Bad columns/stories from a star

[TwoGloves]

I read that column and kept waiting for him to tell me what the hook was because I figured there had to be some person or web site or something that prompted the topic. It certainly isn't the kind of drivel you expect from SI or a guy of his caliber.

 

[Clever username]

That was the most brutal Reilly offering in a long time. And Rushin's wasn't much better

Does anyone have a running count of how many times Rushin's mentioned his wife in his column?

To Steve: You're married to Rebecca Lobo, she's brainwashed you into thinking the WNBA is actually interesting, she's tall, you're tall -- we get it. Enough I say.

 

[slappy4428]

That was the most brutal Reilly offering in a long time. And Rushin's wasn't much better

Does anyone have a running count of how many times Rushin's mentioned his wife in his column?

To Steve: You're married to Rebecca Lobo, she's brainwashed you into thinking the WNBA is actually interesting, she's tall, you're tall -- we get it. Enough I say.

And in this case, gives riding high in the saddle a whole new meaning...

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Think of how the world would have changed if Keith O had snagged her . . .

 

[KJIM]

I was reading on the sports board about Reilly's 'Body Parts' column and how terrible it was. I read it, and I must say, I agree that it's far, far below what he's done in the past. But it got me to thinking, how do you deal with that?

Say you've got a star columnist or writer, and he turns in a story/column that is complete crap. How do you deal with that? What should Reilly's editors have done, assuming they also thought it was a bad column?

I imagine telling Reilly "this column just isn't very good. You have anything better?" probably wouldn't work.

To paraphrase a popular quote on the Anything Goes board... this thread is useless without a link to the column being talked about (especially since I didn't read it)

Except the OP isn't asking about that particular column, rather how you tell a star guy his work wasn't up to its usual standards.

 

[tyler durden 71351]

Didn't someone on here once say that Albom had a no-edit clause in his contract? Like they could only edit for style, not tinker with deathless prose or change factual errors. I can understand where a stud columnist wouldn't want to argue with some desker on deadline about the validity of asserting that Dwyane Wade is a better player than LeBron James...but I would rather make sure some dude caught me misspelling Dwyane Wade's name.

 

[BYH]

Think of how the world would have changed if Keith O had snagged her . . .

Bunch of buddies who went to UConn talk about the time they saw Rebecca Lobo and Pam Webber get out of a limo with Olbermann.

 

[DyePack]

For example, a year or two ago when Albom had that Final Four fiasco where he imagined guys in the stands that never actually attended, and it was revealed that copy editors practically can't touch his work

Copy editors at the Freep. That still doesn't explain why the column ran unedited at every newspaper where it was syndicated. No one at any office changed it for the better, even though it was obviously wrong.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

No-Edit contracts are more common than they should be in magazines, less so in newspapers.
I have been gifted with great editors in my life. I owe every damn one of them.
I've also had a handful of bad ones and they should all be fed genitals-first to a wolverine.