Mike Downey leaving Trib

Pretty much down to reading the Trib sports section every day for sentimental reasons. Sounds like Mike Downey is a gentleman, but I'm glad to see his space go to someone else. Never got over the feeling it was wasted on him. His best years, if he had them, are behind him. Agree that Haugh would be a great choice. I'd like to see what Greenstein could do. Mariotti would ... save me $36 every eight weeks.

 

I've heard he was hilarious, and sharp, back in the day, but he wasn't one of their best currently. i wonder how he'd do once a week...

 

When he was in L.A., he was a must-read for me. I loved his column. Then I met him and found him to be even a better person than he was a columnist.
Really got to know him at the Aloha Bowl (1987, I think). Over mai tais one night, I told him how much I liked his column and repeated some of his lines that I remembered. (In a column on the America's Cup, he wrote about the Japanese yacht, which had a woman's voice that said: "Aft boom ajar.") He politely and humbly asked me to stop because I was embarrassing him.

 

Mike is a class act. His voice will be missed, but I have a hunch it'll reappear in other mediums. At least I hope.

 

I'm going to stand up for him in case he or somebody from Chicago media reads this thread. I liked his stuff now and then both. In my opinion he's very very good. So there. You got a fan here, Mr. Downey.

 

Always enjoyed reading Downey at the Freep -- far more than his successor. Of course, I enjoyed reading Charlie too -- almost as much as golfing with him at Signal Pointe on day on a Notre Dame game, beating Jack Saylor in golf, listening to him bitch and asking Charlie if I should give the money back. If Charlie had hit me between the eyes with a 4-iron at that point in time, I would have deserved it.

 

He was a MUCH better fit in LA, and maintained a far higher-energy presence when out there, as well.

NOBODY in this business does first-rate work, ALL the time. NOBODY. And everyone who's honest
when reflecting on their own abilities/production will agree with that.

Usually, the dip comes as we near the end of the road. Fewer guys leave this business at the top of their game than do pro athletes.

 

The memo from McGrath was so pointed, it makes you think that he knows Mariotti will not be in play. (Doesn't it?)

 

They'll have to wait a few months to hire Mariotti to keep this from being a PR nightmare.

They'll look like total assholes if they push out one columnist to hire another. They can claim that's not the case since Jay supposedly talked to the Trib before Downey was let go.

Is this the first case of a lead columnist getting let go during the buyouts/layoffs? I think it is, at least at a big paper.

 

Sun-Times let Mariotti go, in terms of not begging him, mid-hissy fit, to stay for a change. But that's not "letting go" in the sense you mean.

Was only a matter of time that a lead columnist would be nudged out. To bean counters, hardly any of them must be able to justify the premium salaries they draw compared to the other scribblers. In many cases, a lot of us would tend to agree. Anyone paying a sportswriter $150K or more has to be thinking these days, "Couldn't I find someone good who'd do this job for $100K?"

 

Not surprised that Tribune Co was the first to axe a lead columnist.

Hard to imagine this is the chain that everybody wanted to work for a few years back.