Orlando

Any word why Steve Elling doesn't work in Orlando any more?

 

I always thought our main mission was informing readers.

But I suppose we have to attract them first.

 

The NY Times is not covering games like they used to. And, it's not even close.
You can see that in a hire like Karen Crouse. Her gamers aren't gamers. They're forward-reaching, looking ahead pieces moreso than gamers. That's hardly the hard-news punch you so thirst for.
Howard Beck, pretty much the same. Those aren't gamers. They're a "State-of-the-Franchise" stories with one or two point totals.

Plus, if I had the hiring power of that place, I wouldn't be sitting here typing with you

 

I'd be real curious what happened with Elling. I always thought the guy was one of the best golf writers around.

 

Thing is, you can't spin around twice blindfolded in Central Florida without stumbling over a golf course. Thanks to the reader interest level and number of pros living in the area, there's going to be a lot of golf news in the Orlando paper. The Sentinel does a better job with it than the Jacksonville paper, which has the PGA Tour HQ in its suburbs.

 

I think some people are feeling upset that somebody from Orlando won "their" award and are taking the opportunity to diss the Sentinel in order to vent their displeasure.

 

Amen, brother

 

Elling definitely won't be jobless for long...

 

No paper in the country is as obsessed with the APSEs as Orlando.

People can see that as good and bad, but it's the biggest reason why the staff gets picked over several times a year. Nothing wrong with a paper that brings a shitload of attention to its writers.

 

It seems to me that good solid writing about interesting subjects --- the kind of thing that, y'know, wins awards --- will attract the kind of readers we'd want to brag about attracting.

Award-winning writing should attract readers almost by default.

 

It's not a matter of "breaking" stuff on Tiger. It's a matter of comfort level.

Tiger has a certain comfort level with several writers, Steve Elling being one of those.

C'mon Hondo, you know that more than "some golfers" live in the Orlando-Isleworth-Lake Nona area. Elling did a story about this a couple years ago, pointing out where most of the tour pros live. There were more than "some."

Not to mention there are two PGA tournaments, one LPGA event, a silly-season event every year and Q School finals there every other year. Not to mention the flotilla of other events in Florida that you're centrally located to -- many of which you're expected to cover. And of course, there are the majors, three of which Elling covered every year (like a lot of golf writers).

As for the various HQs, that all fell under his domain as well, since Orlando is only a few hours from the PGA Tour, LPGA and PGA of America HQs. He was expected to keep up on those happenings as well.

Golf at the Sentinel is a major beat and Elling did a great job on it.