WHOA! .... Bill Conlin resigns amid child molestation investigation

They were not tight. No big deal. Column probably should've been written last week.

 

This jumped out at me:

"And while it is true most sports writers are notoriously office-phobic, it remains a fact that most of the Daily News staff members have never once seen Conlin in person."

 

I've never seen our two lead columnists or a couple of our beat writers in the office. Not even for a staff meeting. And I've been here more than a few years. Evolution of high-tech equipment, sure, but it's totally a staff of individuals now. Nobody knows the writers anymore.

 

Hofmann is not a desker, though. I'm pretty sure he and Conlin covered the Phillies' playoff runs most years. Either way, my point wasn't that he didn't know Conlin but more that it seems like it's a column saying "GUYS DON'T BLAME THE DAILY NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

This has not been a bright spot for the paper. Conlin was an award winning reporter. The reaction has been pretty much what it would be had it occurred at most any newspaper. You can't and shouldn't blame the newspaper for Conlin's alleged perverted acts.

 

I worked at a paper where several members of the desk had never met the lead columnist in person. They talked to him on the phone all the time. He certainly wasn't big-timing anybody, but he came into the office about 3-4 times a year and always early in the day.

 

I don't. I blame them for thinking I would. I'm basically trying to say I'd rather you either further the story or move on than apologize for an action for which no rational person would blame you.

 

It's a marketing move: "Hey, how fast can we distance ourselves from this guy we promoted for years?"

 

It's a no-win Catch-22 situation. Say nothing and people think the paper is showing favoritism. Say something and people are going to react.

 

As opposed to that win-win Catch 22 situation

 

Hoffman's column makes perfect sense to me. There are some people who are not congenial, and Conlin certainly fits that description.

It doesn't matter if you work for the same employer, it doesn't matter if you have the same employer for a long time. You're friends with some people, co-workers with others. Even if you're working the same event, it's just a matter of establishing what angle each person is taking and staying out of the way.

I don't find it remarkable at all that Hoffman wouldn't know Conlin well or have any kind of a close relationship with him.

 

"Friends" doesn't even play in this.

You could have two people on the same sports staff for 20 years, and they remain nothing more than a voice on the phone to the other. It's the nature of the business.