RIP Mike Penner

What amazed me was what San Bernandino columnist wrote.

Under any circumstances, never mind these, that was heartless, ignorant, cruel and stupid.
Far, far worse than what Kornheiser did.

Did he at least get a suspension from his newspaper?
I'm betting not. Makes me sick and embarrassed for our profession.

 

OK missed it ... what I get for reading these things before the coffee kicks in on a Saturday. That said, because they don't want to comment does not mean it's not a story.

 

That was a pretty ugly thing to write, wasn't it?

 

Something tells me I don't really want to know ... but what did the San Bernardino columnist write?

 

When British soccer superstar David Beckham arrived to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy in July 2007, Daniels joined the media fleet at Home Depot Center to greet him. It was Daniels' first public appearance at a sports event, after 25 years of "dreaming about how it might play out if it ever came to be," she wrote on her blog.

Journalists who had known Penner for years got their first glimpse of Daniels, who recorded the event in a droll, triumphant tone. Beckham "arrived wearing a silver-gray Burberry suit, surrounded by a phalanx of assistants and yes-people," she wrote on her blog. "I arrived wearing a golden-hued top from Ross and a multicolored paisley skirt from Ames and a pair of open-toed tan heels from Aerosoles, surrounded by nobody. . . . "

Paul Oberjuerge, then a sports columnist for the San Bernardino Sun, was in the crowd. "I hate to be judgmental about these things, but Christine is not an attractive woman," he wrote on his blog, noting that Daniels had a prominent Adam's apple and stood more than 6 feet tall in wobbly heels. "It seemed almost as if we're all going along with someone's dress-up role playing. . . . "

 

Ugh. What an asshole. There's no reason to write tripe like that. Ever.

Happily, after researching this tool a bit, it looks like karma came for Mr. Oberjuege. Hope he likes Abu Dhabi.

 

I'm not sure this is actually news to you, but:

It's likely that Oberjuerge being let go in San Bernardino had little to do with this particular horrendous mistake, and quite a bit to do with the fact he was a veteran staffer at a Dean Singleton-owned paper.

Paul Oberjuerge isn't a bad guy. A number of people whose work and work ethic I greatly respect swear by him, and my few encounters with him were positive. He wrote something incredibly stupid in this case, and was rightly skewered for it.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/44727/

 

Piotr: Since you knew him, I'd certainly respect your opinion. And you are probably right, the Singleton thing probably had more to do with it. I would just hope that he's learned something from the experience ... especially with the way Mike/Christine's story turned out in the end.

 

I don't know him well, but people whom I respect do, and they swear by him. Doesn't mean this instance didn't show incredibly poor judgment.

And I think if I were Paul Oberjuerge, I would have had my fill of learning experiences, just in the past three years.

 

Wow, lot of sj dead soldiers in that thread. And Hoops McCann and imjustagirl2!!

 

Paul should not be judged by that single sentence. I don't know if he regrets it or not. But by all accounts, he's talented and hard-working and a good person. I don't think his current situation has anything with karma retribution.

I knew Mike pretty well long before this. I'm sorry if the new story caused pain, but I can't really fault its being written. I know newspapers often say this kind of thing to justify reporting or writing whatever they want, but I think this story might actually help others with the same kinds of issues. And it closes the story for good. I can't fault the Times doing the kind of thing they might have done if this story didn't involve one of their own.