Paging Lynn Hoppes ...

As Stitch noted, Albom.

Wonder if they'll change their membership rules now that some bigger papers are dumping the seven-day print schedule. Last I knew, they were inviting college students to join, but our 135-year-old weekly wasn't eligible. So much for that.

 

I've learned more at the few APSE events I've attended than all the other seminars or workshops I've attended combined and one thing I really appreciate about the group is what it does to help out small papers.

When I was a small-town sports editor Toby Carrig recruited me to join, they paid for me to go to one of the regional conferences and be on a panel about covering high school athletes and coaches who get in trouble with the law, paid my way to Orlando to judge a contest (where I learned so, so much), other members were willing to critique our section, a vice president slot is reserved for a person from a small paper and it is a way to get to know people in this business you might never meet otherwise.

It's not a perfect organization, but it serves several purposes quite well. And they've never given me an award, so that's not influencing my praise at all. I like 'em despite that.

 

There are people in any industry are champions at networking and boosting their careers with smoke and mirrors.

 

OK if I cut-and-paste this for my cover letter on my next job application to Lynn Hoppes?

 

If you are asking, you're doing it wrong.

 

I never made it to the national APSE convention, but I attended one regional convention and got a ton out of it. I can only imagine how valuable the national convention is.

Hell, that's repetitive. I should've just copied and pasted someone else's post.

 

lynn was good at first, then he ...

 

What the hell happened here? Paging the Lynn Hoppes thread ...

 

We are just killing time until the Poynter crew working as the ESPN ombuds post their take on this controversy. I think it'll hit the web any second now.

 

When and if Poynter weighs in, it won't "hit" the web. Land softly, very softly, maybe, but it won't "hit."

 

Can we stop talking about APSE (I'm at fault for that, as well) - and get back to talking about what is the true subject of this thread?

Anyone who has ever worked with Lynn has known that he was as shady, as lazy and as drama-motivated as they come.

He used to play writers against each other just to sit back and watch the fall-out.

Back in the day at Orlando, he was always referred to as "Deputy Dog". Fitting for a Deputy Sports Editor whose only job was basically serving as Van McKenzie's Executive Assistant. You think Lynn had any Editorial control while Van was around? No. Never. Van did the hiring, the ASEs did the assigning and Lynn was just there to take care of the stuff Van couldn't be bothered with - ie. emails, meetings, scheduling. Deputy Dog.

To say that Lynn did an excellent job in Orlando is irresponsible and undermines everything that Van McKenzie did during his tenure at the OS. Lynn didn't hire anyone, he didn't find anyone and he certainly didn't keep anyone. Deputy Dog.

My favorite Lynn story was when he "interviewed" for the SE job at the Chicago Tribune. He made this big display to everyone that would listen that he "cut the interview off" because he didn't like the people, didn't like the setting when the fact is ... he went to Chicago because someone wanted him out. The Trib courtesy interviewed him, and then decided not to pursue after having dinner with him before the interview. Deputy Dog.

And this is a guy who openly plays and embraces the race card. His cover letter reads "My name is Lynn Hoppes and I'm an Asian-American journalist." During the hiring process, he has been known to go around asking if people thought a person's name sounded "ethnic".

Not to mention all of the "lifting" instances I mentioned before. And, as some people have told me, his resume is bordering on George O'Leary levels of delusion.

Lynn was not initially enabled by his APSE stature. If anything started his power-enabling, he was enabled by the circle-jerk everyone on this site constantly gave him - even back to the advent of SportsJournalists.com. Everyone loved that he came on, graced them with his presence, threw sweet comments and praise their way, promised to keep them in mind for jobs, etc. And this was all well before he became APSE President. And he would openly mock resumes that SJ people sent him - he saw them as "fan mail".

So let's keep a little perspective. The Hoppes Monster has been created, and while other arms have had a role, so has SportsJournalists.com. And the fact that there is a thread here PAGING HIM and EXPECTING HIM to respond highlights the Hero Worship that SportsJournalists.com has towards him.

The guy is a fraud, has always been a fraud, will always BE a fraud. He is a perfect fit for ESPN - they will never do anything and he will never admit to anything.

/carrieout