Simers could be out at LAT

The world isn't ready for a second Skip Bayless.

 

Simers wouldn't -- couldn't -- be anywhere near as bad as Bayless is, anyway.

 

Hell, the world isn't ready for a first Skip Bayless.

 

Agreed. But the very thought of a second Skip Bayless gave me the shakes.

 

Anyone named in a newspaper article as a friend of Frank McCourt who didn't immediately sue for libel is obviously a first degree slimeball. T. J. will land on his feet if this a management deal. Gosh, it's hard to remember the Times used to be one of the best newspapers around.

 

Remember when I interned in the sports department a few years ago, one of the copy editors introduced me to him. He half jokingly told me to get him a cup of coffee.

 

Did you get him half a cup?

 

Fixed.

 

Obviously, I prefer Simers to Bayless, but Skip might be smart enough to stay in the good graces with the powers that be at ESPN. I don't think Simers could do that with any boss.

I know of plenty of columnists who are gone for 2-3 months almost annually. I think I remember Simers having health issues earlier this year as well.

 

What's the basis for these tiers? I think Bill Shaikin is the second-best writer at the Times, behind Simers. And his coverage of the McCourt trial, along with his more conventional baseball coverage, was absolutely essential for anyone trying to follow it.

I've never understood the undying love for Chris Dufresne.

 

Simers was no friend of McCourt, that's for sure. And I've always tried to squeeze his column in, since I like a good crumudgeon. He's also hosted some fundraisers for a children's hospital in LA (a dialogue with Vin Scully and John Wooden comes to mind) and some of the columns he's written about the kids who'll only leave the hospital in a hearse have me on the verge of tears.

 

The basis for this is simply my opinion of the regular writers in the Sports Section of the LA Times. Bill Shaikin is very good; I did not mean to imply that he is not. In my opinion he is not as good as Simers, Dufresne, Farmer or Plaschke.

I would not characterize my enjoyment of Chris Dufresne's coverage of college football as "undying love", but I think he and Tony Barnhart (Mr. College Football) do the best job week to week in covering college football as a national entity. Again, just my opinion as a reader...