RIP Rod Beaton

Re: Rod Beaton takes a turn for the worse

RIP to a kind man:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rod-Beaton-Sportswriter/207300142174

 

Re: Rod Beaton takes a turn for the worse

RIP...

A very sad day...

 

Re: Rod Beaton takes a turn for the worse

Rod was always a great guy, friendly and helpful. He had more readers than just about anyone else, but he never big leagued anybody.

Condolences to his family and friends.

 

Re: Rod Beaton takes a turn for the worse

Can someone change the thread title, please.

Anyhoo, back in the ever-more-distant day, I was on loan to USAT for a few months. Most of the regulars were kinda cold to us loaners (there was one who kept telling me to piss up a rope, but that's for another day), But I remember talking to Rod a couple of times, and he was very welcoming and wished me good luck. R.I.P to a good guy and a very good journalist, and my condolences to Maria.

 

Re: Rod Beaton takes a turn for the worse

Even during these awful past few months, every time I thought of Rod, something he had said or done got me to smilin'. RIP to a wonderful newsman and prayers to Maria and his family. Even thought of a new nickname for Rod I think he would have loved: "Unfairly"

 

Re: Rod Beaton takes a turn for the worse

I was assigned to cover an exhibition featuring rookie Mario Lemieux 27 years ago ... loved hockey, played hockey so I knew the game ... but had never covered the NHL. So there I was this knock-kneed college kid sent because nobody else on staff at the local daily wanted anything to do with hockey. Rod flew in to watch the second coming. He treated me like a pro and a veteran and not some dumb college kid stringer, and also encouraged me to keep at it. And he also showed me how to cover a hockey game, something I'd do a bunch more after that.

RIP to a good man.

 

I hadn't spoken to Rod in many years, but his numbers are still in my Blackberry. RIP.

 

Rod was indeed a warm and generous person, eager to help anyone who sought his counsel. And it should be stressed what an influential writer he was in his heyday. Being lead baseball writer at USA Today meant something back then. But he never flaunted it. Quite the opposite.

Whenever Rod and I were discussing some baseball issue, such as what hitters might be available at the trade deadline, he'd always go through an alphabetical checklist in his head. "Let's see, Atlanta...Baltimore..."

It became a running joke among the two of us and a couple of other writers. Whenever we'd see Rod, we'd greet him by saying, "Atlanta...Baltimore..." He got a big kick out of it.

RIP, Rod.

 

I can't entirely put into words how I feel about Rod's passing right now.

He's joined the chapter eternal with an ever-growing list of good people from the USAT sports department (John Bannon, Anne Squires, Don Collins, Harry Blauvelt and a lesser-known fellow named Steve Garment, who worked in photo resources, to name a few). ... All of whom made my time there much more enjoyable.

(That was me, wasn't it? I was simply an awful person in those days. Sorry. I got better)

 

Yeah, it was you. You were one of the few who socialized with loaners (Bannon sure did, too, but that's another story). And actually, since I discovered your politics, you've gotten worse.

 

I can see that.