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RIP Mike Downey

I remember him from the Times and The Sporting News, back when it was a real newspaper and had columnists from around the country. A few of his zingers still stick with me. RIP.
 
For quite a while, I thought Downey and Leigh Montville were the absolute columnist ideal.

He wrote elegantly, and he wrote fearlessly.

RIP.
 
Mike was a favorite of mine when he was in L.A. While I was a UCLA beat writer, he covered the Aloha Bowl (UCLA-Florida, Aikman-Smith) in 1987. I got to know him a lot better on that trip and I was proud to be able to introduce him to my then-fiancee, now-wife at that time. Rarely do columnists get me laughing out loud, but his column on the food at the Korea Olympics had me crying it was so funny. RIP to a newspaper legend.
 
ChrisLong said:
Mike was a favorite of mine when he was in L.A. While I was a UCLA beat writer, he covered the Aloha Bowl (UCLA-Florida, Aikman-Smith) in 1987. I got to know him a lot better on that trip and I was proud to be able to introduce him to my then-fiancee, now-wife at that time. Rarely do columnists get me laughing out loud, but his column on the food at the Korea Olympics had me crying it was so funny. RIP to a newspaper legend.
Click to expand...
Can you find a link? I did a basic Google search and came up empty.
 
tapintoamerica said:
Can you find a link? I did a basic Google search and came up empty.
Click to expand...

I took a quick look and couldn't find it. I don't subscribe to LAT, so searching their archives ain't happening.
I recall quoting a few of his lines back to him and told him they were hilarious. He thanked me for remembering.
 
Damn. And just a few days after T.J. Simers. I sure hope Scott Ostler is taking good care of himself.

Man, I remember always trying to get an LA Times back when I was a teen in the 1980s, although we never did subscribe (my grandma did, though; I would be knee deep into the sports page whenever we visited her). Pick up the sports section and you could guarantee yourself a column by either Downey, Ostler or Jim Murray. God, we had it so good back then! RIP
 
A tremendous guy, Great from the beginning as a high school kid covering classmates, then at the Chicago Daily News, the Sun-Times, his stints in Detroit and Los Angeles, then back home to the Tribune. Never lost the common touch. R.I.P.
 
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