was far higher after a victory than a loss. For many people, this never ends, and it isn't limited to sports. There was a great scene in "The Office" where Jim asks Kelly how her summer went. And she manages to give him a 10-minute rundown of celebrity gossip.

Jim says: "But how are you doing?"

Kelly: "Jim, I just told you!"

It's one thing to abstractly look forward to being around big events and big names, and even revel in it briefly. It's quite another to spend day after day, year after year, elbowing through cameras and a tangle of arms and tape recorders to shout your one question at A-Rod.

It's something that must be experienced.

 

You may be underestimating the number of smart people in the business.

But I appreciate the ton of respect you afford to those of us who made the right choice for ourselves long ago.

I suppose.

Think a good amount of rationalization regarding the relative importance of sports writers goes on in this little circle.

 

With all due respect, I guess I'm not sure what you are arguing or attempting to counter here. People's perspective changes after they've done a job for a while. Is that really in doubt?