WaPost family feud over Tony K.

Correct, this "hanging-around" is all about ego.
Most of this TV people in good jobs have HUGE egos. You only need to hang around some of them in a pre-game pressbox meal setting, or sit behind or beside them on press row. They exude egomanical vibes.
Some are cool and grounded, most are "me-people" and useless.

 

Yes, Blitz, there are no huge egos in print.

 

Newspapers make two big mistakes with columnists. They think the columnist automatically will have a following because we put him/her in that spot, and they think they will maintain that following even if the work declines.

Prominent play does not guarantee a following. At two previous stops I saw readership surveys in which a majority could not identify one of the sports columnists. Both had long tenures, and one was a lead columnist who I thought was pretty good most of the time, except he most often wrote about only one sport.

And readers are not necessarily loyal. There were a few columnists I liked for years and then I stopped reading them when I thought they lost it.

 

Even before TK got MNF, he was ripping Jaffee, so I would take what Jaffee writes with the proverbial grain of salt.
Some bad blood between those 2.

 

Those are really interesting points, Frank, and when I stop and think about it -- what you said totally jibes with my habits as a reader.