University of Kentucky beat, Louisville, KY

Not to dispute Mr. Eko, but I've seen it too. There are some homers there for a free ride from some of the smaller papers that I've seen up in the crow's nest from time to time. Never saw any cheering from any media members down courtside, however.

 

Getting back to the job.......Whats the timeline? Any news on finalists?

 

Brian Bennett has written several of the UK stories recently, including covering the baseball regional. I believe he was offered the job before Michael Smith got it, but turned it down. If he takes it this time, if offered of course, there should be an opening covering the Triple-A affiliate of the Reds.

 

Heard it through the grapevine that the sports ed. is still going through clip packets. Anyone else heard anything of the sort?

 

Lots of free terrible food and unlimited interaction with local yokels?

 

I have no insight into this particular situation, but there could be plenty of reasons to turn it down. Not everybody wants a beat like that. Family considerations, any number of reasons. It could be a matter of timing. I turned down major SEC beats twice because I had no interest in being away from home half the year and driving to places like Starkville, Gainesville and Auburn. Didn't hurt my career a bit.

 

Not that I know anything, or care, about this specific situation, but I'd say a Minor League baseball beat is more of a family strain than a CBB beat.

 

Fact of the matter, though, is that he did turn it down.

Unless he did for shits and giggles, which I'd tend to doubt, he had a reason.
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Like a few people have said, the UK beat at Louisville might sound like your dream job. But it is hardly everybody's.

 

having done both, I would say minors was easier on the family. If it's a minor league beat where you don't travel except for maybe the playoffs, you have a set schedule and you aren't all call 24-7 like on the college beat. Less pressure. More punch-the-clock routine. And best of all, no recruiting!

 

Don't forget, whoever takes this job has to live in Lexington, and that's hell enough. Aside from the banging college blondes, what a terrible place to call home. Anyone that possibly turns down a pro city for this dump is a strange bird.

 

It's Lexington. Not New York, but not a dump by any means.

It's better than a lot of other major-school Division I towns --- Pullman, Corvallis, Starkville, and most of the Big 12 South come to mind immediately.

 

True, but nobody that's being offered jobs in Starkville, Pullman, etc, is turning down possible pro gigs. I'm not saying that's the case here, because I think 99 percent of what is written on these boards is uneducated speculation, but that's the claim around these parts.