J.A. Adande seeks LAT buyout

Yeah, but when does your "always" start?
20-plus years ago, LA Times was to die for.

 

Some quick points from this and the resurrected Detroit thread:
-- Dwyre hated hockey and it was a joke the people he sent out to cover it: Chris Baker,
Terry Sheppard, Julie Cart, another ditzy woman whose name I can't remember who thought that an empty-net goal was the key play in every game. Even someone knowledgeable, Lisa Dillman, wasn't given the support to cover it well. People who have since gained acclaim in this biz -- Gordon Edds, Sam McManis -- were sent to cover hockey as know-nothing rookies. Steve Springer hated that he was forced to cover hockey, but he grew to like the sport, yet still bailed at the first opportunity. And Dwyre even hired an experienced, knowledgeable hockey writer -- Helene Elliott -- and assigned her to baseball.
-- Adande added nothing to the L.A. Times. If he was supposed to supply the black voice and presence, he did not. He spent an entire season as a traveling Lakers columnist, but he got nothing more than any of the regular beat writers got. If I don't have time to read the paper on a given day, I'll always go back and try to find Plaschke. If I miss Adande, so what. I can say that I find about one out of every 10 of his columns to be compelling.
-- Mike Terry is a very nice person (Adande, too), but no one should moan that he is covering preps. That's his level of ability. He got hired by the Washington Post because of his wife and while covering the Capitals, lucked into a story about the Bullets. But as the daily beat wore on, he couldn't cut it. Back at the Times, he has descended to the prep level. But don't feel sorry for him. He got some TV time and he's still earning Times pay with San Bernardino talent.

 

Absolutely.

Gold, I respect the hell out of you, but you're so wrong on this that it's barely worth debating.

Yes, it's apple and bananas, but you take the talent at the LA Times from about 1979 to 1999/2000 (and I'm being a bit generous on the time frame, but you get the idea), plop it in NY and it hands everyone -- everyone -- in that market their ass on most things.

Across the board, we're talking the total package, the late 20th century LA Times was one of the two or three best sports sections in the country. It would be the gold standard in New York, with everyone else comparing themselves to it and usually coming up short.

About the only beat the NY papers would own against the Times would be hockey, because it was considered an afterthought -- even with Wayne Gretzky playing here... and when Lisa Dillman was covering the Kings, she did a pretty damn good job, so that's debatable.

Getting back to the point of this thread, I hope Adande takes the money and runs to sign with ESPN before it clears his bank. I hope most of these takers have gigs lined up and soak that place for every dime they can. Anything to stick it to those myopic, clueless managers at Tribune.

 

Off topic, but I agree with you SF. Great f'n book. Great writer. I'm sure he'll end up doing something worthwhile.

 

Hard to say. NYC is a crazy place to be a beat writer from the point of sheer competitiveness, it's a different style of reporting and some people are just going to struggle in that environment. But as far as putting out an interesting section, as far as pure writing ability, as far as the craftmanship of putting out a well-edited, professional section, no question the LAT would not only compete, but raise the bar in a few areas. As far as "owning" beats -- that's a bit much to ask of anyone there. I don't think you really could say anyone in the NYC-area market owns a beat -- breaks a majority of news, knows a league better than everyone else, has better sources. It's like that in some markets, but not NYC. Mostly people just keep even and a scoop is a rare coup. And many of today's "scoops" turn out to not be true by the time the dust settles a month or two later, but of course no one remembers by then. So even if you put, say, T.J. Simers -- who was the best, most aggressive beat writer I've ever seen up close, a guy the other paper had to double-team in Denver -- and put him on an NYC beat, he'd be doing very well indeed if he broke three stories a year. It's just not a place where a major beat can be owned.

 

Yeah, he won't have any trouble finding work, that's for sure.

When Orange County really mattered to the Times, and they took the main sports section and added up to 20 pages of OC content on, say, a prep football Friday night, there was no section better anywhere, at any time. And yeah, I worked there, so I have personal feelings about it.

But those 32-page, or whatever, sports sections were something to see.

 

And that's why NYC has a better reputation than it deserves.

A lot of screaming rumors and possible scoops and sensationalized stories ("Big Unit puts hand in front of camera!!!!!!!!").

The LAT did it better . . . and with a lot more class.

 

Excellent points, Frank. Probably poor choice of words by me; I meant to emphasize the total package, the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

Didn't come out that way.

 

What about the L.A. Herald-Examiner? Wasn't it worthwhile, too? No question Times was worthwhile always. Two words: Jim Murray.

 

No one owns a beat in New York? Right... Apparently you've never read George King (Post, Yankees) or Adam Rubin (Daily News, Mets).

 

sources inside the los angeles times say j.a. adande is leaving. some said everyone knew when the times didn't include adande in a new online project featuring its sports columnists with photos, bios, etc. the paper went with ucla writer lonnie white, because there won't be a african-american sports columnist at the paper anymore. also included were columnists bill plaschke, t.j. simers, helene elliott, eric sondheimer, and bill dwyre.

 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/columnists/

So when does this new package appear?