Athletic, Axios talking merger?

[SoloFlyer]

Sounds like covering lately. Haller is usually colleges and Arizona State, Slater does the Warriors and is NBA at large.

Yes, they've been covering them throughout the playoffs. There's no shortage of content from the postseason. Multiple articles per night following Games 1 and 2. National content sprinkled in, too.

Regular season is another story, same with the Angels. But the Suns have at least been well-covered in the playoffs.

 

[ChrisLong]

Deep breath, deep breath. I make it a policy to stay out of these threads but I'm going to say a couple of quick things and get back to that.

*Two of the best we have, Doug Haller and Anthony Slater, have been covering the Suns. I've dealt more with Anthony and he's always good. The times I've handled Doug's copy I've been impressed.

*We've hired an Angels writer. Chill out Chris Long or find another bone to pick with us. Things happen sometimes. When I was in DC, my Redskins writer was hired away a week before the season opened. You scramble for a bit and adjust.

Carry on.

First of all, Moddy, you peg my respect meter, without question.

That being said, your response brings up a few cliches -- "I must have struck a nerve" or "the squeeky wheel gets the grease."

You should know this. I tried to go through proper channels regarding Angels coverage. I sent an email from the CONTACT US link on the home page. What I got in return is a form letter email which said somebody would get back to me in 3 working days. They haven't. It also gave me instructions on how to cancel my subscription. Is that what you want from your company? "Don't like it, cancel." No, I don't think so, either.

Anyway, when you say "things happen sometimes" and "you scramble and adjust," you might be scrambling but you certainly haven't adjusted. There have been no Angels-centric stories in more than a month.

I'm not looking for bones to pick with you or The Athletic.

 

[JC]

First of all, Moddy, you peg my respect meter, without question.

That being said, your response brings up a few cliches -- "I must have struck a nerve" or "the squeeky wheel gets the grease."

You should know this. I tried to go through proper channels regarding Angels coverage. I sent an email from the CONTACT US link on the home page. What I got in return is a form letter email which said somebody would get back to me in 3 working days. They haven't. It also gave me instructions on how to cancel my subscription. Is that what you want from your company? "Don't like it, cancel." No, I don't think so, either.

Anyway, when you say "things happen sometimes" and "you scramble and adjust," you might be scrambling but you certainly haven't adjusted. There have been no Angels-centric stories in more than a month.

I'm not looking for bones to pick with you or The Athletic.

East Coast bias and Moddy isn't done with you yet.

 

[Matt Stephens]

Re: Suns coverage, I don't believe The Athletic can have a Suns-specific beat reporter at the moment. With it being a full-time position that was eliminated last summer, (what was explained to me from a legal standpoint) you can't just go out an replace that position because the position doesn't exist. That way, employers can't downsize just to get rid of certain employees they don't want and then refill those jobs by adding the same position back but cheaper. Doesn't mean other people can't drop in and do good work, though. I've had no reason to read a Suns story since Gina left but I do know Anthony has done great work everywhere he's been.

 

[Screwball]

Unless The Athletic is unionized, management can do whatever it wants (assuming no illegal discrimination).

Newspapers have spent the past few decades getting rid of certain employees and then hiring younger and cheaper.

 

[LanceyHoward]

Re: Suns coverage, I don't believe The Athletic can have a Suns-specific beat reporter at the moment. With it being a full-time position that was eliminated last summer, (what was explained to me from a legal standpoint) you can't just go out an replace that position because the position doesn't exist. That way, employers can't downsize just to get rid of certain employees they don't want and then refill those jobs by adding the same position back but cheaper. Doesn't mean other people can't drop in and do good work, though. I've had no reason to read a Suns story since Gina left but I do know Anthony has done great work everywhere he's been.

Firing someone and hiring someone cheaper is not illegal per se. It is illegal to fire someone because of age discrimination. Legal protection for age discrimination begins at 40. So any business would need to be careful if they fired someone over 40 and immediately hired someone cheaper who was under 40 to do the same job. Though many businesses manage to fire older, more expensive employees and hire younger cheaper employees.

In the case of Gina Mizell according to Linkedin she graduated from college in 2010 and is presumably under 40. So the Athletic, as a non-union shop, could hire a replacement if they chose to. I have ne idea how the Athletic currently staffs the Suns.

But I do know that since Nicki Jhabvala left for the Washington Post Nick Kosmider appears to be covering both the Nuggets and the Broncos for the Athletic.

 

[TigerVols]

I see @ChrisLong's long national nightmare is over, vis a vis The Athletic.

Sam Blum: Bringing the attitude, mindset and effort of a journeyman reliever to the Angels beat

 

[Sports Barf]

Journeyman reliever? No thank you. Superstars only

 

[Songbird]

Damn, thought I'd get it.

 

[Preacher Roe]

Firing someone and hiring someone cheaper is not illegal per se. It is illegal to fire someone because of age discrimination. Legal protection for age discrimination begins at 40. So any business would need to be careful if they fired someone over 40 and immediately hired someone cheaper who was under 40 to do the same job. Though many businesses manage to fire older, more expensive employees and hire younger cheaper employees.

In the case of Gina Mizell according to Linkedin she graduated from college in 2010 and is presumably under 40. So the Athletic, as a non-union shop, could hire a replacement if they chose to. I have ne idea how the Athletic currently staffs the Suns.

But I do know that since Nicki Jhabvala left for the Washington Post Nick Kosmider appears to be covering both the Nuggets and the Broncos for the Athletic.

I was told second-hand that if a company had layoffs and then accepted PPP money or other federal aid, they cannot fill a position they eliminated without first offering the job back to the person that previously held it.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Journeyman reliever? No thank you. Superstars only

Fewer than 7,000 Twitter followers. We'll see how long that is tolerated.

 

[MeanGreenATO]

Known Sam Blum for a little bit and he's a guy who's put in a lot of good work the last few years. Was covering Auburn for AL.com before taking one of the two colleges spots at The Dallas Morning News.