Orlando

there is NO WAY steve should have been fired. this is a beat where you could have a garage filled with free taylor-made clubs, where you could spend each week setting up complimentary rounds at the country club of your choice, and steve was unfailingly honest and hardworking, always one of the first people at the course and the last to leave. this is an embarrassment for the sentinel. i can't wait until he lands on his feet and makes them look bad in his new job.

 

I've always heard that Elling is quite good but also a little hard-edged to deal with. Could that be part of the back story?

 

i'm confused. why would apse reward sections that don't appeal to readers? you make it sound like apse is out of touch and self-destructive.

 

That is the best paragraph I've ever read on this site. Dead on.

 

From my experience when I've been down to Florida:

1. Orlando Sentinel has no real sports presence outside the Magic. and so maybe that paper pushes too hard to be a "player" on the national scene.

2. Steve Elling is a wonderful golf writer, so whatever has happened, he's got that going for him. I know he'll do fine wherever he lands next.

3. I agree with the post that says Orlando pushes too hard for awards, just like St. Pete and Tampa do. Nothing wrong with being a one-sports town, or two or whatever, but recognize your place in this sports world, please.

4. That said, Orlando has a very nice paper, and very entertaining to read, front to back. I always like to pick it up when I'm in Florida.

5. Finally, who cares about awards, except for imbecile bragging rights that readers don't care about? I'd rather open up a lively, entertaining paper every morning than keep score about what paper/writer/columnist/special section has been judged to be in the top 10 or whatever by a panel of..........newspaper people!!! i'd rather see the voting done by a panel of the readers, myself. writers vote on baseball players, so why can't the real readers vote on the best papers?

6. Orlando still has the most interesting, and entertaining, paper I've come across. There is a lot to be said for that. It's always fun to open it up and see what's inside, and does your own paper do that?

 

Puhhhhlease.

It's golf.

Events are over when the sun goes down for chrissakes... there is never a coaching search... and the demographic (other than John Daly) doesn't require getting your ass yanked out of bed to track down a police report on one of the stars.

What. A. Life.

And, yes, I'm fucking jealous. It's so stipulated.

To have yearlong vacation after yearlong vacation in beautiful locations.

If one isn't jealous, check the pulse.

 

This is like being in a bar and trying to listen to three conversations at the same time.

 

The more I read these threads, the more I think Orlando is simply Roswell writ large.

 

To say the Sentinel has no sports presence other than the Magic is fucking absurd. Their college coverage is among the best in the nation, with writers in Tallahassee and Gainesville. Also, their NASCAR coverage is also among the best in the country because of Ed Hinton and they have NFL writers in Jacksonville and Tampa and both Chris Harry and Alan Schmadke are top notch...

 

That means that you're paying attention to conversations that don't concern you. STOP THAT AND ENJOY YOUR DRINK!

 

Speaking of the Boots pipeline, anything going on at the Hershey paper?

Anyhoo, journalism in search of awards can be counterproductive, if you're emphasizing offbeat stuff to the detriment of the major coverage areas or not being flexible about playing up hard news, or if you emphasize writers who are wordsmith friendly instead of reader friendly.

And one point I wondered about the Vanifesto, the part about never using file art except for mug shots: How the hell do you do the DiMaggio obit justice? Sneak someone into the funeral home to get fresh art of the corpse?

 

I'll grant you a lot of that. But what happens when Tiger pulls the trigger and moves to Jupiter. He owns the property. It's just a matter of him tearing down the old house and building the new one? Els also is spending more of his down time in London than Lake Nona these days.

Word is, Tiger is out of Mouse Town within a year. Wonder if that changes the beat at all, because I think Elling got a lot of travel because of Eldrick living there.