Sporting News/AOL Fanhouse

Just clearing out some old magazines and found Sporting News College Football Pre Season issue. As example of their college football acumen - their top 5 pre season picks:

1 Alabama
2 Ohio State
3 Boise State
4 Miami
5 Florida

 

As I read John's piece, I kept thinking/hoping that he was upset about losing the forum, the soapbox, and that maybe he wrote for Sporting News gratis or for chump change that any old stringer might get. That scenario was the only way I could get through his gripe and take it seriously.

If he was upset about losing his connection and involvement with Sporting News because of a long-standing relationship and its place in sportswriting for him when he was growing up, I could go along on that ride. If he was upset about losing the check, bah! Other trashcanned scribes need it more.

 

Preseason rankings are a joke, regardless of the provider:
http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/preseason_comparison.html

Carry on with the bashing.

 

That doesn't mean much to me unless I know how it compares to other prognostications.

 

I don't remember Miami being that high in most preseason polls, but the other four were pretty much the same everywhere. Everybody had Alabama number one, everybody had Boise and Florida in the top five.

 

I just don't understand this sentiment.

You reserve your sympathy for people who get fired based on how much they make? Where's your cut off line?

It sucks when anyone is let go.

 

If you do it consistently, though, there's something to that. Particularly in baseball, some prognosticators have it down to a semi-science. And, of course, they still whiff badly on things, because sports are tough to predict with precision. Look how tough the NFL is to predict. College football is probably the toughest, though. I'd like to see a study on that.

 

OK, maybe I should have spelled it out that, if he's going to WRITE about being let go and be cranky about it and critical of his now-former employer, I'd like to think it was because his feelings were hurt and his forum was lost and he was going to miss the audience and so forth.

If it was because an income stream was gone -- and yes, I am a little more sympathetic to those who lose their sole income streams or still need some -- that's a reason that doesn't grab me as much. And doesn't seem worth writing about and sharing with an audience publicly.

I guess that means my cut-off line for worrying about someone's income is when it's their day job vs. moonlighting. But that's just me, and not my point here.

It sucks when anyone is let go. But some reasons to write about it are better than others.

 

Show of hands of anyone who has read Feinstein's Sporting News column in the last two years or even knew he was writing one?

In other words, what was the company getting for its money?